A Calendar of Wisdom

The condition of wisdom is purity; the consequence of wisdom is the peace of your soul.

A man who follows his wishes changes his attitude with time. Very soon he is not satisfied any more with the things he does.

Those people who have nothing to lose are very rich.

A wise person never considers himself to be wise. And a person never considers himself wise when he has the image of God before him.

Wisdom is limitless, and the closer you approach it, the more important it becomes for your life. A person can always improve himself.

Love brings people to unification. The universal intellect, which is the same for everyone, supports this unification.

Look around. What do the world’s people think about it? They think about everything except what is most important. They think about dancing, music, and singing; they think about houses, wealth, and power; they are jealous about the wealth of rich people and kings; but they do not think at all about what it means to be human.

One of the major responsibilities of a person is to make that intellectual spark which you have received from heaven illuminate the world around you.

Everything in this world is the manifestation of the divine intellect.

All that we know, we know through the intellect. Those who do not believe, people who say that you should not follow your intellect, remind me of those who suggest that you turn down the only lantern which shows you the way into the darkness.

Be filled with love for other people, including those who are unpleasant or hostile to you. A real trial to one’s love is to love your enemies.

If you love your enemies, you will have no enemies.

The most perfect among men is he who loves his neighbor without thinking about whether the person is good or bad.

Be humble and oppose dissipation. Even a thin sword cannot cut salt silk. Using tender words and kindness, you can lead an elephant with a hair.

Every time you are abused by someone and feel animosity toward him, remember that all people are children of God. Regardless of whether this person is unpleasant to you, you should not stop loving him as your brother, because, as much as you are, he is God's son.

Modern science cannot study everything; without being supported by religion, science does not know what it should study.

Real wisdom is not the knowledge of everything, but the knowledge of which things in life are necessary, which are less necessary, and which are completely unnecessary to know. Among the most necessary knowledge is the knowledge of how to live well, that is, how to produce the least possible evil and the greatest goodness in one’s life. At present, people study useless sciences, but forget to study this, the most important knowledge.

A person who knows little likes to talk, and one who knows much mostly keeps silent. This is because a person who knows little thinks that everything he knows is important, and wants to tell everyone. A person who knows much also knows that there is much more he doesn’t know. That’s why he speaks only when it is necessary to speak, and when he is not asked questions, he keeps his silence.

If all knowledge were good, then pursuit of every sort of knowledge would be useful. But many false meditations are disguised as good and useful knowledge; therefore, be strict in selecting the knowledge you want to acquire.

We can improve this world only by distributing the true faith among the world’s people.

A society cannot live without a united faith and purpose. All social activity cannot really improve our social life if it is not based on the foundations established by religion.

The apostles lived united, in such a way that they shared one heart and soul. If they had not, no one today would know about Christianity. When some pagans did not accept Christianity, it was because they did not see complete unification and love among Christians. We Christians are to blame when other people do not accept the Christian faith.

Christianity in its pure and sincere form works like dynamite: it blows up old mountains and opens up new, limitless horizons.

If you see that some aspect of your society is bad, and you want to improve it, there is only one way to do so: you have to improve people. And in order to improve people, you begin with only one thing: you can become better yourself.

Blaming other people is always wrong, because no one knows what has happened and happens in the soul of another person.

We often make judgments about other people. We call one person kind, the other stupid, the third evil, the fourth clever. But we should not do so. A man changes constantly; he flows like a river, and every new day he differs from what he was before. He was stupid and became clever; he was evil and became kind at heart; and so on. You cannot judge another person. The moment you blame him, he becomes someone different.

If you want to correct your failings, you do not have the time to waste in blaming other people. Never blame your neighbor until you have been in his place.

Forgive other people for many things, but do not forgive yourself anything.

I know of myself that I do not wish to do evil. If I do evil, it is because I cannot restrain myself. It is the same with other people: they usually do evil because they cannot restrain themselves from evil. Therefore, why do I think badly of other people? Why should I blame them?

The creation of the world would have been a very bad act were it right for rich people to live off the work of the poor, and yet think that they were the benefactors.