A Calendar of Wisdom

If a person lacks intellect, he can not distinguish bad from good, and so he can neither truly seek nor truly have real goodness.

A good life is given only to those who make efforts to achieve it.

In order to have a good life, you should not be afraid of any good deeds. You should have no less power or strength for small acts than for the biggest and greatest good deed.

In order not to pour out a vessel full of water, you should hold it evenly. Inorder to have a razor sharp, you should sharpen it. The same should happen with your soul if you are looking for real goodness.

If there is something great in you, it will not appear on your first call. It will not appear and come to you easily, without any work and effort.

Try to live a good life in accord with the virtues that are set before you. Perhaps this is a difficult thing, but with time it becomes more and more joyful.

If you need goodness, follow God’s law. And to follow the law of God is possible only by making an effort. Not only is this effort rewarded with a happy life, but even the effort itself gives the biggest blessing of life.

The family relationship is only good and firm and giving of virtue to people when it goes beyond family and is also religious, and all the members of the family believe in one God and His law. Otherwise, the family is the source not of pleasure but of suffering.

One of the most common explanations for bad deeds is the family name. People steal, make bribes, do many other nasty things in life, all of which can be explained by their love for their family.

Family love is a selfish feeling, and therefore it can justify bad, unworthy actions.

In family love, in the moral high meaning, there is nothing good or bad, just as in self-love. Both are natural. Love of your family, as well as of yourself, when it surpasses its limits, can be a vice, but it can never be a virtue, because it’s a natural feeling.

Depression is a state of the soul in which you can see no sense either in your own life or in the life of the world. This state is not only painful for the people around you, but it can influence them, and a truly good person deals with this unpleasantness when he is alone. When you have bad spirits or are in a low mood, or you are irritated, you should be so in solitude.

When everything you see appears in dark, gloomy shades, and seems baleful, and you want to tell others only bad and unpleasant things, do not trust your perceptions. Treat yourself as though you were drunk. Take no steps and actions until this state has disappeared.

You should never feel depressed.

A man should always feel happy; if he is unhappy, it means he is guilty.

O Lord, help me to be always happy and to rejoice following and fulfilling your will.

Both our physical sufferings and periods of depression are part of our life in this world, and we should patiently wait until they are over, or our life is over.

As soon as a person asks himself the question, “How do I live my life in the best way?” then all other questions are answered.

Real living takes place not in the domain of outward change, but in the inner domain where changes can hardly be observed, in our spiritual life.

Instead of saving humanity, every person should save himself.

The more people believe that others can improve their lives, the slower any improvement will occur.

The human soul is divine.

Every truth has its origin in God. When it is manifested in a man, this is not because it comes from him, but because he has such a quantity of transparency that he can reveal it.

When after the rain, water flows from the roof through pipes, it seems to us that water flows out of these pipes, but in reality, it falls from the sky. The same phenomenon can be seen with the religious teachings taught to us by holy people. It seems to us that this teaching comes from them, but in reality, these teachings come from God.

A person’s purpose on this earth is to be in harmony with eternity. It is only then that the universal flow of love and intellect can be channeled through this person, as if through a clear pathway.

Life is given to us in the same way as a child is given to a nanny, so that it can be raised to maturity.

Keep yourself in purity, far from evil, so that divine power may come through you. And in this flow of divine power through you, there is great bliss.

There is no other domain where the words of our language are so misused as in the criticism of art, especially of false art.

A work of art makes a great impression on us only when it gives us something which, even with all the efforts of our intellect, we cannot understand completely.

Art has such an impact on people that many strange things can happen in their souls: mysteries become clearer; opaque things become evident; complicated things become simple; what is probable becomes necessary. A real artist always simplifies.