Archives for December 2023

People are crying up the rich and variegated plumage of the peacock, and he is himself blushing at the sight of his ugly feet.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din) (Persian Poet)

Anxiety is the poison of human life; the parent of many sins and of more miseries.—In a world where everything is doubtful, and where we may be disappointed, and be blessed in disappointment, why this restless stir and commotion of mind?—Can it alter the cause, or unravel the mystery of human events?
—Hugh Blair (Scottish Minister, Scholar)

Before a thunderstorm there is a build-up of tension which is only relieved by the explosive force of thunder and lightning. In human affairs there must be a clear distinction between the penalties for small and great crimes. Retribution for wrongdoing must be swiftly and surely applied if greater problems are to be prevented.
—I Ching (Ancient Chinese Divination Text)

It is sure to be dark if you close your eyes.
—Swami Chinmayananda (Indian Hindu Spiritual Teacher)

Gratitude is a gracious acknowledgement of all that sustains us, a bow to our blessings, great and small. Gratitude is the confidence in life itself. In it, we feel how the same forces that pushes grass through cracks in the sidewalk invigorates our own life.
—Jack Kornfield (American Buddhist Teacher, Author)

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
—The Holy Bible (Scripture in the Christian Faith)

Reason in man is rather like God in the world.
—Thomas Aquinas (Italian Catholic Priest)

Among the virtues and vices that make up the British character, we have one vice, at least, that Americans ought to view with sympathy. For they appear to be the only people who share it with us. I mean our worship of the antique. I do not refer to beauty or even historical association. I refer to age, to a quantity of years.
—William Golding (English Novelist)

Love thy neighbor as thyself: Do not to others what thou wouldst not wish be done to thyself: Forgive injuries. Forgive thy enemy, be reconciled to him, give him assistance, invoke God in his behalf.
—Confucius (Chinese Philosopher)

Inspiration is needed in geometry, just as much as in poetry.
—Alexander Pushkin (National Poet of Russia)

If one looks with a cold eye at the mess man has made of history, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that he has been afflicted by some built-in mental disorder which drives him towards self-destruction.
—Arthur Koestler (British Writer, Journalist)

Curiosity is the one thing invincible in Nature.
—Freya Stark (British Explorer, Writer)

Christmas is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we’re here for something else besides ourselves.
—Eric Sevareid (American Broadcast Journalist)

Not to be bound by rules, but to be creating one’s own rules—this is the kind of life which Zen is trying to have us live.
—D. T. Suzuki (Japanese Buddhist Philosopher)

Human nature is not simple and any classification that roughly divides men into good and bad, superior and inferior, slave and free, is and must be ludicrously untrue and universally dangerous as a permanent exhaustive classification.
—W. E. B. Du Bois (American Sociologist, Activist)

He who knoweth not what he ought to know, is a brute beast among men; he that knoweth no more than he hath need of, is a man among brute beasts; and he that knoweth all that may be known, is as a God among men.
—Pythagoras (Greek Philosopher)

To lay aside all prejudices, is to lay aside all principles.—He who is destitute of principles is governed by whims.
—Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (German Philosopher)

Animals are born, are sentient and are mortal. In these things they resemble man. In their superficial anatomy—less in their deep anatomy—in their habits, in their time, in their physical capacities, they differ from man. They are both like and unlike.
—John Berger (English Art Critic, Essayist, Novelist)

The methods of science aren’t foolproof, but they are indefinitely perfectible. Just as important: there is a tradition of criticism that enforces improvement whenever and wherever flaws are discovered.
—Daniel C. Dennett (American Philosopher, Atheist)

Nature never deserts the wise and pure; no plot so narrow, be but nature there; no waste so vacant, but may well employ each faculty of sense, and keep the heart awake to love and beauty!
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (English Poet)

In every work of art the subject is primordial, whether the artist knows it or not. The measure of the formal qualities is only a sign of the measure of the artist’s obsession with his subject; the form is always in proportion to the obsession.
—Alberto Giacometti (Swiss Sculptor, Painter)

The best way to keep good acts in memory is to refresh them with new.
—Cato the Elder (Marcus Porcius Cato) (Roman Statesman)

People who fear death live no longer than those who don’t, and live scared.
—Gene Wolfe (American Science Fiction, Fantasy Writer)

Not prayer without faith, nor faith without prayer, but prayer in faith, is the cost of spiritual gifts and graces.
—Henry Clay Trumbull (American Clergyman)