A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul, Written and Se

When people speak in a very elaborate and sophisticated way, they either want to tell a lie, or to admire themselves. You should not believe such people. Good speech is always clear, clever, and understood by all. Simplicity is the consequence of refined emotions.

The higher the opinion a person has of himself, the more unstable is his position; the lower he moves in his selfesteem, the firmer he stands. To be strong, you have to be like water: if there are no obstacles, it flows; if there is an obstacle it stops; if a dam is broken, then it flows further; if a vessel is square, then it has a square form; if

The fulfillment of our duties and the satisfaction of our personal pleasures are two different things. Duties have their own laws, and even if we try to mix our duties with our pleasures, they will separate themselves. —After IMMANUEL KANT

All events, whether in the lives of human individuals, or human societies, have their beginnings in thought. Therefore, to fully understand other people and other societies, we must look beyond previous events to the thoughts which gave rise to them. Perhaps it is even more important to know what one should not think about than what one should thin

You should respond with kindness toward evil done to you, and you will destroy in an evil person that pleasure which he derives from evil. The true teaching of

Remember how passionately you yearned in the past for many of the things which you hate or despise now. Remember how many things you lost trying to satisfy your former desires. The same thing could happen now, with the desires which excite you at present. Try to tame your present desires, calm them; this is most beneficial, and most achievable.

A man consists of body and soul. Thus often, especially in his youth, he is interested only in his body, but nevertheless, the most essential part of every man is not his body, but his soul. It is your soul that you must take care of, not your body. You must learn this over time, and remember that your real life is in your spirit, that is, in your

There are two different states of human existence: first, to live without thinking of death; second, to live with the thought that you approach death with every hour of your life.

Kindness is for your soul as health is for your body: you do not notice it when you have it. A person becomes happy to the same extent to which he or she gives happiness to other people. —JEREMY BENTHAM