Below are quotes that resonate, from Leo Tolstoy’s ‘A Calendar Of Wisdom’.
[1]
Our desires are like little children who are always restless and who keep on asking their mother for now this, now that, now another, but who are never satisfied with anything. The more one gives in to their demands, the more they carry on pestering. – From Pious Thoughts
[2]
Who is wise? Those who learn something from everybody else.
Who is strong? Those who act in a restrained way.
Who is rich? Those who are content with their lot. – The Talmud
[3]
The words and actions of a dying person possess a tremendous power over people, and therefore, however important it is to live well, there is almost nothing more important than to die well. To die badly and unwillingly weakens the effect of a good life; to die well, humbly , and calmly redresses the effects of a sinful life. – Tolstoy
[4]
As soon as you use complicated reasoning to explain why you have done something, you know that what you have done has been something bad. Decisions governed by the conscience are direct and simple. – Tolstoy
[5]
The only self-evident certainty is the fact of our conscious awareness. – Descartes, Discourses on Method
[6]
The question whether or not something that we perceive to exist actually exists is as absurd as asking whether the colour blue is actually blue. – Lichtenberg, Notebooks
[7]
Poverty can never be a justification for an evil act; if you commit evil, you will become even poorer.
People can avoid the consequences of acts of malice on the part of their enemies, but they can never escape the consequences of their own evil deeds, The shadow of such deeds will pursue them until it destroys them. – Indian wisdom
[8]
Just as it is a fact that a stone, when thrown into the air, will not remain there but will return to earth, so all your actions, good or bad, will return to you, in fulfilment of your heart’s desire, no matter what path you take in life. – Sinhalese Buddhist wisdom
[9]
Humility gives us a sense of joy which the self-satisfied and proud person can never experience. – Tolstoy
[10]
The person who knows other people is clever;
the person who knows himself is enlightened,
The person who conquers others is strong;
the person who conquers himself is mighty.
And the person who, when dying,
knows that he can never be destroyed will live for ever. – Lao-tzu