#20: Wisdom Quotes  

#20: Wisdom Quotes     

Below are quotes that resonate, from Leo Tolstoy’s ‘A Calendar Of Wisdom’.      

[1]
When people see their personal suffering arising as a result of their own fault and start trying to correct that fault, they are not aggrieved by the suffering and easily, frequently gladly, accept it.

But when people cannot see any visible link between the suffering and some possible misdeed, they feel they have been unfairly singled out and they ask themselves: ‘Why has this happened to me?’ and, unable to think of any way forwards, they are upset by the suffering which seems to them to be the most horrible torment…

At first sight there seems to be no explanation for suffering, or for the fact that nothing can be done in the face of an ever-increasing and intractable sense of despair and bitterness. 

But, looking more closely, we can see that suffering can motivate us to do precisely what needs to to done to ensure real progress in our lives: to become aware of our misdeeds, to free ourselves from errors and to submit to the rational law. – Tolstoy[2]
In every faith only that which is spiritual is real. – Tolstoy

[3]
If you do not know that the basis for life lies in your spirit, why do you look for it in the hope you might be able to find it somewhere else? People who do that are like the person who lights a lamp in the full blaze of sunlight. – Indian wisdom

[4]
There is only one path to true knowledge: to know only how one should live. – Tolstoy

[5]
The name ‘scientist’ means only that someone has studies something or other, but it does not mean that he has learnt anything. – Tolstoy

[6]
Self-improvement is always preceded by repentance. – Tolstoy

[7]
You should live your life in such a way that you should be able to tell your worst enemy the secrets of your ‘soul’. – Seneca, Ethics

[8]
Not to confess your misdeeds means that whatever it is that you have done wrong will be multiplied. – Tolstoy

[9]
The faster we can progress towards the idea of eternal perfection, the better we feel in ourselves – irrespective of the stage in which we find ourselves at present. The rate at which we can progress will always depend on the level of our satisfaction or dissatisfaction with ourselves. – Tolstoy

[10]
The more something is necessary, the more harmful it can become to abuse it. The vast majority of people’s misfortunes stems from their abuse of the most precious tool that they possess in life – their reason. – Tolstoy