Leo Tolstoy reading for every day. Wise thoughts from Leo Tolstoy. Lev Nikolaevich TolstoyThoughts of wise people for every day

In his lectures, Vladimir Nabokov used the following technique. He closed all the curtains in the room, achieving complete darkness. “In the firmament of Russian literature, this is Gogol,” and at the end of the hall a lamp flashed. “This is Chekhov,” another star lit up on the ceiling. “This is Dostoevsky,” Nabokov flipped the switch. “But this is Tolstoy!” - the lecturer threw open the drapery of the window, and the room was flooded with blinding sunlight.

He was the first to renounce copyright, was an opponent of the state system, and was excommunicated for rejecting religious authorities. He refused the Nobel Prize, hated money and took the side of the peasants. No one had ever known him like this. His name is Leo Tolstoy.

Lev Nikolaevich left us 165,000 sheets of manuscripts, a complete collection of works in 90 volumes, and wrote 10 thousand letters. Throughout his life, he searched for the meaning of life and universal happiness, which he found in a simple word - good.

“Thoughts for Every Day” by Leo Tolstoy

They say that man is not free because everything he does has a cause that precedes it in time. But a person always acts only in the present, and the present is outside of time; it is only the contact of the past and the future, and therefore at the moment of the present a person is always free.

Don't worry about tomorrow, because there is no tomorrow. There is only now; live for it, and if yours is good today, it will always be good.

People grow only through trials. It is good to know this and thus accept the sorrows that befall us, to lighten our cross by willingly putting our backs under it.

If you recognize life not in the body, but in the spirit, then there is no death, there is only liberation from the body.

We recognize something in the soul that is not subject to death. Just separate in your thoughts what is not bodily, and you will understand what does not die in you.

We have no right to be dissatisfied with this life. If it seems to us that we are dissatisfied with her, then this only means that we have reason to be dissatisfied with ourselves.

A person truly knows the law of God only when he does what he considers to be the law of God.

There are responsibilities to one’s neighbor, and every person has a responsibility to himself, to the spirit that lives in him.

Drive away from yourself everything that prevents you from seeing your connection with all living things.

The need to recognize God is felt most clearly when we abandon Him and forget Him.

Don't worry about others loving you. Love and you will be loved.

It's a human thing to justify one's sin - it's a devilish thing to sin.

The sexual feeling in all animals and in man is invested for the great task of procreation, and therefore it is a sin to think that this feeling is given to man only for pleasure.

The real self of a person is spiritual. And this is me in all of them. So how can people not be equal to each other?

Only someone who does not believe in God can believe that people like himself can arrange his life so that it is better.

Murder is always murder, no matter who authorizes it, and no matter what its justification; and therefore those who kill, or prepare to kill, are criminals, no matter what they are called.

The true law of God can only be that law that is the same for all people.

It is not shameful or harmful not to know. We cannot know everything, and it is shameful and harmful to pretend that you know what you do not know.

Only those who constantly think about it can live a good life.

Learn to see the good in all people, just not in yourself, and also learn to judge only yourself, and not other people.

The sage was told that he was considered a bad person. He answered: it’s good that they don’t know everything about me, they wouldn’t have said anything else.”

Don't praise yourself, don't judge or argue. All the beginnings of sins are in thoughts.

I live well - I write, I’m in a hurry, maybe I’m wrong, to say before death what I know and consider necessary. Kisses. you. Loving you L.T.

JANUARY

One winter, Francis walked with his brother Leo from Peruza to Porzionkul; it was so cold that they were shivering from the cold. Francis called Brother Leo, who was walking ahead, and said to him: “O Brother Leo, God grant that our brothers set an example of holy life throughout the whole earth; write down, however, that this is not complete joy.”

“And write down, brother Lev, that if our brothers heal the sick, cast out demons, make the blind see, or raise the dead for four days, write down that there will be no complete joy in this either.”

And going even further, Francis said to Leo: “Write down again, brother Leo, that if our brothers knew all languages, all sciences and all scriptures, if they prophesied not only about the future, but knew all the secrets of the conscience and soul, - write down that there is no complete joy in this either.”

Having gone even further, Francis again called Leo and said: “And write down again, brother Leo, sheep of God, that if we learned to speak in the languages ​​of angels, if we knew the course of the stars, and if all the treasures of the earth were revealed to us, and we knew If only all the secrets of the lives of birds, fish, all animals, people, trees, stones and waters, write down that this would not be complete joy.”

And having walked a little more, Francis again called Brother Leo and said to him: “Write down also that if we were such preachers that we would convert all the pagans to the faith of Christ, write down that there would be no complete joy in this either.”

Then Brother Leo said to Francis: “What, Brother Francis, is perfect joy?”

And Francis answered: “But this is what. What if, when we come to Portsionküll, dirty, wet, numb from the cold and hungry, and ask to be let in, and the gatekeeper tells us: “Why are you tramps wandering around the world, seducing people, stealing the alms of poor people, get out of here?” !” - and will not open it to us. And if we then are not offended and with humility and love think that the gatekeeper is right, that God himself inspired him to do this to us, and wet, cold and hungry we will stay in the snow and in the water until the morning without complaining to the gatekeeper, then, brother Leo , only then will there be complete joy.”

People find it difficult, worry and worry only when they are busy with external affairs that do not depend on them. In these cases, they anxiously ask themselves: what will I do? will something happen? what will come of this? How would this or that not happen? This happens to those who constantly worry about what does not belong to them.

On the contrary, a person who is busy with what depends on him and dedicates his life to the work of self-improvement will not worry himself so much. If he began to worry about whether he would be able to adhere to the truth and avoid lies, then I would say: calm down - what worries you is in your own hands; just watch your thoughts and actions vigilantly and try to correct yourself in every possible way. Don’t say: “Will something happen?” Whatever happens, you will turn it into learning and benefit.

- What if I die fighting misfortune?

- Well, what? In that case, you will die the death of an honest man, doing what you should do. You still need to die, and death should find you doing something. I would be pleased if death found me doing something worthy of a person, doing something good and useful to all people; or that she would catch me while I was trying to correct myself. Then I could raise my hands to God and say to him: “Lord! You know yourself how much I took advantage of what you gave me to understand your laws. Did I reproach you? Did you resent what happened to me? Have you shirked your duty? I thank you for the fact that I was born, for all your gifts. I’ve used them quite a bit: take them back and do with them as you please—after all, they’re yours!”

Could there be a better death? To survive to such a death, you do not need to lose much, although, it is true, you will gain a lot by doing so. If you want to keep what is not yours, you will certainly lose what is yours.

Anyone who wants to have success in worldly affairs does not sleep all night long, constantly fussing and fussing, fawning on strong people and generally acting like a vile person. And in the end, what did he achieve with all this? He achieved that he is surrounded with some honors, that he is feared and that, having become a boss, he controls some actions. Don’t you really want to work hard to free yourself from all such worries and sleep peacefully, fearing nothing and not suffering from anything? Know that such peace of mind does not come for free.

Epictetus.

Whether our life ends with carnal death is a question of the greatest importance, and it is rare that a person does not think about it. Depending on whether we believe or not in eternal life, our actions will be reasonable or senseless. Any reasonable act is necessarily based on confidence in the immortality of true life.

Therefore, our first concern should be to disassemble and understand what is immortal in life. Some people work hard to understand this. They recognize that their whole life must depend on it.

Other people, although they doubt immortality, are sincerely tormented by their doubt and consider it their greatest misfortune. They spare nothing just to find out the truth, tirelessly seek it and consider this the most important thing in their lives.

But there are also people who don’t think about it at all. Their carelessness when it comes to themselves surprises, outrages and frightens me.

Vlas Pascal.

Judge not lest ye be judged. For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not feel the plank in your own eye? Or, as you say to your brother: Let me take the speck out of your eye; But is there a beam in your eye? Hypocrite! First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see how to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Mf. VII, 1-5.

It is easy to notice the errors of others, but difficult to notice your own; They love to understand the mistakes of their loved ones, but they hide their own, just as a rogue tries to hide his false dice.

A person is inclined to constantly blame others: he looks only at their mistakes; but his own passions grow more and more, removing him from improvement.

Dhammapada.

Do not judge your neighbor until you are in his place.

Talmud.

One thing we know, or can know if we want, namely, that the heart and conscience of man are divine, that in the denial of evil and the recognition of good, man himself is an incarnate deity; that his joy in love, his suffering in anger, his indignation at the sight of injustice, his glory in self-sacrifice, are eternal, indisputable proofs of his unity with the supreme Sovereign; that in this, and not in bodily advantages and not in a greater variety of instincts, he himself is the ruler over the lower animate world. Since he denies or violates the dictates of his heart and conscience, he dishonors the name of the heavenly father, and does not sanctify his name on earth; since he follows them, he sanctifies his name and receives from the fullness of his power.

John Ruskin.

One whose faith is weak cannot arouse faith in others.

Lao-Tse.

The sin of the whole world is essentially the sin of Judas. People do not believe in their Christ, but sell him.

John Ruskin.

Whoever has laid down his life in the light of understanding and serves it, there can be no desperate situations in life, he does not know the torment of conscience, is not afraid of loneliness and does not seek noisy society - he has a higher life, does not run away from people and does not chase after them. He is not embarrassed by the thought of how long his spirit is imprisoned in a fleshly shell; the actions of such a person will always be the same, even in view of his imminent death. For him, one concern is to live wisely in peaceful communication with people.

Marcus Aurelius.

The pious, the people of action, say: glory to our youth, which has not disgraced our old age.

The penitents say: glory to our old age, redeeming our youth.

But both of them say: it is good for him who is sinless, but for those who have sinned, repent, correct yourself, and you will be forgiven.

Talmud.

A person standing on tiptoes cannot stand for long. A person who exposes himself cannot shine. He who is satisfied with himself cannot become famous. He who boasts cannot have merit. He who is proud cannot rise. Before the court of reason, such people are like waste food and are disgusted by everyone. Therefore, he who has reason does not rely on it.

Lao-Tse.

He who hates his neighbor, as it were, sheds human blood.

Talmud.

The one whose anger has no boundaries, the one who is entwined with it like a dodder, will soon lead himself to where only his worst enemy would like to push him.

Freshly strained milk does not sour, an evil deed does not immediately bear fruit, but, like fire buried in the ashes, it gradually burns and torments the madman.

Dhammapada.

And someone came up and said to him: Good Teacher! What good thing can I do to have eternal life? Jesus said to him: If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me.

Mf. XIX, 16, 21.

How insensitive and indifferent to the grief of others a rich man can be!

Talmud.

If you have done evil to your neighbor, even if it is small, consider it great, but if you have done him great good, consider it of little importance; Consider a small kindness shown to you by others to be great.

The blessing of God will descend on the one who gives to the poor; a double blessing rests on the one who meets and sees him off kindly.

Talmud.

The straight path or rule of behavior that must be followed is not far from people. If people set themselves as a rule of behavior that is far from them, that is, that does not agree with their nature, then it should not be accepted as a rule of behavior. A carpenter hewing an ax handle has in front of him a model of what he is doing. Taking in his hands the ax handle of the ax he is using, he looks at it from both sides and, after making a new ax handle, examines both of them to see how similar they are; so a wise man, who has the same feelings for others as he has for himself, finds the right rule of behavior. He does not do to others what he does not want to be done to him.

Chinese wisdom (“Chung-Yung”).

Every creature benefits not only from everything that is sent to it by Providence, but also at the very time when it is sent.

Marcus Aurelius.

Oh, how happy we are, living without hatred of those who hate us; how happy we are if we live among those who hate, free from enmity!..

Oh, how happy we are, free from greed among the greedy! Among people consumed by greed, we live free from it!..

Oh, how happy we are, not calling anything ours. We are like the bright gods, imbued with holiness!..

Dhammapada.

Simplicity of life, language, and habits gives strength to a nation, while luxury of life, pretentiousness of language and effeminacy of habits lead to weakness and destruction.

John Ruskin.

True political economy is one that teaches people not to desire, but to despise and destroy everything that leads to destruction.

John Ruskin.

The horse is saved from the enemy by its fast running, and it is unhappy not when it cannot crow like a rooster, but when it has lost what it was given - its fast running.

The dog has a sense; when she is deprived of what is given to her - her flair - then she is unhappy, and not when she cannot fly.

In the same way, a person becomes unhappy not when he cannot overcome a bear or a lion, or evil people, but when he loses what he has been given - kindness and prudence. Such and such a person is truly unhappy and worthy of pity.

It’s not a pity that a person was born or died, that he lost his money, house, estate: all this does not belong to a person. It’s a pity when a person loses his true property - his human dignity.

Epictetus.

The whole world is subject to a single law, and all rational beings have a single mind. The truth is one, and for reasonable people the concept of perfection is also one.

Marcus Aurelius.

All goods are nothing before the good of truth; all sweets are nothing before the sweetness of truth; the bliss of truth immeasurably surpasses all joys.

Dhammapada.

Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will wear. Is not the soul more than food and the body more than clothing?

Mf. VI, 25.

Don't worry about tomorrow, because you don't know what else will happen today.

He who has bread in a basket and says, “What will I eat tomorrow,” belongs to those of little faith.

He who created the day will also create food for it.

Talmud.

When a sage adheres to the law of virtue, he hides it from the eyes of people and does not regret that it is not known to anyone.

Confucius.

False shame is the devil's favorite weapon. He achieves more with it than even with false pride. With false pride he only encourages evil, and with false shame he paralyzes good.

John Ruskin.

Our life is a consequence of our thoughts: it is born in our heart, it comes from our thoughts. If a person speaks or acts with an evil thought, suffering relentlessly follows him, like a wheel following the heel of an ox pulling a cart.

Our life is a consequence of our thoughts; it is born in our heart, it is created by our thought. If a person speaks or acts with a good thought, joy follows him like a shadow that never leaves.

“He offended me, he triumphed over me, he enslaved me, he insulted me,” hatred will never fade away in a heart alarmed by such thoughts.

“He offended me, he triumphed over me, he enslaved me,” - whoever does not give refuge to such thoughts will forever drown out hatred in himself.

For what comes from hatred is not overcome by hatred: it is quenched by love - such is the eternal law.

Dhammapada.

He who is ashamed of the shameless and not ashamed of the shameless, following a false opinion, enters the evil path of destruction.

Dhammapada.

A commendable trait in a person is modesty, for a shy person will not soon sin.

Talmud.

What strength is there in a person who always acts according to the will of God and is submissive to him in everything!

Marcus Aurelius.

The essence of love for God lies in the soul’s desire and attraction to the creator in order to merge with his highest light.

Talmud.

Everything that people admire so much, everything that they worry and fuss so much about to acquire, all this does not bring them the slightest happiness. While people are busy, they think that their good is in what they strive for. But as soon as they get what they want, they again begin to worry, lament and envy what they do not yet have. And this is very understandable, because freedom is not achieved by satisfying one’s idle desires, but, on the contrary, by ridding oneself of such desires.

If you want to be sure that this is true, then put at least half as much effort into freeing yourself from your empty desires as you have hitherto spent on their fulfillment, and you will soon see that in this way you will receive much more peace and happiness .

Leave the company of rich and powerful people; stop pleasing noble and powerful people and imagining that you can get anything you need from them. Seek, on the contrary, from righteous and reasonable people what you can get from them, and, I assure you, you will not leave them empty-handed if you only come to them with a pure heart and good thoughts.

If you don’t take my word for it, then at least for a while try to get closer to such people, try to take at least a few steps towards true freedom. And then decide for yourself where you are drawn more: to good and freedom or to evil and slavery. There is nothing shameful in such an experience. Test yourself!..

Epictetus.

Be truthful even towards a child: fulfill what you promise to him, otherwise you will teach him to lie.

Talmud.

Never teach a child anything of which you yourself are not sure, and if you want to instill something in him in his tender years, so that the purity of childhood and the power of the first combinations will imprint it on him, then be careful most of all that it is not a lie, about which you yourself know is a lie.

John Ruskin.

And when they came to the place called the forehead, they crucified him and the villains there, one on the right and the other on the left. Jesus said: Father! forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.

OK. XXIII, 33-34.

The human soul does not voluntarily, but by force, turn away from truth, moderation, justice and goodness; The more clearly you understand this, the more meekly you will treat people.

Marcus Aurelius.

Can you reasonably be indignant at a person who is possessed by some disgusting disease? How is it his fault that you are disgusted by his presence? Treat moral illnesses in the same way.

“But,” you say, “a person has a mind with the help of which he can recognize his vices.” It's right. Consequently, you also have reason and can, through reasonable behavior, bring your neighbor to an awareness of your shortcomings; so show your reason, manage to awaken a person’s conscience and heal his blindness without anger, impatience and arrogance.

Marcus Aurelius.

In comparison with the world around him, man is nothing more than a weak reed; but he is a reed, gifted with understanding.

One little thing is enough to kill a person. And yet man is above all creatures, above everything earthly, because even when he dies he will realize with his mind that he is dying. A person can realize the insignificance of his body before nature. Nature is not aware of anything.

Our entire advantage lies in our ability to reason. Understanding alone elevates us above the rest of the world. Let us value and support our understanding, and it will illuminate our whole life, show us what is good and what is evil.

Vlas Pascal.

He who subsequently covered up his former evil deeds with good ones shines in this dark world like a moon on a cloudy night.

Dhammapada.

It is good for a person who repents of sins while he is still courageous.

Repent before your strength leaves you; add oil before the lamp goes out.

Talmud.

The truth in nothing is learned by talking, but only by work and observation. And when you master one truth, the other two will probably appear before you as beautiful as the first leaves of dicotyledonous plants.

John Ruskin.

Childhood often holds in its weak fingers a truth that people cannot hold with their courageous hands and the discovery of which is the pride of later years.

John Ruskin.

He who imagines truth in lies and sees lies in truth will never comprehend the truth and will rush in vain in delusions.

But the one who saw the lie in the lie and knew the truth in the truth is already close to the truth, and his path is correct.

Just as rain uncontrollably penetrates into a poorly covered building, so passions easily penetrate into a heart that is not protected by reflection.

Dhammapada.

Art is only in its proper place when it is subordinated to utility. His task is to teach, but to teach lovingly; and it is shameful, and not sublime, when it only pleases people, and does not help them discover the truth.

John Ruskin.

People who speak flowery and skillfully, with a pleasant manner, rarely possess the virtue of philanthropy.

Chinese wisdom (“Le-Lun-Yu”).

In the last years of his life, L.N. Tolstoy collected the most important thoughts of great people and Scriptures, and systematized them in the form of aphorisms for every day. Undoubtedly that. that Leo Tolstoy was a great Russian philosopher, and his selection from the many wise and great knowledge of the past makes this collection the quintessence of wisdom. On this page of the site you can always read wisdom for every day, for the current month.For February, Leo Tolstoy wrote down the following aphorisms:

FEBRUARY

1.

Jesus said to His disciples: Truly I say to you, it is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I tell you: it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

Mf. XIX, 23-24

If the state is governed on the basis of reason, then one should be ashamed if there is poverty and misery; if the state is not governed on the basis of reason, then one should be ashamed of wealth and honors.

Chinese wisdom

2.

If the checker's hand is not injured, he can touch snake venom, the poison is not dangerous to a healthy hand; Evil is harmless only to those who do not do evil themselves.

Buddhist wisdom

Marcus Aurelius

3.

Although people do not know what good is, they have it in themselves.

Confucius

He who has no understanding will find it; he who does not think about him will accomplish his work.

He's the same

The most pitiful of us still has some kind of gift, and no matter how ordinary this gift may be, but, constituting our peculiarity, it can, if used correctly, become a gift for all humanity.

John Ruskin

4.

An incipient quarrel is like a stream breaking through a dam: once it breaks through, you can no longer hold it back.

Talmud

A person has the power to start a dispute, but does not have the power to suppress it, for it flares up like a flame, not inferior to the extinguishing effect of water.

Ibid.

5.

• There is no body so strong and healthy that it never hurts; there are no such riches that would not be lost; There is no such high power that cannot be undermined. All this is perishable and fleeting, and a person who has laid down his life in all this will always worry, be afraid, be upset and suffer. He will never achieve what he desires and will fall into the very thing he wants to avoid.
• The human soul alone is safer than any impregnable fortress. Why are we trying in every possible way to weaken this only stronghold of ours? Why do we do things that cannot bring us spiritual joy, and not take care of what alone can give peace to our soul?
• We all forget that if our conscience is clear, then no one can harm us, and that it is only because of our foolishness and desire to possess external trifles that all sorts of quarrels and enmities arise.

Epictetus

6.

All true thoughts are living thoughts and manifest their life in that they are capable of nourishing and changing. But they change like a tree, not a cloud.

John Ruskin

Everything truly great is accomplished by slow, imperceptible growth.

Seneca

7.

The soul can be compared to a transparent ball, illuminated from within by its own light. This fire is for her not only the source of all light and truth, but also illuminates everything external for her. In this state she is free and happy, only addiction to the external can agitate and darken her smooth surface, causing refraction and damage to light

Marcus Aurelius

"And the soul is not satisfied." The citizen, having married the princess, surrounded her with splendor and glory, but in vain: everything seemed petty to her, not worth attention, since she was always thinking about her high origin. So the soul if man surrounds it with all earthly pleasures, it will not be satisfied, for it is the daughter of heaven.

Talmud

8.

No one can serve two masters: for either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be zealous for one and not care about the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Matt. VI, 24

• You cannot take care of both your soul and worldly goods at the same time. If you want worldly goods, give up your soul; if you want to save your soul, renounce worldly goods. Otherwise, you will constantly split into two and will not get either one or the other.
• When you are alarmed or upset about something worldly, then remember that you will have to die, and then what previously seemed to you an important misfortune and worried you will become in your eyes an insignificant nuisance that is not worth worrying about.

Epictetus

9.

Every human act is the more honorable, better and magnificent, the more it is done in view of the future. This insight into the distance, this quiet and trusting patience, in addition to all other properties, distinguishes a person from the crowd, bringing him closer to God; and this standard for determining greatness is applicable to every business, to every art.

John Ruskin

10.

Heaven is indignant at us for our sins, and the world is indignant at us for our virtues.

Talmud

Do not be interested in the quantity, but in the quality of your admirers: not being liked by the bad is commendable for a person.

Seneca

11.

The brevity of life cannot be a reason for any reasonable person to uselessly waste the portion of it that is given to him. Neither our days nor our lives can be noble and holy if we spend them doing nothing. The best morning prayer is one in which we ask that not one moment of the day be wasted, and the best gratitude before dinner is the consciousness that we have honestly earned our food.

John Ruskin

12.

You will never get back lost time, you will never undo the evil you have done.

John Ruskin

The best language carefully restrained; the best speech is one that is carefully thought out.

When you speak, your words should be better than silence.

Arabic proverb

13.

A free person is only one to whom everything happens the way he wants. But does this mean that whatever he wants will certainly happen to him? Not at all. After all, literacy, for example, teaches us to write whatever we want in letters and words; but to write even my name, I cannot write the letters that I want: this way I will never write my name. And I must wish to write exactly the letters that are needed, and in the order that is needed. And it’s like that in everything. We would never learn anything if we did as we pleased. This means that in order to be a free person, you should not wish in vain for everything that comes to mind. On the contrary, a free person must learn to desire and agree with everything that happens to him, because what

It happens to a person, it happens not in vain, but by the will of the One who rules the whole world.

Elictetus

14.

The mind that can be understood is not the eternal mind. A name that can be named is not an eternal name.

Lao Tzu

There is a being that contains everything, and which precedes the existence of heaven and earth; it is calm; it is incorporeal; its properties are called intelligence. If I must name him, I call him the Great, the Incomprehensible, the Distant and the Returning.

He's the same

15.

Then Peter came to Him and said: Lord! How many times should I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times? Jesus says to him: I do not tell you until seven times, but until seventy times seven.

Matt. XVIII, 21-22

If you notice a mistake in someone, correct him gently and show him where he went wrong. If your attempt remains unsuccessful, blame only yourself, or, better yet, blame no one, but continue to be meek.

Marcus Aurelius

16.

Be truthful, do not serve anger; give to the one who asks, because he asks you for little; You will get closer to the saints by walking these three paths.

Buddhist wisdom

When you scold a person and are at enmity with him, you forget that people are your brothers, and you become their enemy, instead of being their friend. By doing this you are harming yourself, because when you ceased to be the kind and sociable creature that God created you to be, and instead became a wild beast that stalks, tears and destroys its prey, then you have lost your most precious property. You feel the loss of your wallet with money, why don't you feel your loss when you have lost your honesty, kindness and moderation?

Epictetus

17.

All living things tremble with torment, all living things fear death; recognize yourself in every living creature and do not kill or cause death.

All living things turn away from suffering, all living things value their life; understand yourself in every living creature; do not kill or cause death.

Buddhist wisdom

Reading and writing do not constitute education if they do not help people to be kinder to all creatures.

John Ruskin

18.

The difference between a reasonable person and an unreasonable person is that an unreasonable person constantly worries and regrets about things that do not depend on him, for example: about his child, father, brother, about his affairs, about his property. A reasonable person, if he happens to worry and be sad, then only about what depends directly on him, that is, about what concerns his own thoughts, desires and actions.

If some unpleasant thing happens to us or we find ourselves in some difficulty, then we are all inclined to blame other people or our fate for it, instead of realizing that if the external, which depends on us, becomes a nuisance for us or difficulty, then it means that something is wrong in ourselves.

Epictetus

19.

The life of an individual person must merge completely tightly with the general life of humanity, for all creation is imbued with harmony and unity. Both in external nature and in the spiritual realm, all phenomena of life are closely connected with each other.

Marcus Aurelius

Rational beings, called to work together at the same work, fulfill in the common world life the purpose served by the members in the human body. They were created for intelligent unity. There is something reassuring and comforting about knowing that you are a member of a great spiritual brotherhood.

He's the same

20.

Whoever sins secretly, as it were, denies the Omnipresent and All-Seeing God.

Talmud

Those who have religion in the background do not have it at all. God is compatible with many things in a person’s heart, but one thing is incompatible—that He should be in the background in the heart. He who assigns Him a secondary place does not assign any.

John Ruskin

21.

Every thing has its beginning and end. So is the work of man: there is not a single work that does not have its own beginning and end. He who correctly understands where the beginning and where the end is is close to the truth.

Confucius

You are not obliged to complete the work, but you are not free to completely avoid it.

The person who assigned you the job is reliable.

Talmud

If a person does not consider himself called to fulfill an embassy or mission, he cannot be an enlightened person.

Chinese wisdom

22.

You, the salt of the earth. If the salt loses its strength, then what will you use to make it salty? It’s good for nothing except throwing it out there for people to trample underfoot.

Matt. V, 13

All people more or less approach one or another limit: one lives only for himself, the other lives only for God, that is, for his neighbor.

• God lives in all people, but not all people live in God. This is the reason for people's suffering.
• Just as a lamp cannot burn without fire, so a person cannot live without God.

Brahmin wisdom

23.

If a woman’s kindness is endless, then it happens that her anger has no end.

A good wife is a valuable gift for her husband, an evil one is a malignant ulcer for him.

Talmud

The path of a good woman is indeed strewn with flowers; but they appear behind the steps she has taken, and not in front of them.

John Ruskin

24.

Small sufferings take us out of ourselves, but great ones return us to ourselves. A cracked bell makes a dull sound: break it into two parts and it will make a clear sound again.

Jean-Paul Richter

Only in a storm does the art of the navigator fully express itself; Only on the battlefield is the courage of a warrior tested, but the courage of a person is known only by what he is in difficult and dangerous situations of life.

Daniel

Suffering is life. Without suffering, what pleasure would there be?

Dostoevsky

25.

All nations finally recognize the truth long ago comprehended by those men who have been their intellectual leaders, namely, that the first virtue of man consists in the recognition of his imperfections and in submission to the laws of a Supreme Being. “You are dust and to dust you will return” is the first truth that we learn about ourselves, and the second is to cultivate the soil from which we were taken, which is our main duty. In this work, and in the relations which it establishes between us and the lower animals, lie the fundamental conditions for the development of our highest faculties and our greatest well-being. Without this same work, neither the world nor the development of his mind and art are unthinkable for man.

John Ruskin

26.

Great love is inseparable from a deep mind, the breadth of the mind is equal to the depth of the heart; That is why great hearts, and they are also great minds, reach the extreme heights of humanity.

Goncharov

Great thoughts come from the heart.

Vauvenargues

Our moral feelings are so intertwined with our mental powers that we cannot affect one without also affecting the other. A great mind, once corrupted, is forever the curse of the earth.

John Ruskin

27.

An obstacle to the path of good, overcome by tension of spirit, gives me new strength; that which threatened to be an obstacle to the achievement of good becomes good itself, and a bright path suddenly opens up where there was no outcome in sight.

Marcus Aurelius

The law of life of the wise is unclear, but it becomes more and more clear (for those who follow it). The law of life of ordinary people is clear to everyone, but it becomes more and more obscured in the general consciousness.

Confucius

28.

Everyone knows that every habit is strengthened and strengthened by exercise. For example, to become a good walker, you need to walk often and a lot; to become a good runner, you need to run a lot; in order to learn to read well, you need to read a lot, etc. On the contrary, if you stop doing what you are used to, then the habit itself gradually disappears. If, for example, you lie for 10 days without getting up and then start walking, you will see how weak your legs have become. This means that if you want to get used to something, then you need to do it often and a lot; and vice versa, if you want to get out of the habit of something, then don’t do it. The same thing happens with the abilities of our soul: when you are angry, then know that you are not doing only this evil, but that at the same time you are strengthening the habit of anger in yourself - you are adding wood to the fire. When you succumbed to carnal temptation, do not think that you were guilty only of this and nothing more: no, at the same time you also strengthened the habit of lustful acts. Any reasonable person will tell you that our mental illnesses, our evil thoughts and desires are intensified in this way. Therefore, if you do not want to accustom yourself to anger, then restrain your anger in every possible way and do not let the habit grow. But how is such strength acquired in the fight against one’s thoughts?

In the fight against tempting thoughts, it can be useful to seek the company of people more virtuous than yourself, or to remember and read the teachings of wise people who lived before you. A true fighter is one who fights against his evil thoughts. This struggle is holy and brings you closer to God. Your freedom depends on its success, the peace and happiness of your life depends. Always remember two times: one - the present time, in which, having yielded to vicious thoughts, you will enjoy lust, and the other - the time, in which, having been satiated with it, you will repent and reproach yourself. Consider also the pleasure you will experience if you abstain. Remember also that it will be difficult to abstain if you have once exceeded the limit. But, if you give in to your vicious thoughts and assure yourself that you will win tomorrow, and tomorrow you will say the same thing, then you will bring yourself to such weakness and pain that in the future you will stop even noticing your mistakes, and even if you do notice , then you will always have a ready excuse for all your vicious actions.

Epictetus

29.

A person comes into the world with clenched palms and seems to say: the whole world is mine, but leaves it with open palms and seems to say: look, I’m not taking anything with me.

Talmud

Just as the owner of a fig tree knows the time of its ripening, so God knows when to call the righteous from this world.

Wise thoughts from L.N. Tolstoy

The need for happiness is embedded in a person; therefore it is legal.

Knowledge without a moral basis means nothing.

All thoughts that have huge consequences are always simple.

All people of the world have the same rights to enjoy the natural benefits of the world and the same rights to respect.

To make it easy to live with every person, think about what connects you, and not about what separates you.

The shortest expression of the meaning of life is this: the world is moving, improving; Man's task is to participate in this movement, and to obey, and to contribute to it.

A person who has stopped drinking and smoking acquires that mental clarity and calmness of view that illuminates for him all the phenomena of life from a new, correct perspective.

One girl was asked what is the most important person, what is the most important time and what is the most necessary thing? And she answered, thinking that the most important person is the one with whom you are communicating at a given moment, the most important time is the one in which you are living now, and the most necessary thing is to do good to the person with whom you are dealing at every given moment.

Never bother someone else with something you can do yourself.

There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth.

The power of one person over another destroys, first of all, the ruler.

A person can serve to improve social life only to the extent that he fulfills the demands of his conscience in his life.

Pride is not at all the same as consciousness of human dignity. Pride increases with external success, consciousness of one's human dignity, on the contrary, with external humiliation.

Condemnation for good is the only test of the sincerity of serving good.

To believe in goodness, you need to start doing it.

Do not believe the words of either your own or those of others, believe only the deeds of both your own and those of others.

The good that you do from your heart, you always do to yourself.

When you do good, be grateful for it.

Do good in secret and regret it when they find out about it, and you will learn the joy of doing good. The consciousness of a good life, without people's approval for it, is the best reward of a good life.

Beware of thinking that you have virtues that others do not have.

Kindness is for the soul what health is for the body: it is invisible when you own it.

Pretending kindness is more repulsive than outright malice.

The smarter and kinder a person is, the more he notices goodness in people.

Destroy one vice and ten will disappear.

All happy families are alike, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

Most men demand from their wives virtues that they themselves are not worth.

It is bad if a person does not have something for which he is ready to die.

If life is good, then death, which is a necessary condition of life, is also good.

Act in such a way that you want to eat more when you get up from lunch.

Physical labor improves health and encourages mental activity.

Unity is only good for a person when it is the unity of all humanity in the name of a foundation common to all humanity, but not the unity of small or large parts of humanity in the name of limited, private goals.

Isn't unity with tens - separation with thousands and millions?

Unity is possible only in truth, and in order to achieve truth, one thing is necessary: ​​to seek it with constant, unceasing spiritual effort... Gathering together will not help the knowledge of the truth.

Assessing the merits of art depends on people’s understanding of the meaning of life, on what they see as good and bad in life.

Art is one of the means of distinguishing good from evil.

Aesthetics is an expression of ethics: art expresses the feelings that the artist experiences. If the feelings are good and high, then the art will be good and high, and vice versa. If the artist is a moral person, then his art will be moral.

There is no greater help for an egoistic, quiet life than doing art for art's sake. A despot, a villain must certainly love art.

All art has two deviations from the path: vulgarity and artificiality.

It seems strange and immoral that an artist, seeing people suffering, does not so much sympathize as observe in order to reproduce this suffering. And this is not immoral. The suffering of one person is an insignificant matter in comparison with the spiritual - if it is good - impact that a work of art will produce.

In an immoral society, all inventions that increase man's power over nature are not only not good, but undoubted and obvious evil.

An undoubted sign of true science is the awareness of the insignificance of what you know in comparison with what is revealed.

The task of science should be to know what should be, not what is.

Two exact sciences: mathematics and moral teaching. These sciences are accurate and undoubted because all people have the same mind, which perceives mathematics, and the same spiritual nature, which perceives (the teaching of life) moral teaching.

In order to be heard by people, one must speak from Golgotha, imprinting the truth with suffering, and even better - death.

Truth cannot force a person to be unkind or self-righteous. The manifestations of truth are always meek, humble and simple.

True compassion begins only when, putting yourself in the imagination of the sufferer, you actually experience suffering.

Charity consists not so much in material help, but in spiritual support of one's neighbor. Spiritual support, first of all, lies in non-judgment of one’s neighbor and respect for his human dignity.

Material mercy is only good when it is a sacrifice. Only then does the one who receives a material gift also receive a spiritual gift.

Charity begins at home. If you have to go somewhere to show mercy, then this is hardly mercy.

What could be crazier and more painful than the situation in which the European peoples now live, spending most of their wealth in preparation for the extermination of their neighbors...

The characteristic of a wise man consists of three things: first, to do for himself what he advises others to do, second, to never act against justice, and third, to patiently endure the weaknesses of the people around him.

Reasonable and moral always coincide.

In order to know what is moral, one must know what is immoral; in order to know what to do, you need to know what not to do.

The root of evil deeds is evil thoughts.

Think well - and your thoughts will ripen into good deeds.

If the truth does not tell us what we should do, then it will always show us what we should not do or should stop doing.

Lying to others only confuses the matter and delays the decision; but a lie to oneself, presented as the truth, ruins a person’s entire life.

The most common and widespread reason for lying is the desire to deceive not people, but themselves.

A flatterer flatters only because he has a low opinion of himself and others.

The concept of beauty not only does not coincide with goodness, but rather is the opposite of it, since goodness for the most part coincides with victory over addictions, while beauty is the basis of all our addictions.

The tenderness and delight that we experience from contemplating nature is a memory of the time when we were animals, trees, flowers, earth. More precisely: this is the consciousness of unity with everything, hidden from us by time.

Beauty, joy, only as joy, regardless of goodness, is disgusting.

We must take advantage of every opportunity to bring joy to people, but people must also try to ensure that they are pleased not by trifles, but by important things.

Life cannot have any other purpose than goodness, joy. Only this goal - joy - is completely worthy of life.

You must always be joyful. If joy ends, look for where you went wrong.

Church. This whole word is the name of deception, through which some people want to rule over others.

The least simple people are those who want to appear simple.

All people engaged in truly important work are always simple, because they do not have time to invent unnecessary things.

Nothing brings people together like simplicity.

Vanity is some kind of immature love of fame, some kind of pride transferred into the opinion of others - he loves himself not as he is, but as he appears to others.

One must be careful about inciting vanity in oneself with praise. Vulnerability and pain increase terribly.

Conscience is that highest law of all living things, which everyone recognizes in themselves not only by recognition of the rights of all living things, but by love for them.

Conscience is the memory of society, assimilated by an individual.

The instructions of conscience are unmistakable when they require us not to assert our animal personality, but to sacrifice it.

The voice of conscience can always be distinguished from all other spiritual impulses by the fact that it always demands something useless, intangible, but beautiful and achievable through our own effort. This distinguishes the voice of conscience from the voice of love of glory, which is often mixed with it.

If life is not according to conscience, then through intoxication the conscience bends through life.

Often people are proud of the purity of their conscience only because they have a short memory.

The more guilty you are before your own, even hidden, conscience, the more willingly and involuntarily you look for the guilt of others and, in particular, those before whom you are guilty.

Justice is the extreme measure of virtue to which everyone is obliged. Above it are the steps to perfection, below it are vice.

Nothing more accurately than what a person is ashamed of and what he is not ashamed of shows the degree of moral perfection at which he is located.

Shame in front of people is a good feeling, but the best feeling is shame in front of yourself.

There are two kinds of happiness: the happiness of virtuous people and the happiness of vain people. The first comes from virtue, the second from fate.
Happiness based on vanity is destroyed by it: fame - by slander, wealth - by deception. Happiness based on virtue is nothing.

Happiness is pleasure without remorse.

Happiness does not lie in always doing what you want, but in always wanting what you do.

There are two desires, the fulfillment of which can constitute a person’s true happiness—to be useful and to have a clear conscience.

Both what we call happiness and what we call unhappiness are equally useful to us if we look at both as a test.

Work is not a virtue, but an inevitable condition for a virtuous life.

Nothing ennobles a person like work. Without work, a person cannot maintain his human dignity.

An undoubted condition for happiness is work: firstly, beloved and free work; secondly, physical labor, which gives appetite and sound, soothing sleep.

Nothing encourages idleness more than empty talk. If people were silent and did not say those trifles with which they drive away the boredom of idleness, they would not be able to bear it.

It's better to do nothing than to do nothing.

It always seems that we are loved because we are good. But we don’t realize that they love us because those who love us are good.

We don't like people not because they are evil, but we consider them evil because we don't love them.

To love means to live the life of the one you love.

To love means to do good.

Love is the power of life. Love is the rule for fulfilling all rules.

True love is not love for one person, but a mental state of readiness to love everyone.

Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich

Thoughts of wise people for every day

“During the serious illness of L. N. Tolstoy in January 1903, when his life hung by a thread and he could not devote himself to his usual work, he still found the strength to read the Gospel and, out of habit, every day tearing off the calendar that was in his bedroom, he read the collected there are sayings of various great people. But last year’s calendar came to an end, and Lev Nikolaevich, lacking anything else at hand, wanted to compose excerpts for himself from different thinkers for every day. Every day, while in bed, as much as his strength allowed, he made these extracts, and the result of this work was the book offered to readers.

This included selected thoughts of the following writers and sages: Epictetus, Diogenes, Marcus Aurelius, Socrates, Confucius, Buddha, Lao-Tse, Aristotle, Plato, St. Augustine and more modern ones: Pascal, Rousseau, Spinoza, Luther, Vauvenargues, Kant, Schiller, Bentham, Schopenhauer, Voltaire, Klinger, Thackeray, Dostoevsky, Vilmain, Ruskin, etc..».

"The Mediator", 1903

One winter, Francis walked with his brother Leo from Peruza to Porzionkul; it was so cold that they were shivering from the cold, Francis called Brother Leo, who was walking ahead, and said to him: “Oh, Brother Leo, God grant that our brothers set an example of holy life throughout the whole earth; “Write down, however, that this is not where complete joy lies.”

“And write down, brother Lev, that if our brothers heal the sick, cast out demons, make the blind see, or raise the dead for four days, write down that there will be no complete joy in this either.”

And, going even further, Francis said to Leo: “Write down again, brother Leo, that if our brothers knew all languages, all sciences and all scriptures, if they prophesied not only about the future, but knew all the secrets of the conscience and soul, “Write down that there is no complete joy in this either.”

Having gone even further, Francis again called Leo and said: “And write down again, brother Leo, sheep of God, that if we learned to speak in the tongues of angels, if we knew the course of the stars, and if all the treasures of the earth were revealed to us, and we knew If only all the secrets of the lives of birds, fish, all animals, people, trees, stones and waters, write down that this would not be complete joy.”

And, having walked a little more, Francis again called Brother Leo and said to him: “Write down also that if we were such preachers that we would convert all the pagans to the faith of Christ, write down that there would be no complete joy in this either.”

Then Brother Leo said to Francis: “What, Brother Francis, is perfect joy?”

And Francis answered: “But this is what. What if, when we come to Portsionküll, dirty, wet, numb from the cold and hungry, and ask to be let in, and the gatekeeper tells us: “Why are you tramps wandering around the world, seducing people, stealing the alms of poor people, get out of here?” ! - and will not open it to us. And if we then are not offended and with humility and love think that the gatekeeper is right, that God Himself inspired him to do this to us, and wet, cold and hungry we will stay in the snow and in the water until the morning without complaining to the gatekeeper, then, brother Leo , only then will there be complete joy.”

People find it difficult, worry and worry only when they are busy with external affairs that do not depend on them. In these cases, they anxiously ask themselves: “What will I do? Will something happen? What will come of this? How would this or that not happen? This happens to those who constantly worry about what does not belong to them.

On the contrary, a person who is busy with what depends on him and dedicates his life to the work of self-improvement will not worry himself so much. If he began to worry about whether he would be able to adhere to the truth and avoid lies, then I would say: calm down - what worries you is in your own hands; look only at your thoughts and actions and try to correct yourself in every possible way. Don’t say: “Will something happen?” Whatever happens, you will turn it into learning and benefit.

– What if I die fighting misfortune?

- Well, what? In that case, you will die the death of an honest man, doing what you should do. You still need to die, and death should find you doing something. I would be pleased if death found me doing something worthy of a person, doing something good and useful to all people; or that she would catch me while I was trying to correct myself. Then I could raise my hands to God and say to Him: “Lord! You know Yourself how much I took advantage of what You gave me to understand Your laws. Have I reproached you? Did you resent what happened to me? Have you shirked your duty? I thank You for the fact that I was born, for all Your gifts. I have used them quite a lot: take them back and dispose of them as You please - after all, they are Yours!

Could there be a better death? To survive to such a death, you do not need to lose much, although, it is true, you will gain a lot by doing so. If you want to keep what is not yours, then you will certainly lose what is yours.

Anyone who wants to have success in worldly affairs does not sleep all night long, constantly fussing and fussing, fawning on strong people and generally acting like a vile person. And in the end, what did he achieve with all this? He achieved that he is surrounded with some honors, that he is feared and that, having become a boss, he controls some actions. Don’t you really want to work hard to free yourself from all such worries and sleep peacefully, fearing nothing and not suffering from anything? Know that such peace of mind does not come for free.

(Epictetus)

Whether our life ends with carnal death is a question of the greatest importance, and it is rare that a person does not think about it. Depending on whether we believe or not in eternal life, our actions will be reasonable or meaningless. Any reasonable act is necessarily based on confidence in the immortality of true life.

Therefore, our first concern should be to disassemble and understand what is immortal in life. Some people work hard to understand this for themselves. They recognize that their whole life must depend on it.

Other people, although they doubt immortality, are sincerely tormented by their doubt and consider it their greatest misfortune. They spare nothing just to find out the truth, tirelessly seek it and consider this the most important thing in their lives.