Wisdom Says

Leaders throughout history have acknowledged a source of spiritual guidance

No man was ever great without divine inspiration. -Cicero: De Natura Deorum, II

There is, I know not how, in the minds of men, a certain presage, as it were, of a future existence, and this takes the deepest root, and is most discoverable in the greatest geniuses and most exalted souls. -Cicero

There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will. -William Shakespeare: Hamlet, Act. V, sc. 2

I used to pray that God would do this or that. Now I pray that God will make His will known to me. -Mme. Chiang Kai-Shek

Let the Divine Mind flow through your own mind, and you will be happier. I have found the greatest power in the world in the power of prayer. There is no shadow of doubt of that. I speak from my own experience. -Cecil B. De Mille

Man thinks, God directs. -Alcuin: Epistles

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. -The New Testament: Hebrews 13: 2

He who leaves God out of his reasoning does not know how to count. -Italian Proverb

Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my great concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right. -Abraham Lincoln: Reply to a deputation of Southerners

Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. -Lords Prayer

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. -New Testament: Matthew 7: 7

Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. -New Testament, Matthew 6: 8

It is impossible to govern the world without God. He must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligation. -George Washington

Providence has at all times been my only dependence, for all other resources seem to have failed us. -George Washington

There is one evident, indubitable manifestation of the Divinity, and that is the laws of right which are made known to the world through Revelation. -Leo Tolstoy: Anna Karenina, Pt. VIII, ch. 19

The most important thought I ever had was that of my individual responsibility to God. -Daniel Webster -189

Where God and hard fortune call us, let us follow. -Virgil: Aeneid, Bk. XII, 1. 677

God governs in the affairs of man; and if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probably that an empire can rise without His aid? -Benjamin Franklin

When God contemplates some great work, He begins it by the hand of some poor, weak, human creature, to whom He afterwards gives aid, so that the enemies who seek to obstruct it are overcome. -Martin Luther: Table Talk -

Sure the world is full of trouble, but as long as we have people undoing trouble we have a pretty good world. -Helen Keller

Whom the Lord loveth he correcteth. -Old Testament: Proverbs 16: 9

It is surely harmful to souls to make it a heresy to believe what is proved. -Galileo Galilei: The Authority of Scripture in Philosophical Controversies. (Condemned by the Inquisition)

Pry to God, but row for the shore. -Russian Proverb

Prayers for rain should not be offered just before the season for rain. -The Talmud

God has granted to every people a prophet in its own tongue. -The Koran

The broad-minded see the truth in different religions; the narrow-minded see only their differences. -Lao-tze

God has many names though he is only one being. -Aristotle

There is no God but God. -The Koran, ch. 3

Every child is born into the religion of nature; its parents make it a Jew, a Christian, or a Magian. -The Koran

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. -New Testament: Galatians 3: 28

The whole universe is one commonwealth of which both gods and men are members. -Cicero: De Legibus, Bk I, ch. 7, sec. 23

The universe is a single life comprising one substance and one soul. -Marcus Aurelius

Common men talk bagfulls of religion but act not a grain of it, while the wise man speaks little, but his whole life is a religion acted out. -Ramakrishma

Man is either a beast or a god. -Aristotle: Politics, Bk. I, ch. 1

A mind enlightened is like heaven; a mind in darkness is like hell. -Chinese Proverb

Our mind is God. -Menander

It is the mind that makes the man, and our vigor is in our immortal soul. -Ovid: Metamorphoses, XIII

You will not rightly call him a happy man who possesses much; he more rightly earns the name of happy who is skilled in wisely using the gifts of the gods, and in suffering hard poverty, and who fears disgrace as worse than death. -Horace: Carmina, IX, Bk. IV, 9, 45

Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of its filling a vacuum, it makes one. If it satisfies one want, it doubles and trebles that want another way. That was a true proverb of the wise man, rely upon it: "Better is little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure, and trouble therewith." -Benjamin Franklin

Giving is the secret of a healthy life. Not necessarily money, but whatever a man has of encouragement and sympathy and understanding. -John D. Rockefeller Jr.

I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty. -John D. Rockefeller Jr.: Address at Fisk University, May 3, 1941

Woe be unto those who pray, and who are negligent at their prayer: who play the hypocrites, and deny necessaries to the needy. -The Koran, ch. 107

That which God writes on thy forehead, thou wilt come to it. -The Koran

When a man dies they who survive him ask what property he has left behind. The angel who bends over the dying man asks what good deeds he has sent before him. -The Koran

Even the beggar who lives on alms should himself bestow alms. -Babylonian Talmud: gittin, fo. 7

The noblest charity is to prevent a man from accepting charity; and the best alms are to show and to enable a man to dispense with alms. -The Talmud

A man's giving in alms one piece of silver in his lifetime is better than giving one hundred when about to die. -Mohammed

Loving kindness is greater than laws; and the charities of life are more than all ceremonies. The Talmud

Why are you so anxious to see God with your eyes closed? See him with your eyes open - in the form of the poor, the starved, the illiterate, and the afflicted. -Hindu to a Christian

There is a difference between him who does no misdeeds because of his own conscience and him who is kept from wrong-doing because of the presence of others. -The Talmud

Whoever gives a small coin to a poor man ha six blessings bestowed upon him, but he who speaks a kind word to him obtains eleven blessings. -The Talmud

To escape from evil we must be made, as far as possible, like God; and this resemblance consists in becoming just, and holy, and wise. -Plato

Man is born with his hands clenched, but his hands are open in death, because of entering the world he desires to grasp everything, but on leaving, he takes nothing away. -The Talmud

Greater even than the pious man is he who eats that which is the fruit of his own toil; for Scripture declares him twice-blessed. -The Talmud

Rewards for prayers said by people assembled together are twice those said at home. -Mohammed

Good and evil do not befall men without reason. Heaven sends them happiness or misery according to their conduct. -Confucius: The Book of History, IV

Wicked men obey from fear; good men, from love. -Aristotle

More men abstain from forbidden actions because they are ashamed of sinning, than because their inclinations are good. -Seneca: Epistolae ad Lucilium, Epis. 83, 20

Sin can be will-guarded, but free from anxiety it cannot be. -Seneca: Epistolae ad Lucilium, Epis. 97, 13

Some have sinned with safety, but none with peace of soul. -Seneca: Hippolytus

We are all sinful. Therefore whatever we blame in another we shall find in our own bosoms. -Seneca: De Ira, Bk. III, sec. 26

Other men's sins are before our eyes; our own behind our backs. --Seneca: De Ira, Bk. III, sec. 28

He who does not forbid sin when he can, encourages it. -Seneca: Troades, 1. 291

True goodness springs from a man's own heart. All men are born good. -Confucius: Analects

In nothing do men approach so nearly to the gods as in doing good to men. -Cicero

Heaven means to be one with God. -Confucius

Whatever heaven ordains is best. -Confucius

Heaven gives long life to the just and the intelligent. -Confucius: The Book of History

Life is given to the peaceful, and death is given to the guilty, the peaceful being "he who does what is loved," and the guilty, "he who does what is hated." -Document of 3500 B.C.

Always and in everything let there be reverence. -Confucius: The Book of Rites, I

He who sins against Heaven has nowhere left for prayer. -Confucius

Sincerity and truth are the basis of every virtue. -Confucius

We should worship as though the Deity were present. If my mind is not engaged in my worship, it is as though I worshipped not. -Confucius

He who prays for his neighbor will be heard for himself -Hebrew Proverb

He who wins honors through his neighbor's shame will never reach Paradise. -Hebrew Proverb

God does not listen to the prayers of the proud. -Hebrew Proverb

There is a signature of wisdom and power impressed on the works of God, which evidently distinguishes them from the feeble imitations of men, -Not only the splendor of the sun, but the glimmering of light of the glowworm, proclaims his glory. -John Newton (author of "Amazing Grace")

All men are by nature equal, made, all, of the same earth by the same Creator, and however we deceive ourselves, as dear to God is the poor peasant as the mighty prince. -Plato

The end of life is to be like God, and the soul following God will be like him. -Socrates

Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us. -Socrates

I pray thee, O God, that I may be beautiful within. -Socrates

The soul takes nothing with her to the other world but her education and culture; and these, it is said, are of the greatest service or of the greatest injury to the dead man, at the very beginning of his journey thither. -Socrates: Dialogues of Plato: Phaedo, 107

Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is. -Bhagavad-Gita

Believe nothing, O monks, merely because you have been told it...or because it is traditional, or because you yourselves have imagined it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be conductive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings - that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide. -Gautama Buddha

Pain is the outcome of sin. -Gautama Buddha

The greatest prayer is patience. Gautama Buddha

I hold that to need nothing is divine, and the less a man needs the nearer does he approach divinity. -Socrates: Quoted by Xenophon. Men, Bk. I, 6, 10

It is right for him who asks forgiveness for his offenses to grant it to others. -Horace: Satires, I, 3, 74

Riches are not from an abundance of worldly goods, but from a contented mind. -Sunnah: Sayings of Mohammed

The fundamental idea of the gospel of wealth is that surplus wealth should be considered as a sacred trust to be administered by those into whose hands it falls, during their lives, for the good of the community. -Andrew Carnegie: The Gospel of Wealth, p. 55, Harvard University Press

Wealth consists not in having great possessions but in having few wants. -Epicurus

God is a scientist, not a magician. -Albert Einstein

Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant. -New Testament: Matthew 20:27

The ocean is mightier than the rivers, because it is beneath the rivers. -20th Century guru

Love conquers all. -Virgil: Eclogues, X

Fair peace is becoming to men; fierce anger belongs to beasts. -Ovid: Ars Amatoria

Requite injury with kindness. -Lao-tze

Him who pitieth suffering men, Seus pitieth, and his ways are sweet on earth. -Aeschylus: The Eumenides

Your success and happiness lie in you. External conditions are the accidents of life. The great enduring realities are love and service. Joy is the holy fire that keeps our purpose warm and our intelligence aglow. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulty. -Helen Keller

By the accident of fortune a man may rule the world for a time, but by virtue of love he may rule the world forever. -Lao-tze: The Simple Way

God never shuts one door but He opens another. -Irish Proverb

Believe you have it, and you have it. -Latin Proverb

Jesters do oft prove prophets. -William Shakespeare: King Lear, Act V, sc. 3, l. 71

The Golden Rule throughout history:

Aristotle: We should behave to friends as we would wish friends to behave to us.

Zoroastrianism: That nature alone is good which refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not good for itself. -Dadistan-i-dinki, 94: 5

Christianity: All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. -New Testament: Matthew 7: 12

Christianity: As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. -New Testament: Luke 6: 31

Seneca: Treat your inferiors as you would be treated by your betters. -Epistolae ad Lucilium, Epis. XLVII, 11

Islam: No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself. -Sunnah

Taoism: Regard your neighbor's gain as your own gain, and your neighbor's loss as your own loss. -Tai Shang Kan Ying P'ien

Judaism: What is hateful to you, do not to your fellowmen. That is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary. -The Talmud, Shabbat, 3ia

Buddhism: Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful. -Udana-Varga: 5, 18

Confucianism: What you don't want done to yourself, don't do to others. -Sixth Century B.C.

Buddhism: Hurt not others with that which pains thyself. -Fifth Century B.C.

Zoroastrianism: Do not do unto others all that which is not well for oneself. -Fifth Century B.C.

Jainism: In happiness and suffering, in joy and grief, we should regard our own self, and should therefor refrain from inflicting upon others such injury as would appear undesirable to us if inflicted upon ourselves. -Fifth Century B.C.

Classical Paganism: May I do to others as I would that they should do until me. -Plato, Fourth Century B.C.

Hinduism: Do naught to others which if done to thee would cause thee pain. -Mahabharata, Third Century B.C.

Judaism: What is hateful to yourself, don't do to your fellow man. -Rabbi Hillel, First Century B.C.

Christianity: Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them. -Jesus of Nazareth, First Century A.D.

Sikhism: Treat others as thou wouldest be treated thyself. -Sixteenth Century A.D.

Jose Silva: Do to others only what you would have others do to you. Period.

Albert Einstein

I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details.

Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds.

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe.

We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.

Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.

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