Quotations

Ephesians

Let no evil communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

Ephesians (10th book of the New Testament)

Seneca

Seneca The duty of a man is to be useful to men: to a great number if he can, if not, to a small number, otherwise to his neighbors, otherwise to himself: in making himself useful to himself, he works for others. Also the vicious man injures not only himself but also those to whom he might have been useful if he had been virtuous, likewise in laboring for oneself one labors also for others, since there is formed a man who can be of use to them.

Seneca (Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman and dramatist)

Porphyry

Porphyry If then we wish to give ourselves to the study of philosophy, let us apply to self-knowledge and we shall arrive at a right philosophy by elevating ourselves from the conception of ourselves to the contemplation of the universe.

Porphyry (a Neoplatonic philosopher)

Hermes

Hermes All is living

Hermes (an Olympian god in Greek religion and mythology)

Jalal-uddin Rumi

Jalal-uddin Rumi I looked on high and I beheld in all spaces That which is One; below, in all the foam of the waters that which is One; I looked into the heart, it was a sea, a space for worlds peopled with thousands of dreams: I saw in all the dreams That which is One.

Jalal-uddin Rumi (Muslim poet, jurist, theologian and Sufi mystic)

Ramakrishna

Ramakrishna The ordinary man says in his ignorance, “My religion is the sole religion, my religion is the best.” But when his heart is illuminated by the true knowledge, he knows that beyond all the battles of sects and of sectaries presides the one, indivisible, eternal and omnipresent Benediction.

Ramakrishna (famous mystic of 19th-century India

Ashoka

Ashoka May the partisans of all doctrines in all countries unite and live in a common fellowship. For all alike profess mastery to be attained over oneself and purity of the heart.

Ashoka (Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty)

Albert Schweitzer

I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.

Albert Schweitzer (A German and then French theologian, organist, physician and medical missionary)

Elizabeth Gilbert

In the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it's wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices.

Elizabeth Gilbert (American author, essayist, short story writer, biographer and novelist)

Barack Obama

I'm inspired by the people I meet in my travels--hearing their stories, seeing the hardships they overcome, their fundamental optimism and decency. I'm inspired by the love people have for their children. And I'm inspired by my own children, how full they make my heart. They make me want to work to make the world a little bit better. And they make me want to be a better man.

Barack Obama (44th and current President of the United States)