Many / One

A database of 11,000+ illuminated guiding quotations in 40 categories from 600+ inspired books by our most brilliant and influential authors.
Compiled by JoAnn Kite

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1		"Our acts of lovingkindness not only matter, they are the medium through which we can bring the world together in a new era of human relationship." God Is A Verb, Kabbalah and the Practice of Mystical Judaism (Rabbi David A. Cooper)

2		"God can be seen as infinite generosity, ever and always giving him- or herself away like the sun gives away light – or, to use biblical imagery, like a burning bush that is not consumed by its flame. As manifestations of the sacred, created so to speak in the image and likeness of God, our very nature is generosity. The more access we have to the inexhaustible source of love and goodness at the center of our being, the easier and more natural it is to give some of it away." Making Peace With God, A Practical Guide (Harold Bloomfield, M.D. & Philip Goldberg, Ph.D.)

3		"The forms of Virtue are: justice, courage, magnificence, magnanimity, liberality, gentleness, prudence, wisdom." Aristotle, (384-322 bce), Greek philosopher, 'Rhetoric', Bk. II The Great Thoughts (George Seldes, compiler)

4		"The sum of our souls is the potentiality of Some Thing, not yet made, which is to emerge from their mass. Collective aspirations accompany and assist this organic work, greater than ourselves, which is effected in each one of us. It is the function of Morality to guide our free decisions into fruitful and obedient co-operation in this task." Writings in Time of War (Pierre Teilhard deChardin)

5		"Being of service is not an option, it is a biological necessity. Every kind action we do for someone is a reanimation of our own life force – and of the other person's. Many spiritual traditions share the Golden Rule: treat others as you would like to be treated.'" Invisible Acts of Power: Personal Choices That Create Miracles (Caroline Myss)

6		"At the moment in which man realizes that he is embedded within the total organism of the earth…at that moment there exists an objective basis for morality." Rudolf Steiner The Imagination of Pentecost: Rudolf Steiner & Contemporary Spirituality (Richard Leviton)

7		"Follow the universal principles that are stressed in the scriptures of both East and West. Let your mind dwell on: 'What can I do for others? How can I be honest, truthful, straightforward? How can I be kind? How can I be generous and unselfish?' These are principles that lead us Godward." Sri Daya Mata, disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda, 'The Soul's Need for God' Experiencing the Soul (Eliot Jay Rosen, editor)

8		"Virtues are virtues because they give joy once they are practised. If a virtue does not give joy, it is not a virtue." Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882-1927), Sufi master musician, 'The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan' The Quotable Spirit (Peter Lorie and Manuela D Mascetti, editors)

9		"Let this be the pattern for all: show mercy to others in the same way, with the same generosity, with the same promptness, as you want others to show mercy to you." St. Peter Chrysologus, bishop, Sermon 43 Christian Prayer: The Liturgy of the Hours (various)

10		"Correct attitudes and directions in life can open one's eyes to the existence of the harmonious rhythm of all things in the universe, and can inspire one to seek to coexist with all living things." Dialogue on Life, Buddhist Perspectives on Life and the Universe (Daisaku Ikeda)

11		"With incarnation comes responsibility; beings need each other's help." Turning Toward the Mystery: A Seeker's Journey (Stephen Levine)

12		"Virtue is a gift from God implanted in our nature." St. John of Damascus, 'Exposition of the Orthodox Faith' (8th century) The Book of Catholic Quotations (John Chapin, Editor)

13		"Everything we do COUNTS. There is really no such thing as a small act of service or goodness. This is in accord with most of the world's spiritual traditions." Invisible Acts of Power: Personal Choices That Create Miracles (Caroline Myss)

14		"Human individuals, with the moral ideas belonging to their nature, are the prerequisites of a moral world order." The Essential Steiner (Rudolf Steiner, edited by Robert A. McDermott)

15		"I see that, in general, those individuals whose conduct is ethically positive are happier and more satisfied than those who neglect ethics." 'Ancient Wisdom, Modern World' The Path to Freedom: Freedom in Exile & Ancient Wisdom, Modern World (The Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso)

16		"Do not do anything you hate to another." Saying of the Desert Fathers and Mothers (monks and nuns of the Egyptian desert) The Lion Christian Quotation Collection (Hannah Ward & Jennifer Wild, compilers)

17		"Morality is generally regarded as a system of actions and relationships that are biologically secondary, less immediate and less physical than material or vital relationships. This is a great mistake. One has only to study, from the point of view of creative union, its role in the evolution of living beings, in order to see how profound is the morphogenic power of the Good." Writings in Time of War (Pierre Teilhard deChardin)

18		"The produce of the world, the natural resources of the planet and its riches, belong to no one nation but should be shared by all." The Externalization of the Hierarchy (Alice A. Bailey)

19		"The active expression of virtue gives rise to the keenest intelligence." Sri Yukteswar, Indian spiritual teacher Autobiography of a Yogi (Paramahansa Yogananda)

20		"All our dignity consists in thought. Let us labor, then, to think well. That is the principle of morality." Pascal One Thousand Inspirational Things (Audrey Stone Morris, Compiler)

21		"The good neighbour looks beyond the external…..and discerns those inner qualities that make all men human and, therefore, brothers." Martin Luther King, Jr., American Baptist pastor and civil rights leader The Lion Christian Quotation Collection (Hannah Ward & Jennifer Wild, compilers)

22		"What, then, is real virtue? Anything wrought in the soul by divine love alone." Meister Eckhart (1260-1327), The Soul Afire, Revelations of the Mystics (H. A. Reinhold, editor)

23		"The life of virtue [is] a climb from the many to the One." St. Thomas Aquinas, 'Summa Theologica' 1-2, 71, 1 (13th century) The Book of Catholic Quotations (John Chapin, Editor)

24		"I know myself now, and I feel within me a peace above all earthly dignities, a still and quiet conscience." William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright and poet The Lion Christian Quotation Collection (Hannah Ward & Jennifer Wild, compilers)

25		"True happiness flows from the possession of wisdom and virtue and not from the possession of external goods." Aristotle (384-322 bce), 'Politics' The Quotable Spirit (Peter Lorie and Manuela D Mascetti, editors)