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

SHOW detailed search and navigation | Quotes | References | JoAnn

1		"The highest wisdom is kindness." The Talmud (ca. 500) The Quotable Spirit (Peter Lorie and Manuela D Mascetti, editors)

2		"Outwardly practised and inwardly cherished virtue produces peace of soul." Blessed John Tauler (1300-1361), German scholar, mystic The Soul Afire, Revelations of the Mystics (H. A. Reinhold, editor)

3		"Humaneness, which is obedience to the law of love in thought, feeling, word and deed, is the only way to lasting world peace." Basic Theosophy (Geoffrey Hodson)

4		"We must willingly cooperate with the intentions of evolution and spiritual destiny. Our moral failure to develop spiritual cognition would render this future barren." The Imagination of Pentecost: Rudolf Steiner & Contemporary Spirituality (Richard Leviton)

5		"Ultimately, morality and ethics are not modes of conduct arising from constraint, from law or fear: the conduct arises from love." The Hidden Jesus: A New Life (Donald Spoto, Ph. D.)

6		"Great becomes the fruit, great the advantage of earnest contemplation, when it is set round with upright conduct." Buddha (563-483 bce), 'The Dialogues' The Quotable Spirit (Peter Lorie and Manuela D Mascetti, editors)

7		"Confucius regarded ethical values and ideals as grounded not simply in human nature as such but rather in the superhuman realm, in 'Heaven' or Ultimate Reality." The Nature and Truth of the Great Religions (August Karl Reischauer)

8		"The moral law inscribed in the human soul – Kant's categorical imperative – signifies the reality of the presence in the human being of what the Bible calls the 'image and likeness of God', that is, the principal archetype of Man." Covenant of the Heart, Meditations of a Christian Hermeticist on the Mysteries of Tradition (Valentin Tomberg)

9		"Sublime virtue is profound, is immense…It will bring about a state of universal freedom." Lao Tsze (c. 604-531bc) Wisdom for Life (Lynette Evans, editor)

10		"Love is to the moral nature exactly what the sun is to the earth." Honore deBalzac Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations (Frank S Mead, editor)

11		"The whole fabric of human society, its laws and its ethics, is based on the dignity of every human being." Theodore M. Hesburgh, priest, author, social activist, 'Making a Difference' A Parliament of Souls, In Search of Global Spirituality (Michael Tobias, Jane Morrison, Bettina Gray, editors)

12		"Our life is love, and peace, and tenderness; and bearing one with another, and forgiving one another, and not laying accusations one against another." Isaac Penington, 'The Art of Living' Macmillan Dictionary of Religious Quotations (Margaret Pepper, editor)

13		"Light is given to the sun not to shine alone on itself but also on the whole earth. So too, God wills that all our gifts of wealth, power, knowledge should benefit others." Thomas Aquinas, In 2 Cor, ch. 1, p. 301 Sheer Joy, Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality (Matthew Fox)

14		"Keep peace with all your sisters and brothers. Humans whose minds are healthy desire such peace and justice." Linda Hogan, 'Mean Spirit' The Way of The Earth, Encounters with Nature in Ancient and Contemporary Thought (T. C. McLuhan)

15		"Virtue extends our days: he lives two lives who relives his past with pleasure." Marcus Valerius Martialis (ca. 40-104), 'Epigrams', k. X, 23 Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 16th edition (John Bartlett)

16		"A good conscience confers on us the power of love." St. Maximos the Confessor, 'Third Century of Various Texts' The Philokalia, volume 2 (various authors, compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain)

17		"What is hateful to you do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary." Hillel (fl. 30 bce – 10 ad), from the Talmud Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 16th edition (John Bartlett)

18		"Be merciful and you shall obtain mercy; forgive, and you will be forgiven: as you do, so shall it be done unto you: as you give, so shall it be given unto you: as you judge, so shall you be judged;…..with what measure you mete, with the same shall it be measured to you again." First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, ch. VII, v. 4 The Lost Books of The Bible and The Forgotten Books of Eden (various)

19		"Mutual help is the law of nature." French proverb Living Quotations for Christians (Sherwood Eliot Wirt and Kersten Beckstrom, editors)

20		"To those who are good to me I am good; and to those who are not good to me I am also good; and thus all get to be good." Tao The Ching The Ancient Wisdom (Annie Besant)

21		"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)

22		"Though we may differ greatly in how, who and what we worship, the basic code of behavior is common to all. It is this common denominator which binds us together in humanity and has helped us to continue to grow and survive." Personhood: The Art of Being Fully Human (Leo F. Buscaglia, Ph.D.)

23		"One reaches one's ultimate end by acts of the virtues, for happiness is assigned as a reward for virtue." Thomas Aquinas, 'Summa contra Gentiles', III, ch. 148, n. 5 Sheer Joy, Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality (Matthew Fox)

24		"Core values such as forgiveness, understanding, compassion, and lovingkindness are essential human values….they come from the heart. These values embody the natural energy of the human heart." Who Do You Think You Are? The Healing Power of Your Sacred Self (Carlos Warter, M.D., Ph.D.)

25		"He who knows God is truly moral." Friedrich vonSchelling Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations (Frank S Mead, editor)