It takes vision and courage to create-it takes faith and courage to prove. Owen D. Young on courage
Selfishness is the only real atheism; aspiration, unselfishness, the only real religion. Israel Zangwill on selfishness
One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds. Frank Zappa on change
Choose silence of all virtues, for by it you hear other men's imperfections, and conceal your own. Zeno on silence
In Fame's temple there is always a niche to be found for rich dunces, importunate scoundrels or successful butchers of the human race. Zimmerman on success
Before God manifested Himself, when all things were still hidden in Him... He began by forming an imperceptible point; that was His own thought. With this thought He then began to construct a mysterious and holy form... the Universe. Zohar on creation
Every soul is subject to the trial of Transmigration...An individual does not know that he is called for assessment before entering this World as well as after leaving it. He does not know how many transformations and esoteric trials he has to pass through...and that souls revolve like a stone shot from a sling. Zohar on judgment
All souls must undergo transmigration and the souls of men revolve like a stone which is thrown from a sling, so many turns before the final release...Only those who have not completed their perfection must suffer the wheel of rebirth by being reborn into another human body. Zohar on soul
To understand a holy unity, examine the flame rising from a candle. We see at first two kinds of light, one glistening white and one blue or black. The white light is above and rises in a straight line, the blue or black light is beneath and appears to be the source of the white; yet the two lights are so closely united they form one single flame. But the source formed by the blue or black light is, in turn, attached to the wick under it. The white light never changes, it always remains white; but several shades are distinguishable in the lower light. Moreover, the lower light moves in two opposite directions; above, it is connected to the white light, and below, it is attached to the burning matter; this matter continually consumes itself and rises toward the upper light. It is thus that all that is, reunites with the one unity. Zohar on unity
The entire lower world was created in the likeness of the higher world. All that exists in the higher world appears like an image in this lower world; yet all this is but One. Zohar on world
Temptation is the fire that brings up the scum of the heart. Thomas Boston on temptation
Be good, be kind, be humane, and charitable; love your fellows; console the afflicted; pardon those who have done you wrong. Zoroaster on charity
Technological change defines the horizon of our material world as it shapes the limiting conditions of what is possible and what is barely imaginable. It erodes ... assumptions about the nature of our reality, the “pattern” in which we dwell, and lays open new choices. Shoshana Zuboff on change
Hearing, seeing and understanding each other, humanity from one end of the earth to the other now lives simultaneously, omnipresent like a god thanks to its own creative ability. And, thanks to its victory over space and time, it would now be splendidly united for all time, if it were not confused again and again by that fatal delusion which causes humankind to keep on destroying this grandiose unity and to destroy itself with the same resources which gave it power over the elements. Stefan Zweig on understanding
A sound discretion is not so much indicated by never making a mistake as by never repeating it. Christian Nestell Bovee on discretion
Enthusiasm is the inspiration of everything great. Without it no man is to be feared, and with it none despised. Christian Nestell Bovee on enthusiasm
Fame - a few words upon a tombstone, and the truth of those not to be depended on. Christian Nestell Bovee on fame
Good men have the fewest fears. He has but one great fear who fears to do wrong; he has a thousand who has overcome it. Christian Nestell Bovee on fear