Quotes

"If you observe the child and the woman, the peasant and the gypsy, in short, the people of little intellect, you will soon see that the axis of their speech is the Self. The Self is the bell ringer. Whoever approaches him/her, s/he tolls the bell for everyone. S/he tolls without a moment's thought, endlessly, until s/he realizes that s/he is not being listened to."

"The clever fish farmer also releases pike into the fish pond. The fish grow agile and strong when harassed. I wonder if the troubles on earth aren't such pikes?"

"Drama is a work of writing illustrated with live people. Sometimes the illustration is better than the text. Sometimes."

"Faith is a hypothesis felt as certainty."

"The child cannot exist without company. The Gypsies and all uneducated people wander around in company. The peasant goes out of the gate on Sunday as soon as he is dressed. He looks for someone to talk to. The great of mankind liked to live in privacy. A French writer said: - "I am honored when someone visits me, but everyone is pleasing me when he doesn't. This suggests that company is not exactly a necessary condition of life. The physically weak feel protected in company, the mentally weak thus seek to trigger their thoughts. To be forever in company is as foolish as to live forever alone. But in any case, if you have to choose between the two excesses, it is more pleasant and useful to do the latter."

"We deserve all the bad things because we have sunk into them ourselves. Those good souls who love us, will surely catch many stones that fall against our heads. But we don't know that. On the contrary, if they fail to prevent some trouble, we'll know about it..."

"Poveste. Învățați din ea! Privighetoarea a văzut odată un măgar care păștea liniștit la capătul parcelei. El a spus gânditor: - Mă doare să văd înapoierea. Știu că nu e vina lui, săracul, și Doamne ferește să-l disprețuiesc. Dar aș vrea să îl ajut. Cântecul este școala primordială a alfabetizării. Mă ofer să o cultiv. Măgarul a fost de acord. Lecția era pe cale să înceapă. Măgarul s-a întins la umbra copacului. Privighetoarea s-a cocoțat pe o creangă proeminentă și și-a cântat dulcea lecție, ciripind și cântând până i-a obosit gâtul. Apoi, uitându-se la măgar pentru a vedea efectul, a văzut că măgarul ațipise. Privighetoarea era tăcută. Măgarul nici măcar nu-și mișca urechile. Dar apoi, la capătul îndepărtat al parcelei, un alt măgar a vorbit: un răget strident, aspru și fără sens... Brusc, somnolența din ochii măgarului a dispărut. El și-a ridicat capul. A ascultat..."

"Two thousand years blink out of your eyes. But in the depths of your soul, the star of eternity itself slumbers. You are an animal until you realize that you are a child of God, one with the Father, and you must return, you Prodigal son!"

"Phaedrus' peasant could forgive the snake for biting him. He could forgive it, but he couldn't put it back in his bosom."

"Even the roughest man's skin feels the cold and the heat, the sting and the balm. The soul is just as sensitive to cold, warmth, prick and balm in the roughest man too. Even in the most abominable man the soul is not indifferent to touch. Especially the man of simple habits! It is interesting how sensitive a man is to his own name! The name is the electric bell that rings in the heart. When you greet someone, when you address him, always say his name, or his first name, or his surname, or his title. - Good afternoon Peter. - Thank you very much for your kind attention, sir. German uses the word please instead of name. It's a sign of tenderness. It's nice to see the French use of the dense Sil vu plé (if you like). French uses the word sir or madame in speech with a dense use of the word."

"Masquerade ball: people dressed as animals. Daytime life: animals dressed as people."

"As the individual man passes through the gradations of millions of years during the nine months before his birth, and after his birth, when he reaches the highest stage of spiritual development, he attains the stage of the all-embracing altruist, so do the nations. Already now that Judaism is finding it more difficult to climb up the spiritual ladder, its situation is sometimes becoming precarious."

"Correspondent. Paper is a bad heat conductor. That's why we have to put artificial heat in it. For this purpose, the Chinese language of politeness was invented."

"The two dumbbells of the spiritual strength exercise: 1. To do something every day that is for the spiritual good. To impose my will on something I don't do. For example, patience when I am not patient. Calmness, when I am not calm. A gentle face when I'm angry. Suppressing anger, etc. (Because anger evokes distressing and harmful imagery), etc. 2. Not doing something every day that the body desires. For example, getting up earlier than the body would wish. Refusing to eat a good meal just to make the body feel that it is not ordering us, etc."

"He who wishes to play cards wishes to be able to rob his neighbour with the help of an unaccountable third hand (the hand of luck)."

"Should we not pray? Indeed! Just not the usual way. He who thinks about God, prays. He who admires his works, prays. He who looks to heaven with trust, prays. And we pray best when we help our fellow human beings by thinking of God."

"When you thank something, let your words be richly gilded. When you express dissatisfaction, - if you can't use it for a cause or a man, speak only to yourself."

"Pocket change of wisdom. Many times was it said that everyone is satisfied with his wit. But Réaumur didn't build a mind scale. When such a device eventually comes into being, we will see that we are already thinking in the first degree: - I'm not hurting anybody, because I'm uncomfortable too. And at the top level: - I'll handle everything that other people would be angry about with a shrug of the shoulders."

"Taking a play off the stage is always a funeral for us writers. A part of us is dead, unresurrectable. Because the novel, short story, poem is always alive. If they are not read today, they will be read tomorrow. But no one reads plays. Not today, not tomorrow. Even the actor writes out of it what he has to play. The rest is of no interest."

"What was Jesus like? This is a question that occupies the minds of many who have wandered in the past. It is certain that opinions will never be unanimous on this question. Each person's own image of Jesus is often quite contrary to the doctrines and traditions of Christianity. The painter or sculptor imagines Christ in a very different light from the laborer. They all see Him as wonderful and try to strip Him of as much of the earthly and the human as possible. The other day (1894) our daily newspaper published a letter of Lentulus to the Roman Senate, in which he describes Jesus with remarkable fidelity. The part of the letter concerning Jesus reads. "His name is Jesus Christ. The people consider him a prophet, his disciples consider him the Son of God. He raises the dead and heals the sick. He is a tall man, but all his parts are very regular. His countenance is stern and has a wonderful effect on everyone; he is to be feared, but also to be loved involuntarily. His light straw wine-colored hair covers his head smoothly up to his ears, and from there and around his neck it falls in thick, shining curls over his shoulders. He has a clear high forehead, and an extremely delicate complexion, with only a faint blush. His features are fair and pleasing, his nose and mouth impeccable. His mustache and beard are of the same color as his hair and are as thick. His eyes are blue and bright. When she scolds someone, her words ring with great power, when she teaches, her voice is soft and gentle. His features reflect courage and dignity. No one has ever seen him laugh or cry. Everything he says is clever and meaningful, and not a word is superfluous. He is perhaps the most beautiful man on earth." My note: The letter is undoubtedly a fabrication, for Jesus could not have been a well-fed and indoor man. His face must have been transformed when he spoke, if it was not beautiful, it became beautiful. All the face-masking and face-pleasing arts in the world cannot make a face so beautiful as the soul that dwells in it. The face is transparent. The soul shines through it. The face of the noble soul bewitches man. It is ethereal. We feel that: that man is not a slave to the interests of the earthly. He is above them. It is in our spiritual instinct that the inferior should yield to the noble."