April 11

Everything is more tightly connected in the moral world than in the material. Every lie leads to more lies, every cruelty results in more cruelty.

1

If a person had once violated an easy commandment, then he will ultimately not stop at the violation of an important one. If he has transgressed the commandment: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” then he will consequently also violate the prohibitions: do not take revenge and do not hold a grudge and do not hate your brother—and, finally, he will come to the shedding of blood.

— The Talmud

2

It is only because people have a short memory that they are often proud of the purity of their conscience.

— Jonizad Rafezsky

3

Let a human being not think light-mindedly about evil, saying in his heart that it will not touch him. Small drops will fill a water vessel; by doing evil, an insane human being gradually fills himself completely with evil.

Let a human being not think negligently about the good, saying in his heart that he lacks the power to take in the good. Just as water fills a vessel drop by drop, so too a human being, by doing good and striving towards the good, will gradually become completely filled with the good.

— The Dhammapada

4

Some of our vices are supported solely by other vices, and they will disappear when we destroy those fundamental vices, just as the branches of a tree will fall if we cut down its trunk.

— Pascal

5

Destroy one vice and ten more will vanish.

— Rod

6

Our conscience is the indication of the path that we must follow. When people stray from this path, they do one of two things: either they reorient their life along the path of conscience, or they hide the directions of their conscience from themselves. There is only one way to do the former: increase the light within yourself and pay attention to what it is illuminating. For the latter—for hiding the directions of conscience from yourself—there are two means, one external and one internal. The external means consists in activities that distract your attention from the directions of your conscience; the internal one consists in the darkening of the conscience itself. Beware of this. Stray from the path of goodness and you will become mired in evil so quickly that you will not have the time to come to your senses.

Watch for the birth of evil. There is a voice in your soul that tells you when it is taking place: you feel awkward, ashamed. Trust this voice. Stop and search, and you will find the nascent deception.