Self-perfection is work that is both internal and external. A person cannot perfect himself without interacting with other people and without their influence on him and his on them.
People are tormented by three temptations: carnal lust, pride and the love of wealth. They are the cause of people’s misfortunes. Without lust, pride and avarice, everyone would live happily. So how can we rid ourselves of these terrible diseases? This is difficult to do, mainly because their germ lies in our very nature.
There is only one way to rid ourselves of them: everyone must work on themselves. People often think that laws and governments can help them, but this is impossible because the people who write the laws and who govern are the same as them, suffering from the same temptations of lust, pride and avarice. And therefore laws and governments cannot be depended on. And therefore the only thing that people can do for their wellbeing is to destroy lust, pride and avarice within themselves. No improvement is possible until every one of us begins improving themselves.
— After Lamennais
To learn to be patient we must practice as much as if we were learning music, and meanwhile, the moment the teacher arrives, the moment we get a chance to practice patience, we flee from the lesson.
— John Ruskin
“Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect,” it is said in the Gospel. This does not mean that Christ is commanding human beings to be the same as God, it means that every human being must strive to move closer to divine perfection.
Perfection without any impurities—that is God; human life is the process of moving closer to God. The one who always strives to perfect himself is wise and can distinguish good from evil. And when a person knows what is good and what is evil, he attaches himself to the good and moves away from evil.
— Confucius
No matter how little education I have, I can still walk the path of reason. The only thing I need to fear is conceit. The highest reason is very simple, but people do not understand it because they think that they understand that which they do not.
— After Laozi
How strange! The human being is outraged by the evil that comes from without, from others—something that he cannot eliminate—but does not fight his own evil, even though it is always within his control.
— Marcus Aurelius
If only the time and effort that is now being spent on attacking the rich and trying find ways to transform society and implement a just distribution of wealth were spent on self-perfection, we would see rapid transformation for the better in our national, social and moral life, which we so much desire. Were humankind to learn the right ways to think, our world would become as happy as it is now unhappy. But the people do not want to know the truth that sets them free, because it is disagreeable to the superstitions of state and religion to which they have grown accustomed.
— Lucy Mallory
There is nothing more harmful to you and to others than activities aimed exclusively at the improvement of one’s own animal life, and there is nothing more beneficial to you and to others than activities aimed at the improvement of one’s soul.
