Leo Tolstoy
Translated by
Dmitry Fadeyev
Wisdom is attained by inner work in solitude and by the same work on yourself in your interactions with people.
Listen, pay attention, but speak little.
Never speak unless you are asked, but if you are asked, answer immediately and concisely, and do not be ashamed to admit that you do not know that which you are being asked.
Do not argue for the sake of arguing.
Do not boast.
Do not seek the highest office, and do accept it even if it is being offered to you.
In affairs of no consequence, i.e. ones that cannot make you betray your duty, conform to the habits and wishes of those with whom you live.
Do not strive to do anything that not constitute your duty and does not assist the wellbeing of the people you are living with, otherwise this habit will become your idol. And every person must break his idols.
— Sufi wisdom
You can only see your flaws through the eyes of another.
— Chinese saying
Every human being sees in another person a mirror, in which he can clearly see his own vices, flaws and all kinds of bad sides; and yet, despite this, most of us act like a dog, which barks at the mirror under the assumption that what it is looking at is not itself, but a different dog.
— Schopenhauer
“Know thyself” is the proverb of proverbs. But do you think you can know yourself by looking into yourself? Never. You can know what you are, only by looking out of yourself. Measure your own powers with those of others; compare your own interests with those of others; try to understand what you appear to them, as well as what they appear to you; and judge of yourselves, in all things, relatively and subordinately; not positively: starting always with a wholesome conviction of the probability that there is nothing particular about you.
— John Ruskin
If three of us get together, then I will probably find two teachers. I will try to imitate the good person, and correct myself by observing the bad one.
— Chinese wisdom
I have learned much from my tutors, even more from my comrades, but most of all from my students.
— The Talmud
When you see a holy man, think of yourself, could you not also be like him? When you see a debauchee, think of yourself, do you not also have such vices?
— Chinese wisdom
“Be careful when you want to strike the devil in a person, lest you touch the God in him.” This means that, as you condemn a person, do not forget that the Spirit of God dwells within him.
“Quarrel with the sin but make peace with the sinner.” Hate what is bad in a person, but love the human being.
True love, that is, love in deed and not in word, not only cannot be foolish, but it is only this love that gives true insight and wisdom.
As you live with other people, do not forget what you have learned in solitude. And in solitude, think of what you have learned from your interactions with other people.