May 4

Every thought, expressed in words, is a force, whose effects are limitless.

1

We can be lonely in our private and temporary environment, but every one of our thoughts and feelings finds, has found and will find its echo in humankind. For some people, whom the majority of humankind recognizes as their leaders and enlighteners, this echo is enormous and resounds with great force; but there is not one human being whose thoughts could not produce the same effect on others, albeit one that is much less powerful. Every sincere expression of the heart, every declaration of a personal conviction serves someone or something—even if they do not know about it and even if they are stifling you or throwing a noose over your heck. A word, uttered to someone, conserves an indestructible effect and, as all motion, changes form, but is not destroyed.

— Amiel

2

Good rules, which come from the human heart, are just as useful as good examples.

— Seneca

3

The thoughts that you have and express ultimately turn into the capacity to do good or evil, which, as it develops or grows, returns back to you.

— Lucy Mallory

4

Powerful, succinct thoughts contribute greatly to the improvement of life.

— Cicero

5

Innocence and childhood are sacred. The sower that throws the seeds, the father or mother, who throws a fruitful word into a child’s soul, are performing a sacred task and must always perform it piously, with reverence and prayer, for they are toiling for the kingdom of God. Every sowing is mysterious work: will the seed hit fertile ground, will the word reach the human soul? Every human being is akin to a farmer; the whole of his task, if it is properly understood, consists in developing life and sowing it everywhere; such is humankind’s calling, and this calling is sacred. And the word is his primary tool.

We forget all too often that the word is at once a sowing and a revelation. The consequences of a word, said at the right moment, are incalculable. O, how deeply meaningful the word is, but we are dull, because we are material! We see rocks and trees by the side of the road, the environment around our dwellings, we see everything that is material. But we do not see the processions of invisible thoughts, which fill the air and constantly beat their wings around every one of us.

— Amiel

6

Thought is a rational force of life, which, as it leaves a human being, does the work of damnation or the work of blessing, depending on its quality.

— Lucy Mallory

7

Truth, expressed in words, is a powerful force in people’s lives. We do not recognize this force only because its consequences are not immediately obvious.

Make use of people’s good thoughts and if you cannot repay them with the same then, at the very least, do not spread your own or other people’s thoughts that are unclear, and thus false.