Self-perfection is natural to the human being if only because he can never be satisfied with himself as long as he is honest with himself.
A human being must develop his aptitudes for good. Providence did not invest a human being with them in a finished state, they are only aptitudes. Self-improvement is what a human being should strive for and continue to achieve.
— Kant
“Ignorance of the truth is the root of evil,” said Buddha.
From this root grows the tree of delusions with its fruits of suffering that number in the thousands.
There is only one remedy against ignorance: knowledge. True knowledge can only be attained through individual self-perfection. Consequently, the amelioration of public ills can be achieved only by people’s assimilating a higher worldview and, having improved themselves, acting according to the higher worldview.
And that is why all attempts to improve the welfare of the world will be in vain until the people begin to improve themselves, for the improvement of every individual is the surest means of improving the welfare of the world.
— Hartmann
The one who asks of life nothing but the improvement of his being, in the sense of inner contentment and religious obedience, is less in danger than anyone else of not fulfilling his life’s calling.
— Amiel
A Christian cannot be merely a teacher or merely a student, he is always both this and the other, which is why he is always making progress, and his self-perfection is limitless.
Consider yourself nothing but a student. Do not think that you are too old to learn, that you have reached real maturity and development and that your character and soul are already what they should be and that they cannot be any better. A Christian never graduates his course, he remains a student to the very grave.
— After Gogol
A thinker experiences a sorrow that is, perhaps, even capable of damaging his morality, and of which a superficial person is unaware, right when he contemplates the sufferings that so much oppress the human race. With no seeming hope of anything better, he grows dissatisfied with the Providence that rules the world. But it is of the utmost importance that we do not blame Providence (even if it has assigned to us such a difficult path in our earthly life): in part so that we do not lose courage amid the burdens of life, in part so that we do not lose sight of our own faults by dumping the blame on Providence—faults that may even be the sole cause for our misfortunes.
— Kant
You can and must work on ridding yourself of egotism the same way you work on breaking bad habits. Whenever you feel a desire to increase your pleasure, to show off, to make others love you—stop. If you do not feel like doing anything for others, then do not do anything, but only do not do anything for yourself other than what is absolutely necessary.
The first rule for attaining virtue is to think only about your own self-perfection and to not act in public for the sake of people’s praise.
— Shijing
The one whose evil deeds are covered by the good illuminates this world like a moon rising from the clouds.
Better than to conquer the earth, better than to ascend to heaven, better than to be master of the whole world, better than all this is the joy of the first steps towards holiness.
— The Dhammapada
Another also said, “I want to follow you, Lord, but first allow me to say good-bye to those who are at my house.”
But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for God’s Kingdom.”
— Luke 9:61–62
The one who lives for self-perfection looks only ahead. It is only the one who has stopped who looks back at what he has already achieved.
Being dissatisfied with yourself is a necessary condition for rational life. It is only this dissatisfaction that motivates you to work on yourself.
