Leo Tolstoy
Translated by
Dmitry Fadeyev
The good can measured neither by the needs of the receiver, nor by the sacrifice of the giver, but only by the communion in God that is established between the giver and the receiver.
Life is not always good. Only a well lived life is good.
— Seneca
Nature has arranged things such that grievances are remembered more than good deeds. The good is forgotten, but grievances remain stubbornly in our memory.
— Seneca
It is not virtue but only its deceptive imitation and likeness when the expectation of a reward motivates us to fulfill our duty.
— Cicero
Do not slander, so that slander and dishonor do not turn against you, for while every evil spirit attacks from the front, slander always attacks from behind.
Do not give in to anger, because a human being that gives in to anger forgets his duties and lets his good deeds slip away.
Beware of lust, because its fruits are disease and repentance.
Do not keep envy in your heart, so that you do not poison your existence.
Do not allow shame to lead you to sin.
Be diligent and taciturn, live by your labor and save a portion of your earnings for the destitute. This will become your most worthy habit.
Do not steal another’s possessions and do not lose sight of your own work, for whoever does not feed themselves by their own work and forces others to feed them is a cannibal.
Do not argue with a deceitful person, just let him be.
Do not enter into a partnership with a greedy person and do not trust his leadership.
Do not explain yourself to a fool, do not take money from a villain, and do not do business with a slanderer.
— Eastern wisdom
When they ask what, in fact, is pure morality, with which, like a touchstone, we must test the moral content of every deed, then I must confess that only philosophers could cast doubt onto the solution to this question, because for human common sense this question has been answered long ago, although not with the help of abstract, general reasoning, but by differentiating between the doing of good and evil deeds, which we can tell apart just as easily as our right hand from our left.
— Kant
Do good to your friends so that they love you even more, do good to your enemies so that they may someday become your friends.
Whenever you speak about your enemy, remember that there may come a day when he becomes your friend.
— Cleobulus
To some extent, everyone is moving closer to one of two opposing extremes: either we live our lives wholly for ourselves, or we live wholly for God.
To place one good deed next to another such that there is no space between them—that is what I call a happy life.
— Marcus Aurelius
True good is only done by us when we do not notice it, when we go outside of ourselves in order to live in another.