As one candle lights another and thousands of candles are lit by one, so too does one heart kindle another, and thousands are set alight.
Beware of those who try to dissuade you from striving towards the good on the basis that perfection is unattainable.
Never think that it is useless to be influenced by something that can awaken noble sentiments within you.
— John Ruskin
It is better to believe in the most remote and impossible good than to believe that even the smallest evil is natural to the human being.
The reading of good books is a good influence; good art is likewise a good influence; prayer is a good self-influence; but the most powerful good influence is an example of a good life. This is what turns a good life into a blessing—not only for those who live it, but also for all those who observe it, know of it, and later learn about such a life.
How often it happens that we see a good, intelligent, honest person, who, despite being aware of the unlawfulness and criminality of what he is doing—for example, war, meat eating, owning land upon which he does not work, criminal court, etc.—calmly carries on doing the very thing he considers bad. What is the cause of this strange phenomenon? It happens because this person acts under the influence of suggestion, which is more powerful than the demands of his conscience and reason. We can oftentimes observe either how a suggestion gains ever greater control over a person and makes him do things against his own conscience, or how such a suggestion gradually grows weaker, the demands of reason grow stronger, the person begins to waver and, finally, reason is victorious.
If you want to convince a person that he is living badly, live well; but do not try to convince him with words. People believe what they see.
— Thoreau
A human being does not remain deluded alone. Having become deluded, he spreads his delusions to those around him.
— Seneca
It is difficult to make people good by moralizing, easy by example.
— Seneca
Not only should you beware of company that is harmful to your soul and avoid it, but you should cherish good company and look for it.
