“No more roundabout discussion of what makes a good man. Be one!”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (Page 99)
“When you have done good and another has benefited, why do you still look, as fools do, for a third thing besides—credit for good works, or a return?”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (Page 69)
“You should do goodness without choosing to whom. Good things, once done, will never disappear, even if you forget about them. There is only one way to be happy, and this is a sure way: to do goodness and to share this goodness with others.”
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 244)
“The worst punishment is the understanding that you failed to properly use those good things which were given to you. Do not expect a big punishment. There can be no harder punishment than this remorse.”
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 228)
“You should be in a hurry to do good works, even small ones, and to avoid sin. One good thing leads to another, and one sin causes another. The reward for virtue is virtue, and the punishment for vice is more vice.”
The Talmud, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 228)
“Pay bad people with your goodness; fight their hatred with your kindness. Even if you do not achieve victory over other people, you will conquer yourself.”
Henri Amiel, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 202)
“Never postpone a good deed which you can do now, because death does not choose whether you have or haven’t done the things you should have done. Death waits for nobody and nothing. It has neither enemies, nor friends.”
Indian Wisdom, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 84)
“What reward should a good deed bring you? Only the joy you receive by performing it. And any other reward lessens the feeling of this joy.”
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 75)
“Instead of wasting even a second considering the opinions of future people—people who are not even born yet—focus every bit of yourself on being the best person you can be in the present moment. On doing the right thing, right now. The distant future is irrelevant. Be good and noble and impressive now—while it matters.”
Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 314)
“Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. The real miracle is the love that inspires them. In this sense everything that comes from love is a miracle.”
A Course In Miracles, via Sunbeams (Page 130)
“When you’ve done well and another has benefited by it, why like a fool do you look for a third thing on top—credit for the good deed or a favor in return?”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, via The Daily Stoic (Page 212)
“One person, on doing well by others, immediately accounts the expected favor in return. Another is not so quick, but still considers the person a debtor and knows the favor. A third kind of person acts as if no conscious of the deed, rather like a vine producing a cluster of grapes without making further demands, like a horse after its race, or a dog after its walk, or a bee after making its honey. Such a person, having done a good deed, won’t go shouting from rooftops but simply moves on to the next deed just like the vine produces another bunch of grapes in the right season.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, via The Daily Stoic (Page 210)
“The goodness inside you is like a small flame, and you are its keeper. It’s your job, today and every day, to make sure that it has enough fuel, that it doesn’t get obstructed or snuffed out. Every person has their own version of the flame and is responsible for it, just as you are. If they all fail, the world will be much darker—that is something you don’t control. But so long as your flame flickers, there will be some light in the world.”
Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 201)
“Our world is abundant with quiet, hidden lives of beauty and courage and goodness. There are millions of people at any given moment, young and old, giving themselves over to service, risking hope, and all the while ennobling us all. To take such goodness in and let it matter—to let it define our take on reality as much as headlines of violence—is a choice we can make to live by the light in the darkness.”
Krista Tippett, Becoming Wise (Page 265)