Many / One

A database of 11,000+ illuminated guiding quotations in 40 categories from 600+ inspired books by our most brilliant and influential authors.
Compiled by JoAnn Kite

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1		"The sum of our souls is the potentiality of Some Thing, not yet made, which is to emerge from their mass. Collective aspirations accompany and assist this organic work, greater than ourselves, which is effected in each one of us. It is the function of Morality to guide our free decisions into fruitful and obedient co-operation in this task." Writings in Time of War (Pierre Teilhard deChardin)

2		"One can no more know oneself or the oneness of all things without knowing the anguish of myriads who are part of that web of life, and responding to their anguish as though to one's own, than one could act in a play and ignore all the other actors in their parts." Theosophy, A Modern Expression of the Wisdom of the Ages (Robert Ellwood)

3		"That nature alone is good which refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not good for itself." 'Dadistan-i-dinik', 94, 5 (Zoroastrian text) The Quotable Spirit (Peter Lorie and Manuela D Mascetti, editors)

4		"God made all things to be helpful for virtue." Clement of Alexandria, 'On Spiritual Perfection' Alexandrian Christianity (John E. L. Oulton, editor)

5		"The character structure of the mature and integrated personality, the productive character, constitutes the source and the basis of virtue." Erich Fromm Creative Vision for Art and for Life (Richard Guggenheimer)

6		"Esoteric studies reveal Cosmos as a vast hierarchy of lives evolving through Law." Angels and Mortals, Their Co-Creative Power (Maria Parisen, compiler)

7		"Because all creatures contain the Word of God and express it, there is a radical equality of being that needs to be reverenced." The Coming of the Cosmic Christ (Matthew Fox)

8		"Truly blessed is the man who seeks virtue and pursues it and inquires diligently into its nature, since it is through virtue that he approaches God and enters into spiritual communion with Him." St. John of Damaskos, 'On the Virtues and the Vices' The Philokalia, volume 2 (various authors, compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain)

9		"Living morally and honestly, one maintains his balance and doesn't topple into the reactive world of negative effects." The Child Within Us Lives!, A Synthesis of Science, Religion and Metaphysics (William Samuel)

10		"The whole fabric of human society, its laws and its ethics, is based on the dignity of every human being." Theodore M. Hesburgh, priest, author, social activist, 'Making a Difference' A Parliament of Souls, In Search of Global Spirituality (Michael Tobias, Jane Morrison, Bettina Gray, editors)

11		"Wherever we are, whoever we are, the responsibility for the integrity and beauty of our personalities cannot be shirked. I must get up each morning, take life into my own hands, and put my own distinct, unique, and unrepeatable stamp on it. I must freely decide to create the mood of the day rather than let the circumstances and conditions of the day rule my life. With my spirit (the breath of God in me) I will transform the raw matter of my life and make it beautiful. That is my human vocation and my moral duty." The Human Adventure, Contemplation for Everyman (William McNamara, O.C.D.)

12		"Authentic morality, in Jesus' living experience, flowed naturally and spontaneously from authentic and realized divine love." Son of Man, The Mystical Path to Christ (Andrew Harvey)

13		"We are only really happy in the long run if we are committed to virtue, allowing our character to be schooled and formed by its precious wisdom. When we are truly in harmony with the Divine, others, nature, and ourselves, we are naturally virtuous and other will know it!" The Mystic Hours, A Daybook of Interspiritual Wisdom & Devotion (Wayne Teasdale)

14		"There is no exception to service in the society of living beings....In fact, no living being is exempted from rendering service to others. Service is a constant companion of the living being, and so we may conclude that rendering service is the eternal religion of the eternal living entity." Bhagavad-Gita As It Is (A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)

15		"True happiness flows from the possession of wisdom and virtue and not from the possession of external goods." Aristotle (384-322 bce), 'Politics' The Quotable Spirit (Peter Lorie and Manuela D Mascetti, editors)

16		"We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, and never to be undone. Every smallest stroke of virtue or of vice leaves its never so little scar….Nothing we ever do is, in strict scientific literalness, wiped out." William James (1842-1910), 'The Principles of Psychology' Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 16th edition (John Bartlett)

17		"The precepts of the law are these: to live honestly, to injure no one, and to give every man his due." Justinian I (483-565 ad), Byzantine emperor, 'The Institutes of Justinian', Title I, bk. 1 The Great Thoughts (George Seldes, compiler)

18		"Correct attitudes and directions in life can open one's eyes to the existence of the harmonious rhythm of all things in the universe, and can inspire one to seek to coexist with all living things." Dialogue on Life, Buddhist Perspectives on Life and the Universe (Daisaku Ikeda)

19		"Kindness will eventually transform the entire existence of an individual, having reverberations in the community and the world. Let us allow ourselves to be refashioned by the effective and beautiful quality of kindness." The Mystic Hours, A Daybook of Interspiritual Wisdom & Devotion (Wayne Teasdale)

20		"Compassion knows that the One is the Many, that the One is expressed equally in each and every being, and so each is to be treated with compassion and care…because each being, exactly as it is, is a perfect manifestation of Spirit. Thus compassion sees that the One is the Many." Ken Wilber, 'Sex, Ecology and Spirituality' Shadows of the Sacred: Seeing Through Spiritual Illusions (Frances Vaughan, Ph.D.)

21		"We are still young and growing is not easy. But there seems to be a prevailing virtue in us, a conscience, which recalls us from our vagrancies and draws us toward the light." Creative Vision for Art and for Life (Richard Guggenheimer)

22		"In happiness and suffering, in joy and in grief, we should regard all creatures as we regard our own self, and should therefore refrain from inflicting upon others such injury as would appear undesirable to us if inflicted upon ourselves." Yogashastra, 2:20 (Jain scripture) Basic Theosophy (Geoffrey Hodson)

23		"It is in our best interest to be kind and compassionate. Kindness not only comes back to us, often in rewards too subtle to notice, but it brings us closer to God by making us feel worthy of grace and protecting us from toxic relationships that throw tension and distress in the way of peace." Making Peace With God, A Practical Guide (Harold Bloomfield, M.D. & Philip Goldberg, Ph.D.)

24		"The Talmud states, 'All are responsible for each other.' And Jesus taught, 'That which you do to the least of these my brethren you do unto me.'" Invisible Acts of Power: Personal Choices That Create Miracles (Caroline Myss)

25		"Confucius replied….'wisdom, compassion and courage – these are the three universally recognized moral qualities of man." Tze-sze (ca. 335-288 bce), Chinese philosopher, grandson of Confucius, 'The Golden Mean of Tze-sze' The Great Thoughts (George Seldes, compiler)