Heaven is my father and Earth is my mother, and even such a small being as I finds an intimate place in their midst. Therefore that which fills the universe I regard as my body and that which directs the universe I consider as my nature. All people are my brothers and sisters and all things are my companions
— Zhang Zai
A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit
— Professor Elton Trueblood
The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the colour of your thoughts
— Marcus Aurelius
Freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast
— Viktor Frankl
The external world only exists for us so far as we receive it into ourselves
— Alexander von Humbolt
Be a philosopher; but, amidst all your philosophy, be still a man [sic]
— David Hume
If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you
— The Gospel of Thomas
We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise, we harden
— Johann von Goethe
Nothing is worth more than this day. You cannot relive yesterday. Tomorrow is still beyond your reach
— Johann von Goethe
You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him
— Johann von Goethe
Hence it comes that all armed Prophets have been victorious, and all unarmed Prophets have been destroyed
— Niccolo Machiavelli
Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.
The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo
— Karl Marx
Each injustice has to be fought against, even if it's only in one's heart
— Pramoedya Ananta Toer
If there is a God, He will have to beg my forgiveness
— Carved on the walls of a concentration camp cell during WWII by a Jewish prisoner
The most terrible poverty is loneliness and the feeling of being unloved