Sense shines with a double luster when it is set in humility. An able yet humble man is a jewel worth a kingdom.
William PennRead
I know no religion that destroys courtesy, civility, and kindness.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that true religious beliefs should foster good manners and kindness among people.
William Penn's quote emphasizes the intrinsic value of courtesy, civility, and kindness in any belief system. He argues that genuine religion should not lead to the degradation of human interaction; rather, it should enhance our understanding of respect and kindness towards others, regardless of differences in faith or opinion.
In practice
This quote can be shared during discussions on the role of religion in society.
Sense shines with a double luster when it is set in humility. An able yet humble man is a jewel worth a kingdom.
Where thou art Obliged to speak, be sure speak the Truth: For Equivocation is half way to Lying, as Lying, the whole way to Hell.
Man, being made reasonable, and so a thinking creature, there is nothing more worthy of his being than the right direction and employment of his thoughts; since upon this depends both his usefulness to the public, and his own present and future benefit in all respects.
Do good with what thou hast, or it will do thee no good.
To be a man's own fool is bad enough, but the vain man is everybody's.
Unless virtue guide us our choice must be wrong.
When good thing are accomplished, it does not claim (or name) them. This is Te, which is close in meaning to power or virtue. It is something within a person, and it is enhanced by following the Tao, or 'that from which nothing can deviate'.
Dreams are symbolic in order that they cannot be understood; in order that the wish, which is the source of the dream, may remain unknown.
Descriptions of inner, spiritual processes are much more liable to misunderstanding than descriptions of events in the physical world. Such misunderstandings arise easily because the life of the soul is in constant movement and because we fail to bear in mind that the life of the soul is very different from life in the physical world.
To theology, ... only what it holds sacred is true, whereas to philosophy, only what holds true is sacred.
If the human race develops an electronic nervous system, outside the bodies of individual people, thus giving us all one mind and one global body, this is almost precisely what has happened in the organization of cells which compose our own bodies. We have already done it. [...] If all this ends with the human race leaving no more trace of itself in the universe than a system of electronic patterns, why should that trouble us? For that is exactly what we are now!
Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?
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