and I come to voice my complaints
through your clamorous babbling."

A slave listened every night to a nightingale. "Why are you listening to
me?" said the bird. The answer was: "My ears are denied all day by the
curses of my master, and I listen all night to your voice so that my
ears may be purified."

A slave looked every day towards the clouds. "O man, why do you look at
us?" said the clouds. "Because," said the slave, "I hope you understand
my thought, and will tell them to Him to whom you are nearer than I am."

* * * * *

Until a man is a father he looks back to his own father; when he is
himself a father he looks forward and loses his father.

Men with little wisdom have much passion; men with much wisdom have
great compassion and little passion.

Never in prayer try to teach God what He should do for you, but rather
ask Him what you should do for Him.

Too much light as well as too much darkness causes blindness.

Construct a better world, and then you may say that this one is bad.

When you kill a lion, you can say: "I sinned because I killed my
brother." When you kill a man, you can say: "I sinned because I killed
myself."

If you love God, you cannot fear Him; if you fear Him, you cannot love
Him.

Be humble, for the worst thing in the world is of the same stuff as you;
be confident, for the stars are of the same stuff as you.

* * * * *

When the wind blows, the fool tries to compete by shouting.

Summer is most loved in winter, and winter in summer.

Ugliness moves slowly, but beauty is in great haste.

God speaks every language except the godless,
God grants everything except eternity,
God takes back everything but sins.

The best thing that the last man on earth can do is just what the first
man could do. He can kneel on the earth, his mother, and pray to God,
his father.

The fool is wisest when he sleeps; the wise man is most foolish when he
dances.

When young men stand at the bier of an old man, it is pathetic; if old
men stand at the bier of a young man, it is grievous; but God sees all
and keeps silent. Why should you lament?

* * * * *

If you kill a solitary man, his kinsmen from the other world will
persecute you.

Nobody can forever conceal what is good in you, nor can you yourself
conceal what is evil.

There is no real death except the death of the soul.