Caison Britt’s Reviews > A Calendar of Wisdom > Status Update

The improvement of society can be achieved only by the moral improvement of individuals. —Tolstoy

Suffering is the necessary condition for spiritual and physical growth.

You should look in suffering for the seeds of your future spiritual growth, or the bitterness of suffering will be severe.

—Tolstoy

Confront difficulties while they are still easy, then, and tackle a big thing when it is still small. —LAO-TZU

A person who broods on revenge only worsens his wounds. His injuries would heal if he would refrain. —FRANCIS BACON

We often refuse to participate in the innocent joys of life because we are too busy with something we feel we have to do. We should accept these moments, because the sweet and joyful game is sometimes more important and necessary than most other things. Very often the business which busy people claim to be doing is not important at all, and sometimes it would be better left undone. —Tolstoy

We do not have the right to be unhappy with our life. If it seems to us that we are not satisfied with life, we should see this as a reason to be unsatisfied with ourselves. —Tolstoy

People strive in this world, not for those things which are truly good, but for the possession of many things which they can call their property. —Tolstoy

I love peasants and farmers; they are not scholarly enough nor educated enough to tell sophisticated lies. —CHARLES DE MONTESQUIEU

When they blame you and scold you and discuss you, then you should rejoice; when they praise you and admire you, then you should be sad. Libel and a false reputation which you can destroy is the best school of goodness. The blaming and criticism of other people is bad. But at the same time it is understandable, and it is valuable as the only test of your love for God and your neighbor. —Tolstoy

“Truth is not virtue, but the lack of vices. The most common and the most widely used deceit is the wish to deceive not other people, but yourself. And this kind of life is the most harmful.” —Tolstoy