Wisdom
Here are all the articles — quotes from the wise along with short commentary on topics like building character, discovering purpose and happiness, love, making conscious choices, and more.
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All Articles
Don’t Make Bad Problems Worse
“If I have a difficulty, I don’t want to seek a solution. . . I know there are innumerable solutions, but I want to find out what the cause of that problem is, and when I have really understood [it], I do not create any other problems. If I really
Let Go of Fear and Doubt
“Everything in this life is fraught with fear. It is renunciation alone that makes one fearless.” — Swāmi Vivekānanda At age 16, Ghanshyam Das (GD) Birla set up his jute trading company in India. Come the First World War, the demand for jute soared, and GD and his family members
Do the Right Thing at the Right Time
“When you are really able to think without any cravings, without any desire to choose—for choice implies opposites—there is discernment.” — J. Krishnmurti You should save money, but you want to spend it on something you don’t need. You should finish a task that your parents or spouse asked for,
Resist What Holds You Back
“Resist all evils, mental and physical; and when you have succeeded in resisting, then calmness will come.” — Swāmi Vivekānanda Discipline is working on your goal when your friends are hanging out at the bar. It’s hitting the gym when you’re tempted to watch reruns of your favorite Netflix series. It’s sticking to
How to Change The World
“We feel, if only there were a good leader, the world would be perfectly right. So we are looking to leaders and not to the true function of individuality. When you are trying to understand true individuality you are bound to cooperate, because that is part of it.” — J.
Improve Your Concentration, It Holds the Key
“How has all the knowledge in the world been gained but by the concentration of the mind? The world is ready to give up its secrets if we only know how to knock, how to give it the necessary blow. . . The more concentrated [the mind] is, the more
A Life That’s Worse Than Death
“Death is better than a vegetating or ignorant life; it is better to die on the battlefield than to live a life of defeat.” — Swāmi Vivekānanda Before the Māhābhārata war begins, Arjuna is shrouded in doubt. He doesn’t want to fight his brothers, cousins, uncles, and relatives in the
What A Hostile Herd Means
“The poor world, how often it has been cheated! The more the sansār, that is, the worldly aspect of life, looks at any growing movement with the eyes of suspicion, or, even better still, presents it to a semi-hostile front, so much the better it is for the movement. If
The Calm And The Storm
“The ideal man is he who, in the midst of the greatest silence and solitude, finds the intensest activity, and in the midst of the intensest activity finds the silence and solitude of the desert. He has learned the secret of restraint; he has controlled himself.” — Swami Vivekananda A
Filling The Emptiness In Your Life
“When you really become aware that no one can fulfill you, can give you full completeness, except through your own comprehension, then you put up with minor details . . . Then, the question, choice, of whether to stay or leave does not arise.” — J. Krishnamurti A woman asked