wholy.sh

"Confine yourself to the present."

Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.29

"And if not now, when?"

Judaism · Hillel, Pirkei Avot 1:14

"We learnt by watching and listening, waiting and then acting."

Ngangikurungkurr · Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann, Dadirri — A Reflection, p. 2 (Emmaus Productions, 2002)

"Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself."

Christianity · Matthew 6:34

"The past should not be followed after, and the future not desired. What is past is dead and gone, and the future is yet to come."

Buddhism · Bhaddekaratta Sutta

"Put out of your mind what is past and do not fret and worry about what has not yet come to pass."

Zoroastrianism · Counsels of Adarbad Mahraspandan 3 (R. C. Zaehner trans.)

"Past and future veil God from our sight; burn up both of them with fire."

Sufism · Rumi, Masnavi

"While you do not know life, how can you know about death?"

Confucianism · Analects 11.12 (Legge trans.)

"When the five senses are stilled, when the mind is stilled, when the intellect is stilled, that is called the highest state by the wise."

Hinduism · Katha Upanishad 2.3.10 (Easwaran trans.)

"This human body has been given to you. This is your chance to meet the Lord of the Universe."

Sikhism · Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 12 (Guru Arjan; Khalsa trans.)

"The (state of) vacancy should be brought to the utmost degree, and that of stillness guarded with unwearying vigour."

Taoism · Tao Te Ching, Ch. 16 (Legge trans.)

"Be still, and know that I am God."

Judaism · Psalm 46:10

"It’s about living fully in the present moment, which is connected to the past and extends into the future."

Shinto · Kikuno Hyodo, Cherishing the Present Moment (Musubi Academy interview)

"The essence of true safety is to observe silence, to look at the end of things and to renounce the world."

Bahá’í Faith · Bahá’u’lláh, Words of Wisdom, p. 156 (Taherzadeh et al. trans.)

"Concentration is turning the thought away from several objects and fixing it on one."

Jainism · Pujyapada, Sarvarthasiddhi on Tattvartha Sutra 9.27 (Vijay K. Jain trans.)

"You don't control tomorrow, yet you postpone joy."

Greek Philosophy · Epicurus, Vatican Sayings 14 (Saint-Andre trans.)

"You have the right to work, but never to the fruit of work."

Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita 2.47 (Easwaran trans.)

"Be in this world as though you were a stranger or a wayfarer."

Islam · Hadith, Sahih al-Bukhari 6416 (Ibrahim & Johnson-Davies trans.)

"The origin of suffering is craving."

Buddhism · Second Noble Truth

"Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you. All things pass. God does not change."

Christian Mysticism · St. Teresa of Ávila

"Naked came I out of my mother's womb… the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away."

Judaism · Job 1:21 (JPS 1917 trans.)

"It isn't the things themselves that disturb people, but the judgements that they form about them."

Stoicism · Epictetus, Enchiridion 5 (Robin Hard trans.)

"Ultimately, human beings cannot control this world. Also, we cannot change the past and we cannot foresee the future."

Shinto · Taishi Kato, Seeing Life as Sacred (Musubi Academy interview)

"Thou dost wish for gold and I desire thy freedom from it."

Bahá’í Faith · Bahá’u’lláh, The Hidden Words, Arabic 56 (Shoghi Effendi trans.)

"There were four things from which the Master was entirely free. He had no foregone conclusions, no arbitrary predeterminations, no obstinacy, and no egoism."

Confucianism · Analects 9.4 (Legge trans.)

"Even in the absence of external things, the disposition that ‘this is mine’ constitutes infatuation (parigraha)."

Jainism · Pujyapada, Sarvarthasiddhi on Tattvartha Sutra 7.17 (Vijay K. Jain trans.)

"Remaining unblemished in the midst of the filth of the world - this is the way to attain Yoga."

Sikhism · Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 730 (Guru Nanak; Khalsa trans.)

"Poverty is great wealth if measured by the goals of nature, and wealth is abject poverty if not limited by the goals of nature."

Greek Philosophy · Epicurus, Vatican Sayings 25 (Saint-Andre trans.)

"You should not serve things; things should serve you."

Sumerian wisdom · Instructions of Shuruppag 243 (ETCSL 5.6.1 trans., 1999)

"We are River people. We cannot hurry the river. We have to move with its current and understand its ways."

Ngangikurungkurr · Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann, Dadirri — A Reflection, p. 2 (Emmaus Productions, 2002)

"He that envies another, injures himself."

Inka wisdom · Attributed to Pachacutec in Garcilaso, Royal Commentaries VI.36 (Markham trans., 1871, vol. II, p. 208)

"Thou shouldst not become presumptuous through much treasure and wealth; for in the end it is necessary for thee to leave all."

Zoroastrianism · Menog-i Khrad 2.102–103 (E. W. West trans.)

"I neither know nor think that I know."

Greek Philosophy · Socrates, in Plato's Apology 21d (Jowett trans.)

"Do not be proud on account of your knowledge, but discuss with the ignorant as with the wise."

Ancient Egyptian wisdom · Teaching of Ptahhotep, §4, Papyrus Prisse 5.8–10 (UCL trans., 2003)

"What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?"

Christianity · 1 Corinthians 4:7 (NIV)

"All actions are performed by the gunas of prakriti. Deluded by identification with the ego, a person thinks, 'I am the doer.'"

Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita 3.27 (Easwaran trans.)

"When you know a thing, hold that you know it; when you do not, allow that you do not. This is knowledge."

Confucianism · Analects 2.17

"Accustom your tongue to say: I do not know, lest you become entangled in a web of deceit."

Judaism · Talmud, Berakhot 4a (Steinsaltz trans.)

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few."

Zen Buddhism · Shunryu Suzuki

"Sweetness and humility, O Nanak, are the essence of virtue and goodness."

Sikhism · Guru Granth Sahib, Asa di Var, Ang 470 (Guru Nanak; Khalsa trans.)

"So it is that the sage (ruler), wishing to be above men, puts himself by his words below them, and, wishing to be before them, places his person behind them."

Taoism · Tao Te Ching, Ch. 66 (Legge trans.)

"Be not ashamed to be helped."

Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.7 (Long trans.)

"To be free from pride in spite of possessing knowledge, etc., is modesty – anutseka."

Jainism · Pujyapada, Sarvarthasiddhi on Tattvartha Sutra 6.26 (Vijay K. Jain trans.)

"Know ye not why We created you all from the same dust? That no one should exalt himself over the other."

Bahá’í Faith · Bahá’u’lláh, The Hidden Words, Arabic 68 (Shoghi Effendi trans.)

"Shinto has a notion of being in harmony with nature, so we are just a part of nature, not above it."

Shinto · Taishi Kato, Seeing Life as Sacred (Musubi Academy interview)

"We therefore bow before Thee, and we direct our prayers to Thee with confessions of our guilt, O Ahura Mazda!"

Zoroastrianism · Yasna 36.5 (Mills trans.)

"The kūmara does not speak of its own sweetness."

Māori · Kaore te kūmara e kōrero mo tōna māngaro, as quoted by Peter Adds, Te Ara (2012)

"You yourselves must strive; the Buddhas only point the way."

Buddhism · Dhammapada 276 (Buddharakkhita trans.)

"Though the grub is small, it gnaws away at the white pine."

Māori · Whakataukī, He iti te mokoroa nāna i kakati te kahikatea (Basil Keane, Te Ara, 2012)

"In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present — I am rising to the work of a human being."

Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.1 (Long trans.)

"If there want but one basket of earth to complete the work, and I stop, the stopping is my own work."

Confucianism · Analects 9.19 (Legge trans.)

"That man will only have what he has worked towards."

Islam · Quran 53:39 (Abdel Haleem trans.)

"Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."

Christianity · Galatians 6:9 (ESV)

"Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached."

Hinduism · Katha Upanishad 1.3.14, in Vivekananda's rendering

"It is not thy duty to complete the work, but neither art thou free to desist from it."

Judaism · Rabbi Tarfon, Pirkei Avot 2:16 (Gorfinkle trans.)

"(But) people in their conduct of affairs are constantly ruining them when they are on the eve of success. If they were careful at the end, as (they should be) at the beginning, they would not so ruin them."

Taoism · Tao Te Ching, Ch. 64 (Legge trans.)

"We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts."

Greek Philosophy · Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics II.1, 1103b (Ross trans.)

"Having been born as a man, having heard the Law, believing in it, and fulfilling it strenuously, an ascetic should restrain himself and shake off sinfulness."

Jainism · Uttaradhyayana Sutra 3.11 (Jacobi trans.)

"Do not despair! Work steadily. Sincerity and love will conquer hate."

Bahá’í Faith · ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks 6 (21 October 1911)

"Yet the exertion, when it is fruitless in the worldly existence, through the sacred beings not being with it, still comes, afterwards, to one's assistance in the spiritual existence, and outweighs in the balance."

Zoroastrianism · Menog-i Khrad 22.6 (E. W. West trans.)

"Even though leaves will fall again, they are swept away daily."

Shinto · Kikuno Hyodo, Cherishing the Present Moment (Musubi Academy interview)

"One who works for what he eats, and gives some of what he has — O Nanak! He knows the Path."

Sikhism · Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 1245 (Guru Nanak; Khalsa trans.)

"The noble and generous man is known by the patience he shows in adversity."

Inka wisdom · Attributed to Pachacutec in Garcilaso, Royal Commentaries VI.36 (Markham trans., 1871, vol. II, p. 209)

"Who is the mighty one? One who conquers their impulse."

Judaism · Pirkei Avot 4:1

"He who overcomes others is strong; he who overcomes himself is mighty."

Taoism · Tao Te Ching, Ch. 33 (Legge trans.)

"You should not pass judgment when you drink beer."

Sumerian wisdom · Instructions of Shuruppag 126 (ETCSL 5.6.1 trans., 1999)

"Bear and forbear."

Stoicism · Epictetus, reported by Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights 17.19

"Fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may be mindful of God."

Islam · Quran 2:183 (Abdel Haleem trans.)

"Those who eat too much or eat too little, who sleep too much or sleep too little, will not succeed in meditation."

Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita 6.16 (Easwaran trans.)

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control."

Christianity · Galatians 5:22–23 (ESV)

"Wonderful, indeed, it is to subdue the mind, so difficult to subdue, ever swift, and seizing whatever it desires. A tamed mind brings happiness."

Buddhism · Dhammapada 35 (Buddharakkhita trans.)

"The senses should be freed by avoiding any physical substances that might cloud or distort them."

Shinto · Yukitaka Yamamoto, Kami No Michi, appendix C, Before Misogi

"Look not at what is contrary to propriety; listen not to what is contrary to propriety; speak not what is contrary to propriety; make no movement which is contrary to propriety."

Confucianism · Analects 12.1 (Legge trans.)

"Conquer your own mind, and conquer the world."

Sikhism · Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 6, Japji Sahib 28 (Guru Nanak; Khalsa trans.)

"When the threefold activity of the body, the sense-organ of speech and the mind is curbed well, there is no room for evil disposition."

Jainism · Pujyapada, Sarvarthasiddhi on Tattvartha Sutra 9.4 (Vijay K. Jain trans.)

"A simple thing enough; just what is commonly said, that a man should be temperate and master of himself, and ruler of his own pleasures and passions."

Greek Philosophy · Socrates, in Plato’s Gorgias 491d–e (Jowett trans.)

"We, verily, have commanded you to refuse the dictates of your evil passions and corrupt desires…"

Bahá’í Faith · Bahá’u’lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas §2 (Bahá’í World Centre, 1992)

"For he whom anger hurries on (aushtavet) is able to recover himself from it through goodness."

Zoroastrianism · Menog-i Khrad 16.22 (E. W. West trans.)

"They tolerated it, for they knew their own nature, and this was a light by which they could see."

K’iche’ Maya · Popol Vuh, the twins mistreated by their brothers, p. 127 (Christenson trans., 2007)

"A person of integrity is grateful and acknowledges the help given to them."

Buddhism · Kataññu Sutta, AN 2.31

"Truly we thank you doubly, triply that we were created, that we were given our mouths and our faces."

K’iche’ Maya · Popol Vuh, The Gratitude of the First Men, p. 184 (Christenson trans., 2007)

"Think not so much of what thou hast not as of what thou hast."

Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.27 (Long trans.)

"By contentment, supreme joy is gained."

Hinduism · Yoga Sutras 2.42 (Satchidananda trans.)

"If you are thankful, I will give you more."

Islam · Quran 14:7 (Abdel Haleem trans.)

"With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my bended arm for a pillow; I have still joy in the midst of these things."

Confucianism · Analects 7.16 (Legge trans.)

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice."

Christianity · Philippians 4:4 (ESV)

"If a man had no more to do with God than to be thankful, that would suffice."

Christian Mysticism · Meister Eckhart, Sermon 27 (Walshe trans.)

"Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity."

Bahá’í Faith · Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings CXXX (Shoghi Effendi trans.)

"Don't ruin the things you have by wanting what you don't have, but realize that they too are things you once did wish for."

Greek Philosophy · Epicurus, Vatican Sayings 35 (Saint-Andre trans.)

"Fervent affection as well as veneration in the presence of the virtuous (guṇādhika) is joy (pramoda)."

Jainism · Pujyapada, Sarvarthasiddhi on Tattvartha Sutra 7.11 (Vijay K. Jain trans.)

"He who is satisfied with his lot is rich."

Taoism · Tao Te Ching, Ch. 33 (Legge trans.)

"Wonderful are the beings, wonderful are the species. Wonderful are the forms, wonderful are the colors."

Sikhism · Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 463 (Guru Nanak; Khalsa trans.)

"To be grateful in the world, and to wish happiness for every one."

Zoroastrianism · Menog-i Khrad 63.4–5 (E. W. West trans.)

"We carry out matsuri in bright and pure sincerity, offering thanks for the blessings of the kami and the gifts of our ancestors."

Shinto · Jinja Honchō, Principles of a Life Honouring the Kami, 1956, §1 (David Chart trans.)

"So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom."

Judaism · Psalm 90:12 (ESV)

"We are all thankful to our Mother, the Earth, for she gives us all that we need for life."

Haudenosaunee · Thanksgiving Address, The Earth Mother, Mohawk version (Stokes & Benedict, 1993)

"The best of people are those who are most beneficial to others."

Islam · Hadith, al-Tabarani

"The noble person is modest in speech but exceeds in action."

Confucianism · Analects 14.27

"In the midst of this world, do seva, and you shall be given a place of honor in the Court of the Lord."

Sikhism · Guru Granth Sahib, Sri Rag, Ang 26 (Guru Nanak; Khalsa trans.)

"When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing."

Christianity · Matthew 6:3

"If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I?"

Judaism · Hillel, Pirkei Avot 1:14

"One who experiences the unity of life sees their own Self in all beings, and all beings in their own Self."

Hinduism · Isha Upanishad 6

"All the joy the world contains has come through wishing happiness for others. All the misery the world contains has come through wanting pleasure for oneself."

Buddhism · Shantideva, The Way of the Bodhisattva 8.129 (Padmakara trans.)

"The function of the souls (jīva) is to help one another."

Jainism · Tattvartha Sutra 5.21 (Vijay K. Jain trans.)

"The sage does not accumulate (for himself). The more that he expends for others, the more does he possess of his own; the more that he gives to others, the more does he have himself."

Taoism · Tao Te Ching, Ch. 81 (Legge trans.)

"For what more dost thou want when thou hast done a man a service? Art thou not content that thou hast done something conformable to thy nature, and dost thou seek to be paid for it?"

Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 9.42 (Long trans.)

"Kindness … may be defined as helpfulness towards some one in need, not in return for anything, nor for the advantage of the helper himself, but for that of the person helped."

Greek Philosophy · Aristotle, Rhetoric II.7, 1385a (Rhys Roberts trans.)

"That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth himself to the service of the entire human race."

Bahá’í Faith · Bahá’u’lláh, Tablet of Maqṣúd, p. 167 (Shoghi Effendi trans.)

"What is then Your Kingdom, O Mazda? What are Your riches? that I may become Your own in my actions, with the Righteous Order, and (Thy) Good Mind, to care for Your poor (in their suffering)."

Zoroastrianism · Yasna 34.5 (L. H. Mills trans.)

"Make your staff happy with what has come to you, it has come to one whom the god favours."

Ancient Egyptian wisdom · Teaching of Ptahhotep, §25, Papyrus Prisse 11.1–4 (UCL trans., 2003)

"When your produce has ripened, you shall feed all your fellow villagers from it, without exception."

Mbyá-Guaraní · Ayvu Rapyta XIII.11, on sharing crops (house rendering from Cadogan’s Spanish, 1997, p. 213)

"We serve others and the world, establishing the world as the bearers of the words of the kami."

Shinto · Jinja Honchō, Principles of a Life Honouring the Kami, 1956, §2 (David Chart trans.)

"Justice, justice shall you pursue."

Judaism · Deuteronomy 16:20 (JPS trans.)

"To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage."

Confucianism · Analects 2.24 (Legge trans.)

"Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to God, even as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin."

Islam · Quran 4:135 (Yusuf Ali trans.)

"One who does not frighten anyone, and who is not afraid of anyone else — says Nanak, listen, mind: call him spiritually wise."

Sikhism · Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 1427 (Guru Tegh Bahadur; Khalsa trans.)

"If it is not right, do not do it: if it is not true, do not say it."

Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 12.17 (Long trans.)

"It is better to strive in one's own dharma than to succeed in the dharma of another."

Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita 3.35 (Easwaran trans.)

"As an elephant in the battlefield withstands arrows shot from bows all around, even so shall I endure abuse."

Buddhism · Dhammapada 320 (Buddharakkhita trans.)

"We must obey God rather than men."

Christianity · Acts 5:29 (ESV)

"It is the Way of Heaven to diminish superabundance, and to supplement deficiency. It is not so with the way of man. He takes away from those who have not enough to add to his own superabundance."

Taoism · Tao Te Ching, Ch. 77 (Legge trans.)

"Desisting (virati) from injury (hiṃsā), falsehood (anṛta), stealing (steya), unchastity (abrahma) and attachment-to-possessions (parigraha) is the (fivefold) vow (vrata)."

Jainism · Tattvartha Sutra 7.1 (Vijay K. Jain trans.)

"Now this Justice is in fact perfect Virtue, yet not simply so but as exercised towards one’s neighbour."

Greek Philosophy · Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics V.1, 1129b (Chase trans.)

"That, therefore, would we choose, O Ahura Mazda! and thou, O Righteousness the beauteous! that we should think, and speak, and do those thoughts, and words, and deeds, among actual good thoughts, and words, and actions, which are the best for both the worlds."

Zoroastrianism · Yasna 35.3 (Mills trans.)

"Be unjust to no man, and show all meekness to all men."

Bahá’í Faith · Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings CXXX (Shoghi Effendi trans.)

"It is to be honest, upright, genuine, true, and sincere in all of our actions."

Shinto · Olivia Bernkastel (Konko Faith), Core Concepts of Shinto: Magokoro

"Who does what is right, is free from falsehood."

Ancient Egyptian wisdom · Teaching of Ptahhotep, §41, Papyrus Prisse 15.8–16.2 (UCL trans., 2003)

"So, speak truth, do justice, be kind, and do not do evil."

Yorùbá Ifá · Odù Ifá 33:1, as quoted in Los Angeles Sentinel (Karenga trans., 7 Apr 2016)

"Forgive, and you will be forgiven."

Christianity · Luke 6:37

"I ask pardon of all living creatures, may all of them pardon me, may I have friendship with all beings and enmity with none."

Jainism · Pratikramana Sutra 49 (Williams trans.)

"Hatred is never ended by hatred but by love; this is an eternal rule."

Buddhism · Dhammapada 5

"Repel evil with what is better and your enemy will become as close as an old and valued friend."

Islam · Quran 41:34 (Abdel Haleem trans.)

"Forgiveness is the might of the mighty; forgiveness is quiet of mind."

Hinduism · Mahabharata, Udyoga Parva 33.48

"Whoever forgoes his reckonings with others for injustices done to him, the heavenly court in turn forgoes punishment for all his sins."

Judaism · Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 17a (Steinsaltz trans.)

"To those who are good (to me), I am good; and to those who are not good (to me), I am also good."

Taoism · Tao Te Ching, Ch. 49 (Legge trans.)

"Farid, answer evil with goodness; do not fill your mind with anger."

Sikhism · Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 1381, salok 78 (Sheikh Farid; Khalsa trans.)

"It is peculiar to man to love even those who do wrong."

Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.22 (Long trans.)

"Then we ought not to retaliate or render evil for evil to anyone, whatever evil we may have suffered from him."

Greek Philosophy · Socrates, in Plato’s Crito 49c–d (Jowett trans.)

"A benevolent man does not lay up anger, nor cherish resentment against his brother, but only regards him with affection and love."

Confucianism · Mencius 5A.3.2 (Legge trans.)

"If some one commits an error and wrong toward you, you must instantly forgive him."

Bahá’í Faith · ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace (2 December 1912)

"The man who is disposed to render men unhappy should give prominence within himself chiefly to the virtue of benevolence and of taking care of others, so that by this the vice of revengefulness is weakened and the power of the vindictive Druj is rendered harmless."

Zoroastrianism · Denkard 3.295 (R. P. Karkaria trans.)

"Smile warmly and use gentle words after an argument with your partner. Do not stay angry or hold a grudge."

Shinto · Yoshiaki Fukuda (Konko Faith), quoted by Masato Kawahatsu, Nichi Bei News (11 June 2026)

"Do not reply with a slight, do not react against him by destroying him."

Ancient Egyptian wisdom · Teaching of Ptahhotep, §36, on a friend, Papyrus Prisse 14.6–12 (UCL trans., 2003)