Quotations

"For a practitioner of love and compassion, an enemy is one of the most important teachers. Without an enemy you cannot practice tolerance, and without tolerance you cannon build a sound basis of compassion. So in order to practice compassion, you should have an enemy.

When you face your enemy who is going to hurt you, that is the real time to practice tolerance. Therefore, an enemy is the cause of the practice of tolerance; tolerance is the effect or result of an enemy. So those are cause and effect. As is said, "Once something has the relationship of arising from that thing, one cannot consider that thing from which it arises as a harmer; rather it assists the production of the effect."

— Shantideva, 8th-century Indian Buddhist monk

"We hurt ourselves; our pain is self-inflicted! Why should others be the object of our anger?"

— Shantideva, 8th-century Indian Buddhist monk

"Unruly beings are as (unlimited) as space: They cannot possibly all be overcome, But if I overcome thoughts of anger alone This will be equivalent to vanquishing all foes."

— Shantideva, 8th-century Indian Buddhist monk

"Haul up the flag, you mourners, not half-mast but all the way; the funeral is done and disbanded; the devil's had the final say."

— Karl Shapiro, American poet, died May 14, 2000

"The body, what is it, Father, but a sign to love the force that grows us, to give back what in Thy palm is senselessness and mud?"

— Karl Shapiro, American poet, born November 10, 1913

"In my experience, sinning against God is like trying to punch a wave: no matter how hard you strike, you can’t do any damage. Think in terms of swimming in the ocean. If you swim with the current, the ocean works with you. If you swim against it, the ocean works against you. While this matters greatly to you, it matters not at all to the ocean. And regardless of which way you choose to swim, you are always in the ocean. I believe God is like this as well. You can live godly or ungodly, but God is unchanged. If you are “swimming” in an ungodly manner, you aren’t sinning against God or separate from God. You are simply working against your own best interest. No separation is possible; no return is necessary."

— Rami Shapiro, American rabbi, born 1951

"Many people who have been near death find themselves drawn to a light of unending love that welcomes them home. Drawing near to this love and then returning to earth makes people live more lovingly. You don't have to die to benefit from this idea; all you have to do is live more lovingly here and now."

— Rami Shapiro, American rabbi, born 1951

"Be as joyous as possible and as sad as necessary."

— Rami Shapiro, American rabbi, born 1951

"They tried their best to find a place where I was isolated. But all the resources of a superpower cannot isolate the man who hears a voice of freedom, a voice I heard from the very chamber of my soul."

— Natan Sharansky, Ukrainian-Israeli politician, born January 20, 1948

"In dictatorships you need courage to fight evil; in the free world you need courage to see evil."

— Natan Sharansky, Ukrainian-Israeli politician, born January 20, 1948

"Will dissent be permitted? The answer to that question will determine whether the society is a free society or a fear society."

— Natan Sharansky, Ukrainian-Israeli politician, born January 20, 1948

"I like Dancing of Indian girls more than my parents’ prayers. Because they dance with love and passion. But my parents just say their prayers because they got used to it."

— Ali Shariati, Iranian sociologist, born November 23, 1933

"My father chose my name, and my last name was chosen by my ancestors. That’s enough, I myself choose my way."

— Ali Shariati, Iranian sociologist, born November 23, 1933

"I don't know what sex appeal is. I don't think you can have sex appeal knowingly. The people who seduce me personally are the people who seem not to know they're seductive, and not to know they have sex appeal."

— Omar Sharif, Egyptian actor, born April 10, 1932