Quotes about kindness
- “The highest wisdom is to distinguish between good and evil” - Socrates
- “Do good while you exist...” - Denis Diderot
- “He who is good is free, even if he is a slave; he who is evil is a slave, even if he is a king.” - Augustine Aurelius
- “I know of no other sign of superiority than kindness” - Ludwig Van Beethoven
- “Kindness is above all blessings” - M. Gorky
- “Kindness is for the soul what health is for the body: it is invisible when you own it, and it gives success in every endeavor” - Leo Tolstoy
- “The good that you do from the heart, you always do for yourself” - L.N. Tolstoy
- “Good is the eternal, highest goal of our life. No matter how we understand good, our life is nothing more than the desire for good” - L.N. Tolstoy
- “We love people for the good that we have done to them, and we do not love for the evil that we have done to them” - L.N. Tolstoy
- “Good done by an enemy is as difficult to forget as it is difficult to remember good done by a friend. For good we pay good only to the enemy; We take revenge for evil on both the enemy and the friend” - V. Klyuchevsky
- “A man’s virtue is not measured by extraordinary feats, but by his daily effort” - Blaise Pascal
- “Where the end of good is the beginning of evil, and where the end of evil is the beginning of good” - F. La Rochefoucauld
- “Whoever does not notice evil is stupid, whoever does not notice good is unhappy” - E. Pludovsky
- “The most beautiful music of the soul is kindness” - Romain Rolland
- “The duel between Good and Evil takes place every second in the heart of every person, for the heart is the battlefield where angels and demons fight. For many millennia they have been fighting for every five, and this will continue until one of the opponents destroys the other” - Paulo Coelho
Life quotes about good and evil (300 quotes)
Good and evil. Good and evil are opposite, mutually exclusive concepts. It's like illness and health. At the same time, they are relative. An individual's reasoning about what is good and evil in modern society may be meaningless and not produce results for the reason that it will be based, first of all, on public opinion on what is considered moral in society. But the whole problem is that any person, when he performs any action, will try, as far as possible, not to create problems, first of all, for himself. You will find life quotes about good and evil here.
If a person has done you harm, give him some candy. He is evil to you, you are candy to him. And so on until this creature develops diabetes.
Our mind was the first to be created in the world, He is the guardian of the soul, the faithful guardian of three guardians, Those three are the tongue, the eyes and the ears: Through them the souls taste good and evil.
If you repay good with good, well done. If you repay evil with good, you are a sage.
Some people think they have a good heart, when in fact they only have weak nerves.
In matters of conscience, the law of the majority does not apply.
Everyone has a soul and it is stuffed with a lot of different things, and even if you see the dark side of a person, this does not mean that he consists of only darkness.
Evil is the desire to assert oneself at the expense of others and everything else.
Evil is always faster than good.
If a person has done you harm, give him some candy. He is evil to you, you are candy to him. And so on until this creature develops diabetes.
Condescension towards evil very closely borders on indifference to good.
Don't expect good from someone who has done evil. The deceiver will in turn be deceived, and everyone will laugh at him.
You are evil because you are weak. It is much more difficult to be kind.
A person commits small evils out of stupidity. Big - because it is profitable.
Secrecy is terrible in evil. In goodness, the desire to be visible is terrible. Therefore, the harm caused by visible evil is superficial, and the harm caused by hidden evil is deep. When good is obvious, the benefit from it is small, and when it is hidden, it is great.
Remember: for everything you do that is unkind, you will have to pay in the same coin... I don’t know who is watching this, but they are watching, and very carefully.
For the most part, doing evil to people is not as dangerous as doing them too much good.
Custom is often evil.
The struggle between good and evil ended with the victory of the former evil over the former good.
The most dangerous people are those evil people who are not entirely devoid of kindness.
Any evil is easy to nip in the bud.
He who is happy himself does not wish harm to others.
All bad deeds were born from good intentions.
When Good is powerless, it is Evil.
Once you turn your back to the devil, you will see the path to God...
Where the end of good is, there is the beginning of evil, and where the end of evil is, there is the beginning of good.
Only good is immortal, Evil does not live long!
No matter how much good you do, in the end you will remain in the shadows.
Nature has arranged it in such a way that insults are remembered longer than good deeds. Good things are forgotten, but grievances stubbornly remain in the memory.
He who does good to a friend does good to himself.
Remember! You never stand still. If you don't move forward, you slide back. If you do not serve good, you serve evil. There is no such thing as emptiness in nature! A man wading up to his neck in water is constrained in his movements. But at the same time, she helps a swimming person to swim.
Evil is distinguished from good by the pomp of celebration of its victories.
It is just as dangerous for an evil person to do good as for a good person to do evil.
Visiting and listening to evil people is already the beginning of an evil deed.
If someone does good to us, we are obliged to patiently endure the evil caused by this person.
You can't achieve more with immorality than with truth. virtue is courageous, and goodness never fears. I will never regret doing a good deed.
The devil often offers evil under the guise of good and deceives many because they do not have wisdom, the skill to discover deception.
The means to combat evil are sometimes worse than the evil itself.
Virtue and vice, moral good and evil in all countries are determined by whether a given phenomenon is useful or harmful for society.
There may be no more evil than good, but indifference outweighed them both...
Any crime has its own morality that justifies it.
Humanity is only a habit, the fruit of civilization. It may completely disappear.
The evil one does not see what is evil.
The invisible evil is most alarming.
Good and evil are at enmity - the world is on fire. What about the sky? The sky is to the side. Curses and joyful hymns do not reach the blue heights.
If you are evil, then why do you know how to do good to your children, and if you are considered kind and warm-hearted, then why don’t you do the same good to our children as to your own?
You yourself will be left with a profit, having done something good for someone good.
People are cruel, but man is kind.
He who does good, having an unlimited opportunity to do evil, is worthy of praise not only for the good he has done, but also for all the evil he does not do.
Kindness requires proof, but beauty does not require it.
No people could survive without making an assessment of what is good and what is evil; in order to survive, he must evaluate differently than his neighbor. Much that is called good by one people is considered shame and reproach by another... Much of what is called evil here was clothed in the purple of honor there.
When you do good to someone, notice that while doing a good deed you will receive the same pleasure that that person will receive.
The better the good, the more difficult it is to dig in, like a ditch. He who does not endure labor will not come to goodness.
Every person has a spark of goodness that is not extinguished by the ashes of error, no matter how thick they are. A particle of love and truth remains in every person, no matter how mired he is in atrocities, no matter how far he strays from the straight path.
He who strives for good must be ready to endure evil.
Achieving the highest virtues is the goal of man. You should not set any limits for yourself in achieving them.
How far the rays of a tiny candle extend! In the same way, a good deed shines in a world of bad weather.
Pay for evil with sincerity, and pay for good with goodness.
What could be more harmful than a person who has knowledge of the most complex sciences, but does not have a kind heart? He will use all his knowledge for evil.
The familiar evil is the least evil.
Evil does not have the luxury of being defeated; Good - maybe.
A kind person is ashamed even in front of a dog.
Don't calm down, don't let yourself be lulled to sleep! While you are young, strong, vigorous, do not get tired of doing good.
No matter how you caress the snake, calling it your beloved child, it will become furious and poison you with poison. He who is vile has the abomination of a snake. Don’t hang out with a scoundrel, don’t be with a despicable person.
Evil is the good we see through myopia.
Violence is the essence of people; our world is rich in violence; And people will not harm their neighbors just out of necessity.
The reward for a good deed is in its very accomplishment.
Evil is always honored, but the innocent suffer, And the one who sacrifices himself for others finds only hostility and anger in them in return.
If you want to please people, appeal to the feelings, be able to dazzle the eyes, sweeten and soften the ears, and attract the heart. And then let their minds try to do something to harm you.
Don't expect good from someone who has done evil. The deceiver will in turn be deceived, and everyone will laugh at him.
The evil we cause brings upon us less hatred and persecution than our virtues.
Wine is our friend, but there is deceit in it: Drink a lot - poison, drink a little - medicine. Do not harm yourself with excess, drink in moderation - and your kingdom will last...
How far the rays of a tiny candle extend! In the same way, a good deed shines in a world of bad weather.
The opportunity to do evil presents itself a hundred times a day, and to do good - once a year.
Kindness can often cause harm, so when you want to do good, think it over carefully.
Dark clouds turn into heavenly flowers when they are kissed by the light.
It takes one day for some major evil to come to light, but it takes several centuries to wipe it off the face of the earth.
Where does rot come from in a person? Maybe a certain percentage of moral monsters are born, and nothing can be done about it? I wish I could learn to recognize them in childhood, before they have time to cause trouble for society!
He who does good to another does good to himself, not in the sense of consequences, but by the very act of doing good, since the consciousness of the good done in itself already gives great joy.
And evil only wants to make us happy.
Any sharp, sudden changes are dangerous and harmful.
You can't achieve more with immorality than with truth. virtue is courageous, and goodness never fears. I will never regret doing a good deed.
Every evil is somehow compensated. Less money means less worries. Less success means fewer envious people.
Our weaknesses no longer harm us when we know them.
The good one finds heaven for himself on earth, while the evil one here anticipates his hell.
He who does not truly hate evil does not truly love good.
If the body is not cleansed, then any food harms it.
There are people who are born with an attraction to evil.
Few can do good, almost all can do evil.
Secrecy is terrible in evil. In goodness, the desire to be visible is terrible. Therefore, the harm caused by visible evil is superficial, and the harm caused by hidden evil is deep. When good is obvious, the benefit from it is small, and when it is hidden, it is great.
Anyone who, listening to evil, does not become angry, has reliably proven his evil character.
Very little evil would happen in the world if it were impossible to do evil under the guise of good.
Is there still a creature in the world who seeks death for his kind? And only a person, given the opportunity, will willingly cause harm to his own kind.
Avoid evil and strive for kindness: The vicious cannot escape shame. It is better not to get along with bad people at all: Their nature is alien to the worthy.
No villains and criminals have done so much evil in the world, shed so much human blood, as people who wanted to be the saviors of humanity.
An evil person harms himself before he harms another.
A villain cannot achieve greatness.
When the Celestial Empire learned that beauty is beauty, ugliness also appeared. When they learned that good is good, evil also appeared.
Help the oppressed and you will be safe from the oppressors; bring benefit to the ruled and you will not be harmed by the rulers.
Only good is immortal, Evil does not live long!
Half the consequences of good intentions are evil. Half the consequences of bad intentions are good.
Every extreme is bad: everything good and useful, taken to an extreme, can become and even, beyond a certain limit, necessarily becomes evil and harmful.
When, while doing good, you do not think about yourself or others, a handful of grains gives mercy for a thousand pounds of bread. When, while helping others, you boast of your generosity and demand gratitude from people, then a hundred gold coins will not bring you even half a copper’s worth.
You must make good out of evil because there is nothing left to make it out of.
The more beautiful a woman is, the more honest she should be, because only with honesty can she counteract the harm that her beauty can cause.
A good deed never goes in vain. He who sows courtesy reaps friendship; he who plants kindness reaps the harvest of love; grace poured out on a grateful soul has never been fruitless, and gratitude usually brings reward.
The other side of good is bad; It’s remarkable that the other side of the bad is also the same.
No one in Christianity has the power to cause harm or forbid resistance to destruction. There is no other power in the church except the power aimed at creation.
You'll rub against a good person like a copper penny rubs against silver, and then you'll sell for two kopecks.
All eras show us the same vices, but not all the same virtues.
There is no harm in misconduct, only harm in publicity. To confuse the world with temptation is a sin, and an extreme one, but it is not a sin to sin if the sin is shrouded in mystery.
When, having done evil, a person is afraid that people will find out about it, he can still find a path to good. When, having done good, a person tries to let people know about it, he creates evil.
I am not outraged by our vices, but I confess that I am ashamed of our virtues.
If drinking causes harm, then this harm comes not from the use of a bad thing, but from the bad use of a good thing.
Everyone wants the best. Don't give it away.
A person’s virtue should be judged not by his impulses, but by everyday deeds.
The character of each person influences the happiness of other people, depending on whether it tends to bring them harm or benefit.
It is just as dangerous for an evil person to do good as for a good person to do evil.
What do I want to gain from virtue? Herself. She is her own reward.
Lying to yourself for your own benefit is counterfeit; to lie for the benefit of another is forgery; to lie in order to harm is slander; this is the worst harm of lying.
How unreasonable a person is when, out of the good he has, he still seeks something else. Not being content with what he has and chasing more, a person loses what he had.
To destroy virtue, it is enough to doubt it.
Virtues can also bring harm if they are not illuminated by the light of reason.
Good is rewarded with good, and evil is answered with evil.
Only those few who create it believe in goodness.
Darkness harms the sun, and a dissolute wife harms her husband’s property.
The highest right is often the highest evil.
The most dangerous person is the one who is unable to harm even a fly: he will not dare to harm a scorpion.
If a doctor cannot do any good, let him do no harm.
There is no struggle between good and evil, there is a red herring.
There would be little evil in the world if it could not be done in the name of good.
Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to the one on whom it is poured.
It is better to face evil face to face than to think about it.
If evil wins, it is declared good.
To those who have not comprehended the science of good, any other science brings only harm.
Evil is always faster than good.
We can consistently do good to our neighbors only when they believe that they cannot harm us with impunity.
No one can harm me without my consent.
I consider blessings shown to an unworthy person to be atrocities.
When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. This is my religion.
The womb is the most unfaithful ally in treaties. This is a storage-nothing pantry. If a lot is invested in it, then the harm is retained within itself, but what is invested is not retained.
Deceit prefers evil to good.
As soon as we transgress the average measure of human kindness by one step, our actions cause distrust. Virtue rests precisely “in the middle.”
An immodest man is often more dangerous than an evil one, for the latter attacks only his enemies, while the former harms his enemies and his friends.
The duel between Good and Evil takes place every second in the heart of every person, for the heart is the battlefield where angels and demons fight.
Doing good deeds flatters the ego, creating a feeling of superiority.
A poison that does not act immediately does not become less dangerous.
Evil is necessary in order to recognize good. Only contradiction allows us to know the true essence of things.
The devil loves good people because he knows that there is no crime that they would not commit in the Name of Good.
Honesty offends people the minute it harms them, but then they admire it and extol it.
When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. This is my religion.
Those noble deeds that remain hidden are valued most highly.
It is very rare, or rather it never happens, that our ambition does not bring harm to another.
Nip evil in the bud! If time is lost and the disease has become stronger, what can the doctor do?
The best thing about good deeds is the desire to conceal them.
To think that a powerless enemy cannot harm is to think that a spark cannot create a fire.
The fabric of our life is woven from tangled threads, good and evil coexist in it.
Virtue is the embodiment of good deeds, and sin is the opposite of this.
Wherever you go through your lands, do not let the youths harm either your own or strangers, or villages, or crops, so that they do not curse you.
You cannot treat good and evil the same way.
The destructiveness of a bad act lies in the fact that it contains within itself the germ of new abominations.
You can’t rush in rashly and, getting angry, cut from the shoulder, taking revenge for the damage on just anyone. It is appropriate for us to act wisely, without causing harm. Hans Sachs gives this advice.
The evil done by a person often outlives him.
In a good deed there is always both kindness and strength to perform it.
I feel obligated not to harm other kindred beings. And this is less because they are unreasonable, but because they are sentient beings.
Every cloud has a silver lining.
The consequences of our good deeds pursue us inexorably, and they are often more difficult to bear than the consequences of our bad deeds.
Everyone must live without burdening others or causing them harm.
He who does good to a friend does good to himself.
When we are paid for a noble act, it is taken away from us.
Weak-willed people are the light cavalry of the army of bad people; they do more harm than the army itself, because they ruin and devastate everything.
Take away the love of goodness from our hearts, and you will take away all the charm of life.
Try to be at least a little kinder, and you will see that you will not be able to commit a bad act.
You do harm if you praise, but even more harm if you blame something you know little about.
A good deed cannot be done out of hatred; especially out of self-interest. It is done only out of love.
He who piles crime upon crime multiplies his own fear.
Reason, when defending justice, suffers more harm from its own ardor than from the slander of its enemies.
To do bad things is low, to do good when it is not associated with danger is a common thing. A good person is one who does great and noble things, even if he risks everything in doing so.
The opportunity to do evil is given one hundred times a day, and to do good - once a year.
Anger is an animal-like passion in its disposition, capable of frequent repetition, cruel and unyielding in strength, serving as the cause of murder, an ally of misfortune, an accomplice of harm and dishonor.
Without darkness there would be no concept of light. In order for light to become aware of itself, it must have its opposite in front of it - darkness.
He who strives for good must be ready to endure evil.
The hallmark of a strict and condensed style is that you cannot eliminate anything from the work without harming it.
No one writes down blessings on the calendar.
The greedy soul is the beginning of all evil deeds.
Touchiness is harmful to relationships, like the flu or a cold is harmful to health.
The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches with him, but to open up to him his own riches.
Virtue and vice, moral good and evil - in all countries are determined by whether a given phenomenon is useful or harmful for society.
If you can help, help. If not, at least do no harm.
One should not only choose the least of the evils, but also extract from them themselves what may be good in them.
It is very easy to be kind, but to be fair is difficult.
Of all the ways to harm yourself, the most painful are those that involve Love.
Evil cannot fly quietly.
Leave, abandon evil and become exalted. Truly evil was created for evil.
Love if it doesn't cause harm.
Secrecy is terrible in evil. In goodness, the desire to be visible is terrible. Therefore, the harm caused by visible evil is superficial, and the harm caused by hidden evil is deep. When good is obvious, the benefit from it is small, and when it is hidden, it is great.
Evil that we can neither overcome nor avoid, we hate.
Anyone who seeks to profit at someone else's expense will certainly end badly!
Every evil is somehow compensated. Less money means less worries. Less success means fewer envious people. Even in those cases when we are not amused, it is not the unpleasantness itself that depresses us, but the way we perceive it.
It is very sad that people's desire to reduce evil gives rise to so many new evils.
We are not as grateful to those who helped us as to those who could have harmed us but refrained.
You need to show everyone as much kindness as, firstly, you can do yourself, and then as much as the one you love and whom you help can accept it.
He who does not have an exalted soul is not capable of kindness: only good nature is available to him.
Rivalry is dangerous and destructive to society. What kind of rivalry is there in your body?! Imagine your brain saying, “I am the most important organ,” and your liver saying, “No, I am. And I want a free enterprise system." Your body would rot in a month if every organ began to think only of itself.
Good is that which serves to preserve and develop life, evil is that which hinders life or destroys it.
I am convinced that the soul of every person rejoices when he does good to another.
The same word and advice is for the benefit of a wise man, but for the detriment of a fool.
Do not let the ingratitude of many discourage you from doing good to people; After all, besides the fact that charity in itself and without any other goal is a noble deed, but when doing good, you sometimes meet in one person so much gratitude that this is a reward for all the ingratitude of others.
They (modern philosophers) subordinate goodness to expediency, although every good is an end, and every expediency is nothing more than a means to achieve this goal.
When we are happy, we are always kind; but when we are kind, we are not always happy.
Do no harm to a husband who finds himself in trouble, and no evil will befall you.
Everything good in the world can be turned into evil.
Darkness does not always mean evil, and light does not always bring good.
Good things are twice as good when they are short. By rewarding the good, we thereby punish the bad.
The more people are disposed towards evil, the more capable they are of believing it. In general, they believe in fictitious evil more easily than in real good.
- Why don't you let people see the good in you? - Because when people see good, they expect better. I don't want to have to live up to anyone's expectations.
Evil people in this mortal world will always be mixed with good people, and good people will always suffer from the crimes of the evil ones.
By following virtue, a person achieves happiness, at least partial and not lasting; the consequence of sin is misfortune.
You need me, without me you are nothing. We are the same - you and me. Only you are boring. You're on the side of the angels.
You don't joke with good, you can catch evil.
Only those who constantly use it have virtue.
He who wants to do good can do a lot of good even with his hands tied.
To win favor, you need good deeds: do good left and right, do not skimp on good words, and even better deeds - love in order to be loved.
One must have intelligence in order to do good; fools are incapable of this.
What is the point of doing evil if good does not oppose it?
Good by decree is not good.
Happy is he who can do evil and who does not do it.
...what would your good do if evil did not exist, and what would the earth look like if shadows disappeared from it?
In every person, nature grows either as grains or as weeds; let him water the first in a timely manner and destroy the second.
Either you serve God or the devil - there is no third option.
With a kind word and a gun you can achieve much more than just a kind word alone.
Deception and force are the tools of the evil ones.
True kindness is when you don’t want to thank in return.
In every good there is evil; and in every evil there is good.
I am quite sure that no one should hesitate for a moment to resort to arms in defense of the priceless gift of freedom, on which depends all the good and evil in life, but arms, I dare add, are the last resort.
When evil disguises itself as good, it does so in a way that is insincere.
I have not seen people love goodness as much as beauty.
The familiar evil is the least evil.
Only he himself can harm a person. The same applies to goodness.
Many people will try to hurt you for the good they see in you, knowing that it is good, envying it and punishing you for it.
Those who love and create—that’s who have always been the creators of good and evil. The fire of love and anger burns on the name day of all virtues.
If there is no evil, then the very fear of evil is evil.
A bone thrown to a dog is not mercy; mercy is a bone shared with a dog when you are as hungry as he is.
Custom is often evil.
Both what a person does and what he suffers is called evil. The first is sin, the second is punishment. A person commits the evil that he wants and suffers the evil that he does not want.
God! Once you start doing good deeds, they won’t stop.
Any evil is easy to nip in the bud.
Create goodness. Do this not for the sake of your own glory, but for the sake of the glory of the one to whom you owe the opportunity to do good.
One kind word can warm three winter months.
Good deeds should never be delayed: any delay is unwise and often dangerous.
He who is good is free, even if he is a slave; he who is angry is a slave, even if he is a king.
Someone asked: “Is it true that they say that evil must be repaid with good?” The teacher said: “Then how to pay for good? Evil must be repaid with justice, and good with good.”
It is better to see evil than not to see good!
Only good can be evil. Where there is no good, there cannot be any evil.
Let the one who has done a good deed be silent; let the one for whom it was done speak.
And if Good is able to sacrifice its love for the sake of the whole world, then Evil will destroy the world in the name of its love.
Create goodness. Do this not for the sake of your own glory, but for the sake of the glory of the one to whom you owe the opportunity to do good.
The possibility always remains that a just and kind action was influenced by some selfish motive.
We are carried away by good or evil according to the first impressions made on us.
There is a very subtle form of evil - this is the good that we could have done, but did not do
Nothing is more exhausting than doing good deeds.
The most difficult thing to fight and eradicate is the evil that is committed under the guise of good.
Evil is cunning, insidious, secretive. Goodness is simple-minded and open.
People who are trying to make this world a worse place don't take days off, why should I?
He who is good is free, even if he is a slave; he who is angry is a slave, even if he is a king.
A bad deed rarely goes without reward.
Do not tempt me, Fedor, for I am unbridled in my desires. As soon as I begin to do good left and right, to inflict benefits and subject them to caresses.
Good, encountering stiff resistance, zealously tries to fight evil.
Doing good is easier than being kind.
He who strives for good must be ready to endure evil.
The greatest evil is suffering.
We are very close to evil if we do not shudder at the mere thought of it.
Every sinful act comes back to us with pain. This is how we know what is good and what is evil.
Virtue and vice, moral good and evil in all countries are determined by whether a given phenomenon is useful or harmful for society.
Creatures who deliberately commit evil do not have the right to be called people.
Good people end up in hell because they can't forgive themselves.
He who is happy himself does not wish harm to others.
The mind inspires the rational person with the same thing forever: Beware of evil, remember: evil is the greatest misfortune.
Doing anything for the sake of gratitude is stupid. You have to live and breathe goodness, without even realizing that what you are doing is good. Only such active good is real. Everything else is a surrogate for show.
Do good deeds while waiting for a miracle. Then the miracle will not come to you empty-handed.
Do not become like predators or herbivores - you are not a beast. But if you do evil, how are you different from the beast now? In order to fight.
In order to fight monstrous evil, monstrous good is required.
Those who do not wish harm cause pain just as much as those who do.
Evil will never give rise to good.
A lot of good can be done if you are in a good mood.
To be fair, you must first be kind. And to be kind means to understand that all people make mistakes.
A good person is the embodiment of the theory of life, an evil person is the embodiment of the reality of existence.
Doing good is easier than being kind.
The truth is that there are no good or bad people. Good and evil are not in people, but in their actions. People remain just people, and they are connected with good or evil by what they do - or refuse to do.
The humblest person experiences some influence of good or evil.
He who does good in silence will be rewarded a hundred times more.
Good is a dangerous thing if you attract a person without inhibitions to it.
The evil done by a person often outlives him.
A kind word is the door to the soul.
Do bright things and everything will work out. Light attracts love and good luck. And it even attracts money.
If, according to the laws of evil, a criminal is drawn to the scene of a crime, then, probably, according to the laws of good, a person who risked his life for another is drawn to the one whom he saved.
When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. This is my religion.
At the end of your life, it won’t matter how many cars you have in your garage or what clubs you’ve been to. What matters is how many lives you changed, how many people you influenced, and who you helped. Do good! It's nice!
Kindness is a quiet madness, for which experience is the best medicine.
An unhappy person is cruel and callous. And all just because good people mutilated him.
Doing anything for the sake of gratitude is stupid. You have to live and breathe goodness, without even realizing that what you are doing is good. Only such active good is real. Everything else is a surrogate for show.
In Buddhism
Chain of rebirths
The teaching speaks of the greatest evil for followers - the so-called samsara. This word means a world filled with suffering. Those who fail to achieve enlightenment will be reborn several more times .
Accumulated karma gives a chance to be reborn:
- deity;
- asura;
- by a person;
- animals;
- in spirit;
- a denizen of hell.
All these creatures tend to be in Samsara, but only a person can leave the wheel of rebirth. That is why coming into this world as a human being is considered a fortunate chance.
The phenomenon is so rare that it is even confirmed in the famous Buddhist metaphor about the blind turtle, which emerges once every century from the very bottom of the ocean. She has the amazing ability, when diving, to fall into a circle floating on the surface of the water. The parable says that even a turtle has a better chance of getting into this circle than a new person will be reborn in samsara. And if the soul was able to appear in a human shell, then it will need to get rid of new rebirths.
This is a rare success, but a person cannot escape suffering. A situation will still arise when someone hurts him, or he causes inconvenience to himself.
Roots of evil
The most interesting thing is that desires become the cause of all suffering. The close relationships in this world make the desires of some people the cause of suffering for others. For example, hungry predatory animals and birds cause suffering to their victims. This means that desires are also evil by Buddhist standards .
However, there are two more attributes that cause suffering. Together they are called the “three roots of evil”:
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- anger causes suffering;
- desires become the cause of pain: when a person parts with something that tends to end or gets tired of constant monotony;
- ignorance leads to internal torment from wrong thoughts.
These characteristics are basic descriptions of a person's bad actions. Buddhism depicts them in the form of an aggressive snake, a lustful rooster or a stupid pig. But the most basic evil is ignorance .
The root of all human problems is vices and their combinations. Thus, anger and ignorance become the source of jealousy. Excessive self-confidence against a background of ignorance becomes the cause of pride.
Mara
The demon Mara is considered a special evil in Buddhism. It embodies lack of spirituality. According to legend, because of it, a person cannot concentrate on meditative practices, replacing everything positive with negativity. He lures people into passions, feelings and desires, which gain unlimited power over them.
Mara lives in the sphere of sensuality - Kamadhatu . It is there that the six worlds listed earlier are located. Their inhabitants have strong sensory experiences. This is how the power of Mara affects them and because of this they suffer all the time.
The path of goodness
In Buddhism, it is believed that everything leads to suffering, and this in turn arises due to lust, rage and ignorance. But any suffering is not eternal. It can be finished. In addition, the path to liberation from the torment of samsara is known to everyone.
This path consists of eight aspects, which is why it is called eightfold:
- words;
- knowledge;
- actions;
- thoughts;
- memory;
- concentration;
- zeal;
- source of existence.
All these aspects must be correct. This path is described in detail in Lamrim. As a novice Buddhist grows spiritually, he gains true knowledge about himself and the world around him, about good and evil, as well as responsibility for his actions and rewards for them.
After realizing all this, a person begins practice, during which he performs ten good deeds. We are talking not only about physical actions, but also about mental processes. In addition to good deeds, a beginner must learn not to commit ten evils . This will help him become immune to gloomy moods.
Moving along his path, the novice must cultivate the following virtues in himself:
- dana (the ability to be generous and compassionate);
- sila (maintaining discipline and self-control);
- kshanti (striving for equanimity and meekness);
- Virya (diligently performing good deeds and following spiritual practices);
- samadhi (concentration);
- prajna (gaining wisdom).
The last point is achieved through conscious perception of all signals, both external and internal. If this happens during meditation, it is called Vipassana.
At the same time, concentration helps to concentrate on meditation - this is shamatha . These two concepts - vipassana and shamatha - are considered the main meditative practices in Buddhism.
Karma
Where does karma come from? All successful and unsuccessful moments in the quest to save oneself (Theravada) or others (Mahayana) become the cause of the accumulation of karma .
This is what the consequences of committed or imperfect actions are called. In Buddhism, it is believed that everything in the world has causes, and after them there will be a consequence.
Some people think that karma is a reward for bad deeds and encouragement for good ones. But it is not so.
- A person chooses: to punish himself or to reward himself. Karma is the result of actions or inaction, including at the level of thoughts.
- She has no mind, so for some people she can be good, for others she can be evil. This is decided objectively, without any bias.
- Karma exists only within a person's consciousness. It is not there from the outside. This is written in more detail in the Abhidharma.
Karma cannot be undone or corrected in any way by the power of thought . Only a conscious act will sow the seeds (biju).
The accumulation of karma does not occur after every evil deed. It should be understood that, for example, intentional murder will cause the accumulation of karma, but any accident will not.
The problem of good and evil: dialectics of concepts
Philosophy closely connects good and bad. Good and evil do not exist in their pure form; it is all very relative. In every evil act there is a grain of good . And a good deed cannot do without a fly in the ointment . They can even switch places. Thus, in Sparta it was customary to throw ugly children from a cliff, and in Japanese traditions it was considered natural to transfer frail old people to the “valley of death” and doom them to certain death. Modern society considers such acts to be an unacceptable evil, akin to real barbarism.
But even today, good and bad properties are attributed to the same act, depending on the situation. For example, if a police officer shot a serial killer during a chase, then his action is considered good.
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General definitions
For a long time, good and evil have been interpreted as the main dominant forces.
But they are not endowed with a personal nature. Their influence on humans worried the minds of many philosophers, scientists, theologians and artists. In this case, evil always acted in opposition to good. The generalized form of evil is characteristic of everything that is immoral, contrary to morality and deserving of condemnation. At the same time, goodness is associated with virtue . It is considered a positive quality of a person and corresponds to high moral principles. Vices oppose goodness.
What constitutes good
Good is everything that improves life and satisfies human needs, both spiritual and material. These include natural resources, education, and cultural heritage. But utility may not be equal to good . So, for example, real art may not have any utilitarian benefit at all. On the other hand, industry is leading humanity to an environmental disaster.
Good is a certain type of spiritual good. From the moral and ethical side, these two words - good and good - can be perceived as synonyms. They correspond to common interests and aspirations, what needs to happen and is approved by society.
In modern ethics, the word “good” means the following aspects:
- an act aimed at a specific result;
- combination of moral values in a positive way;
- high morality;
- a certain quality of personality from a moral point of view.
How it all started
Questioning morality is a long tradition in philosophy. Back in Antiquity, the ancient Greek philosopher Pyrrho, the founder of the school of skepticism, suggested that there is no rational reason to prefer some moral principles to others. For example, the fact that we believe that equality is good and everyone should be treated with tolerance is determined by the place and time where we live, our common culture. Throughout history, it is easy to find societies where women and slaves did not have any rights and were treated accordingly; moreover, such behavior was considered correct and fair, and no one even thought of talking about equal rights for all people. Therefore, morality depends on society - this is what Pyrrho concluded, and this approach to morality is called moral relativism.
Friedrich Nietzsche is the first person to come to mind when one thinks of which famous philosopher had a bad attitude towards morality: he is also a moral relativist.
Nietzsche said that those in whose hands all power is concentrated impose their moral values and principles on the entire society, and everyone else is forced to submit to them: to evaluate their actions as right or wrong according to that very “master morality.” Often the “slaves” do not like this situation, and they begin to denigrate their “masters”, creating their own morality.
Christianity, according to Nietzsche, is precisely that “slave morality” that arose as a reaction to prevailing morals. Therefore, the philosopher criticized his contemporary society, which was for the most part guided by Christian ethics, and proposed to abandon it, since it only harms and prevents people from developing.
To summarize, moral relativism states that there is no single correct moral theory that has been true for all cultures throughout the ages. Our morals change over time and depend on the society in which we live, and this is normal.
There is no need to abandon morality altogether, but it is worth remembering that there are no absolute values - this is what relativists remind us of (and, of course, they argue with them).
However, in the middle of the 20th century, philosophers appeared who took a step further in criticizing absolute morality: they suggested that morality not only depends on culture and time, but that it simply does not exist.
There is no good and evil, right and wrong, all our thoughts about them are just fiction to make it easier for us to live in society. If so, then why live believing in fairy tales? It's time to give them up.
This view of morality is called the moral error theory, and it is becoming increasingly popular in the modern scientific world.
