All sins cast long shadows.
—Irish Proverb
Someday, in the moment of death, your whole life will pass before you. In a few fractions of a second—because time no longer applies—you will see many incidents from your life in order to learn. You will review your life with two questions in your consciousness: Could I have shown a little more courage in these moments? Could I have shown a little more love? You will see where you let fear stop you from expressing who you are, how you feel, or what you need. You will see whether you were able to expand into these moments, just a little, to show love, or whether you contracted.
—Dan Millman (b.1946) American Children’s Books Writer, Sportsperson
The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
One who is allowed to sin, sins less
—Tacitus (56–117) Roman Orator, Historian
The individual who wants to reach the top in business must appreciate the might of the force of habit and must understand that practices are what create habits. He must be quick to break those habits that can break him and hasten to adopt those practices that will become the habits that help him achieve the success he desires.
—J. Paul Getty (1892–1976) American Art Collector, Philanthropist, Businessperson
Knowing oneself is not so much a question of discovering what is present in one’s self, but rather the creation of who one wants to be.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934–2021) Hungarian-American Psychologist
Your life is a kind of laboratory where you’re constantly experimenting with your own higher knowing, always increasing your capacity to design the life you choose. Human beings must create; it’s hardwired. The question is, are you consciously creating or only sleepwalking through your human life?
—David Emerald
The wiser the man, the more careful should he be of his conduct.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
If you’re not a risk taker, you should get the hell out of business.
—Ray Kroc (1902–84) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
To those who are engaged in commercial dealings, justice is indispensable for the conduct of business.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
Preachers denounce sin as if it was available to everyone.
—Frank Lane (1896–1981) American Sportsperson, Businessperson
The essence of man is his freedom. Sin is committed in that freedom. Sin can therefore not be attributed to a defect in his essence. It can only be understood as a self-contradiction, made possible by the fact of his freedom but not following necessarily from it.
—Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) American Christian Theologian
I am a man more sinned against than sinning.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we desire contentment. In my own limited experience I have found that the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being. Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is the principal source of success in life. Since we are not solely material creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes for happiness on external development alone. The key is to develop inner peace.
—The 14th Dalai Lama (b.1935) Tibetan Buddhist Leader, Civil Rights Advocate, Author
Sin brought death, and death will disappear with the disappearance of sin.
—Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910) American Christian Leader, Humanitarian, Writer
Make peace with man and war with your sins.
—Russian Proverb
One is most dishonest to one’s god: he is not allowed to sin.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Really to sin you have to be serious about it.
—Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) Norwegian Playwright
God may forgive sins, he said, but awkwardness has no forgiveness in heaven or earth.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
If we expended all our energies solely on taking care of our own needs we would stop growing. In that respect what we call “soul” can be viewed as the surplus energy that can be invested into change and transformation. As such, it is the cutting edge of evolution.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934–2021) Hungarian-American Psychologist
I always say beauty is only sin deep.
—Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) (1870–1916) British Short Story Writer, Satirist, Historian
If church prelates, past or present, had even an inkling of physiology they’d realize that what they term this inner ugliness creates and nourishes the hearing ear, the seeing eye, the active mind, and energetic body of man and woman, in the same way that dirt and dung at the roots give the plant its delicate leaves and the full-blown rose.
—Sean O’Casey (1880–1964) Irish Dramatist, Memoirist
A sin confessed is half forgiven.
—French Proverb
To sin is to be off the mark, that is, to inhibit development, contracting backward into regression rather than expanding forward into growth.
—Connie Zweig (b.1949) American Author, Psychotherapist
All sin tends to be addictive, and the terminal point of addiction is what is called damnation.
—W. H. Auden (1907–73) British-born American Poet, Dramatist
A man commits sin in secret; but the Holy One proclaims it openly.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness concerning all acts of initiative and creation. There is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans; that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen events, meetings and material assistance which no one could have dreamed would have come their way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets: “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now!”
—William Hutchinson Murray (1913–92) American Mountaineer, Writer
People of substance may sin without being exposed for their stolen pleasure; but servants and the poorer sort of women have seldom an opportunity of concealing a big belly, or at least the consequences of it.
—Bernard Mandeville (1670–1733) Anglo-Dutch Philosopher, Satirist
Sin is, essentially, a departure from God.
—Martin Luther (1483–1546) German Protestant Theologian
Curse the sin, not the sinner.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
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