Sins cannot be undone, only forgiven.
—Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) Russian-born American Composer, Musician
True Civilization does not lie in gas, nor in steam, nor in turn-tables. It lies in the reduction of the traces of original sin.
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–67) French Poet, Art Critic, Essayist, Translator
Those who do unlawful acts are no more sinners in the eyes of God than we who think them.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
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
Women keep a special corner of their hearts for sins they have never committed.
—Cornelia Otis Skinner (1899–1979) American Actress, Playwright
Sin is not harmful because it is forbidden, but it is forbidden because it is hurtful.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
It’s a sin to be poor! He wasn’t referring to moral turpitude, but rather to “the frustration of potentiality”. He believed and taught that, when we establish ourselves in the consciousness of God, the whole universe moves to flow into us with its abundance of life and substance. This is obviously what Jesus had in mind when he said, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well”.
—Unknown
The worst effect of sin is within, and is manifest not in poverty, and pain, and bodily defacement, but in the discrowned faculties, the unworthy love, the low ideal, the brutalized and enslaved spirit.
—Edwin Hubbell Chapin (1814–80) American Preacher, Poet
Many of the insights of the saint stem from their experience as sinners.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
The releasing of attachment to object and certain beliefs was already indelibly written as a very necessary step in my human progress toward being.
—Marlo Morgan (1937–98) American Novelist, Author
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
If we agree that the bottom line of life is happiness, not success, then it makes perfect sense to say that it is the journey that counts, not reaching the destination.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934–2021) Hungarian-American Psychologist
That which we call sin in others, is experiment for us.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
So near are the boundaries of panegyric and invective, that a worn-out sinner is sometimes found to make the best declaimer against sin. The same high-seasoned descriptions which in his unregenerate state served to inflame his appetites, in his new province of a moralist will serve him (a little turned) to expose the enormity of those appetites in other men.
—Charles Lamb (1775–1834) British Essayist, Poet
But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
Since the beginning of time, people have been trying to change the world so that they can be happy. This hasn’t ever worked, because it approaches the problem backward. What The Work gives us is a way to change the projector—mind—rather than the projected. It’s like when there’s a piece of lint on a projector’s lens. We think there’s a flaw on the screen, and we try to change this person and that person, whomever the flaw appears on next. But it’s futile to try to change the projected images. Once we realize where the lint is, we can clear the lens itself. This is the end of suffering, and the beginning of a little joy in paradise.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
There are three things which the true Christian desires in respect to sin: Justification, that it may not condemn; sanctification, that it may not reign; and glorification, that it may not be.
—Richard Cecil
Without respect, the subtle alchemy that binds an organization or that serves as the impetus for a business transaction would dissolve into mutual suspicion and hostility.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934–2021) Hungarian-American Psychologist
The wiser the man, the more careful should he be of his conduct.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
The kind of power I’m talking about leaves you free, since you don’t expect the rest of the world to fill you up. It’s not the ability to get someone else to do what you want them to do. It’s the ability to get yourself to do what you want to do.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
It is an old habit with theologians to beat the living with the bones of the dead.
—Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–99) American Lawyer, Orator, Agnostic
When each of these three elements of vision—concern for excellence, for people and for the wider environment—are present, business is transformed from a tool for making profits into a creative, humane experiment for improving life.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934–2021) Hungarian-American Psychologist
There are some sins which are more justly to be denominated surprises than infidelities. To such the world should be lenient, as, doubtless, Heaven is forgiving.
—Jean Baptiste Massillon (1663–1742) French Catholic Religious Leader, Theologian
A leader will find it difficult to articulate a coherent vision unless it expresses his core values, his basic identity…one must first embark on the formidable journey of self-discovery in order to create a vision with authentic soul.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934–2021) Hungarian-American Psychologist
I have no patience for those who say that poverty is a blessing. Poverty is the greatest curse on earth.
—Roger McDonald (b.1941) Australian Novelist, Poet, Screenwriter, Writer
If you call one thing good, you must call its opposite bad. If you think it wonderful to make a big profit in your business, you will also think it terrible if you incur a large loss. The idea is to live above the opposites.
—Vernon Howard (1918–92) American Spiritual Teacher, Philosopher
Sin is sweet in the beginning, but bitter in the end.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
I don’t know about you, but where I went to school, Money Management 101 wasn’t offered. Instead we learned about the War of 1812, which of course is something I use every single day.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
If you’re not a risk taker, you should get the hell out of business.
—Ray Kroc (1902–84) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
About Mike the construction worker, friend of Roark: “He worshipped expertness of any kind. He loved his work passionately and had no tolerance for anything save for other single-track devotions. He was a master in his own filed and felt no sympathy except for mastery. His view of the world was simple: there were the able and there were the incompetent; he was not concerned with the latter.
—Ayn Rand (1905–82) Russian-born American Novelist, Philosopher
The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: That’s the essence of inhumanity.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
To abstain from sin when one can no longer sin is to be forsaken by sin, not to forsake it.
—Augustine of Hippo (354–430) Roman-African Christian Philosopher
Moving along the upward spiral requires us to learn, commit, and do on increasingly higher planes. We deceive ourselves if we think that any one of these is sufficient. To keep progressing, we must learn, commit, and do—learn, commit, and do—and learn, commit, and do again.
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
When you think that someone or something other than yourself needs to change, you’re mentally out of your business.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
Not only is there little stigma attributed to going bankrupt among cutting-edge entrepreneurs, it’s even seen as a good source of business experience.
—Unknown
Who are you to condemn another’s sin?. He who condemns sin becomes part of it, espouses it.
—Georges Bernanos (1888–1948) French Author
I fear nothing but doing wrong.
—Laurence Sterne (1713–68) Irish Anglican Novelist, Clergyman
If I were sure God would pardon me, and men would not know my sin, yet I should be ashamed to sin, because of its essential baseness.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
As used in economics the term “capital” would be defined as follows: Capital refers to resources withheld from immediate consumption in the expectation of greater future returns. However controversial a topic this has been, capital has been the main—if not the only—way of achieving progress, even in violently anticapitalist, socialist countries. A dam, a hospital, a university, a cathedral, or a national park cannot be built without using up resources that would be easier to consume immediately, and none of them would be built at all unless they were believed to provide some greater returns in the future.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934–2021) Hungarian-American Psychologist
Commit a sin twice, and you will think it perfectly allowable.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
In the yogic tradition, this principle of using intense effort to burn through life’s distractions is called Tapas. It’s another Sanskrit word, roughly defined as “heat” or “essential energy”. The concept is that through a disciplined approach to work and self-sacrifice, Tapas will burn away the negativity that separates us from God. By working our hardest and happily enduring the hardships of life we are able to create a sense of peace and clarity in ourselves.
—Russell Simmons (b.1957) American Music Promoter
Some individuals have developed such strong internal standards that they no longer need the opinion of others to judge whether they have performed a task well or not. The ability to give objective feedback to oneself is in fact the mark of the expert.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934–2021) Hungarian-American Psychologist
A sinful person, having come to realize his evil deeds, has to experience a twofold regret i.e. in this present life and in the hereafter.
—Buddhist Teaching
No one was ever scolded out of their sins.
—William Cowper (1731–1800) English Anglican Poet, Hymn writer
Evil, like milk freshly obtained during the day, does not undergo a change. Its burning effect, however, (potentially) follows the evil-doer like a fire covered with ashes.
—Buddhist Teaching
But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door. It desires to have you, but you must master it.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
Every gross act of sin is much the same thing to the conscience that a great blow is to the head; it stuns and bereaves it of all use of its senses for a time.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
It is really true what philosophy tells us, that life must be understood backwards. But with this, one forgets the second proposition, that it must be lived forwards.
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
To those who are engaged in commercial dealings, justice is indispensable for the conduct of business.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
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 Minister, Columnist, Psychotherapist