African Spir Quotes

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To spend for destruction ten times more than for instruction, such is the fashion in our time; and men seriously regard themselves as rational beings!

African Spir
Whoever has recognized the vainglory of individuality will not attach any store to fame. The only one thing which is really valuable, it is to do good.

African Spir
The first principle from which stems the moral of about all people at all time; it is summarized in this precept: Love thy neighbor as thyself, and: do as you would be done by.

African Spir
In ancient times, any man rising up above the common people tried to shape his life according to his principles; it is no longer like than now; it is (because) for the ancients, moral was a principle of inner life, whereas in our days, most of the time one is content to adhere to an official moral, that we recognize in theory, but that one does not care to put into practice.

African Spir
In life we only try to produce, to win, and enjoy the more we can; in science, to discover and invent the more we can; in religion, to dominate on the greatest number of people we can; whereas the forming of the character, the further development of the faculties of the intelligence, the refinement of the consciousness and of the heart, are considered incidental things.

African Spir
Arbitrariness and true liberty are as distinct from each other that the empirical nature is distinct from the higher nature of man.

African Spir
If we recognize, following the materialist theories, that only the physical nature exist, and that man contain no higher essence, divine, which, by one side of his being, raise him above his animal nature, it would be a question neither of obligation, nor of moral responsibility; then the supreme good would consist for him, indeed, to satisfy his appetites and his natural inclinations, to look for the pleasure and flee from pain. In this case, there could be neither religion nor moral, since religion is precisely what raise man above vulgar reality, and that moral is the very negation of selfishness.

African Spir
The precept to worship God 'in spirit and in truth' recommand to worship him as an inward and moral force, without physical attributes and with no relation to fears and egoist wishes.

African Spir
The appalling and shameful scene of disarray and illogicality that manifest itself in the thought and deeds of men, will no longer be seen, once these will possess an enlighten consciousness.

African Spir
It goes without saying that only inner greatness possess a true value. Any attempt to rise up outwardly above others, or to want to impose one's superiority, denote a lack of moral greatness, since we do not try to replace in that way to what, if we did really possess it, would have no need whatsoever to flaunt itself.

African Spir
See that unfortunate soldier who is falling hurt to death on the battlefield; he learns that his folks have vanquished and dies happy. He detached himself from himself, has identified himself with something greater and more lasting than himself; his homeland; thus, while dying as an individual, he has the certainty to survive in a larger existence.

African Spir
When under the influence of certain reasons (alcohol, war, etc.), the low instincts are unbridled, the brute appears and rule over, stifling every noble, generous impulse; it is then the ruin of any humanity in man.

African Spir
Outward, thanks to the knowledge of physical laws, man could subdue nature, but inwardly, he remained a slave to it. For, when all is said and done, at what is aiming all this display of activity, if not to realized outward profits, to provide material pleasure. It is not the first time that men sell their birth right for a dish of lentils, and thus disown the best of themselves.

African Spir
What determinate events is, beside national, dynastic and particular egoism, the instinct of domination and conquest, in one word, force. Judging by the history of humanity, harms that men have had to suffer, harms that men have to suffer by their nature are minute in comparison to these they inflict to each others. The most fantastic imagination might not fabricate some cruelties, injustices and perfidies that men have not exceeded in practice.

African Spir
A same breath will give life to men, when they will will have succeeded in overcoming all that divide them and put them in opposition one another; then they will have a feeling of the limits of their individuality wonderfully widen and will be able to unite in a beneficial atmosphere of harmony and brotherly concord.

African Spir
A man, engaged in his simple reflections in everyday life, will comprehend neither the possibility, nor the benefits of self-sacrifice, but, when given a great cause to defend, and he will find only natural to sacrifice oneself for it.

African Spir
It is to our lack of proper content, of our inner emptiness that we need occupations and distractions, otherwise we experience boredom, which is nothing else than the feeling of unease that take hold of us when our spirit is not absorbed by the mirages of life.

African Spir
Place a spider on top of a mountain, it will only try to catch flies; alas, they are many those who, in the figurative meaning, have spider's eyes.

African Spir
When a man make of his personal interests the mainspring of his life and he is greedy to make use of everything that can benefit him, he naturally enters into conflict with other persons, acting also in their interests, hence the disagreements that can become a hundred years old, and drive whole generations to a mutual hate.

African Spir
Man is in pursuit of two goals: he is looking for happiness and, being by essence empty, he is trying to fill his life; the latter reason play a more considerable role than we ordinarily think. What we take for vainglory, ambition, love of power and riches, is often, indeed, a need to mask this emptiness, a need to let one's hair down, to put oneself on a false scent or trail.

African Spir
Deep down, everything boils down to the following simple question; Do we really want justice and the realization in this world of higher principles, or else do we want to serve selfish, short-sighted interests, which, when all is said and done, are also prejudicial to those very same that pursue them?

African Spir
In the actual state of social relationships, the forms of politeness are necessary as a substitute to benevolence.

African Spir
Devoting ourselves too much to an exclusive search of a material happiness, of ephemeral goods, one fails to appreciate the true realities of life and one let the spirit decline and dry up.

African Spir
Apart from selfish reasons, such as fear of punishments, fear of blame, of dishonor, etc, there remains only two motives that can stop men from acting badly; the natural sense of commiseration for one's fellow men - compassion, and the influence of education, by association of ideas - habit.

African Spir
So many really divine individuals humanity has not already produced! Heros in the moral sense, who never got tired to practice renouncement and charity; bright intelligence who opened to the mind new ways and horizons; poets and wonderful artists, who created for him the image of an ideal world, the reflect of perfection. These are as many proofs of the presence of the absolute in the midst of humanity, for him that does not discover the immediate proof of that in himself.

African Spir
If pity was always equally alive and acting in all individuals and in all circumstances, we could do away with moral. Unfortunately, it is not compassion, but rather it's contrary, selfishness, that act most strongly in us.

African Spir
If we accomplish a good deed, a charity in the hope of [getting] future rewards, or with a more or less confessed ulterior motive to profit from personal advantages, we are probably doing a useful thing, but which is devoided of any truly moral character.

African Spir
For those who do not need to work to provide for their maintenance, it is a question of conferring to their lives a content worthy of themselves. Now, this purpose can be attained only if we do not act solely with a view to our own benefits, but with a view to the benefit of all. Christ said: 'Where is your treasure, there also will be your heart.'

African Spir
Moral improvement require an evolution leading to a higher consciousness, which is the true torch of life; it is what we have failed too much to appreciate, and that which would be fatal to fail to appreciate any longer; For if we do not take it upon ourselves to remedy in time to the moral colapse that already threaten, the whole civilization will risks to disappear.

African Spir
Injustice having always hold sway on earth, there are some who imagine that the existing social order may subsist forever. Whether this order could last until now, this was mainly due to the conviction of people, that it was of divine institution. But this belief is vanishing, and with it the only moral support of the actual order will collapse, leaving only brutal forces opposed to each others clashing, with no peaceful way out.

African Spir