Topics · Mind & Meaning
Wisdom about psychology & human behavior.
What people have learned about psychology & human behavior the hard way, and what the classics said about it first.
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From the library
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee.
The grateful mind is constantly fixed upon the best.
A lady’s imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind.
The mind of the painter must resemble a mirror.
The sage has no invariable mind of his own; he makes the mind of the people his mind.
As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.
When a reconciliation is effected (between two parties) after a great animosity, there is sure to be a grudge remaining (in the mind of the one who was wrong). And how can this be beneficial (to the other)?
Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.
The sage has in the world an appearance of indecision, and keeps his mind in a state of indifference to all. The people all keep their eyes and ears directed to him, and he deals with them all as his children.
The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men.
Those three methods (of government) Thought olden ways in elegance did fail And made these names their want of worth to veil; But simple views, and courses plain and true Would selfish ends and many lusts eschew.
Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.
It is simply by being pained at (the thought of) having this disease that we are preserved from it. The sage has not the disease. He knows the pain that would be inseparable from it, and therefore he does not have it.
Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility.
To him by whom this harmony is known, (The secret of) the unchanging (Tao) is shown, And in the knowledge wisdom finds its throne. All life-increasing arts to evil turn; Where the mind makes the vital breath to burn, (False) is the strength, (and o'er it we should mourn.)
The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit.
Colour's five hues from th' eyes their sight will take; Music's five notes the ears as deaf can make; The flavours five deprive the mouth of taste; The chariot course, and the wild hunting waste Make mad the mind; and objects rare and strange, Sought for, men's conduct will to evil change.
Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out.
The excellence of a residence is in (the suitability of) the place; that of the mind is in abysmal stillness; that of associations is in their being with the virtuous; that of government is in its securing good order; that of (the conduct of) affairs is in its ability; and that of (the initiation of) any movement is in its timeliness.
The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord: but the words of the pure are pleasant words.
When the intelligent and animal souls are held together in one embrace, they can be kept from separating. When one gives undivided attention to the (vital) breath, and brings it to the utmost degree of pliancy, he can become as a (tender) babe. When he has cleansed away the most mysterious sights (of his imagination), he can become without a flaw.