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The great sickness and the grievous evil consist in this: that all the things that man finds written in books, he presumes to think of as true-and all the more so if the books are old.

Maimonides

He who does not understand that a dead lion is more alive than a living dog will remain a dog.
MAIMONIDES

Alive Dog Himself Live Understand
God cannot be compared to anything.
MAIMONIDES

God One Liner
Contrast the experience with something worse and you cannot help feeling happy and grateful because. The change from trouble to comfort gives us more pleasure than uninterrupted comfort does.
MAIMONIDES

Change Comfortable Experience Feeling Gratitude Happiness Help Worst
The great sickness and the grievous evil consist in this: that all the things that man finds written in books, he presumes to think of as true-and all the more so if the books are old.
MAIMONIDES

Book Evil Greatness Grief Man Old Sick Thinking True Writing
All the evils that men cause to each other because of certain desires, or opinions or religious principles, are rooted in ignorance. [All hatred would come to an end] when the earth was flooded with the knowledge of God.
MAIMONIDES

Belief Desire End Evil God Hate Ignorance Knowledge Man Religious
It should not be believed that all beings exist for the sake of the existence of man. On the contrary, all the other beings too have been intended for their own sakes and not for the sake of anything else.
MAIMONIDES

Believe Existence Man Philosophy
Let nothing which can be treated by diet be treated by other means.
MAIMONIDES

Doctor Food
Actions are divided as regards their object into four classes; they are either purposeless, unimportant, or vain, or good.
MAIMONIDES

Action Goodness Important Purpose
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
MAIMONIDES

Food Himself Man Philosophy Teaching Yourself
Truth does not become more true by virtue of the fact that the entire world agrees with it, nor less so even if the whole world disagrees with it.
MAIMONIDES

Philosophy Truth Virtue World
Man’s obsession to add to his wealth and honor is the chief source of his misery.
MAIMONIDES

Acceptance Misery Money Yourself
There are eight levels of charity. The highest is when you strengthen a man’s hand until he need no longer be dependent upon others.
MAIMONIDES

Charity Hands Man Strength
There is no difference between the worry of a human mother and an animal mother for their offspring. A mother’s love does not derive from the intellect but from the emotions, in animals just as in humans.
MAIMONIDES

Animal Difference Emotional Human Intellectual Love Mom Worry
What is lofty can be said in any language. What is mean should be said in none.
MAIMONIDES

Kindness Language Word
Lose with truth and right rather than gain with falsehood and wrong.
MAIMONIDES

Lose Right Truth Wrong
In the realm of Nature there is nothing purposeless, trivial, or unnecessary.
MAIMONIDES

Nature Necessary Purpose
The knowledge of God, the formation of ideas, the mastery of desire and passion, the distinction between that which is to be chosen and that which is to be rejected, all these man owes to his form.
MAIMONIDES

Desire God Ideas Knowledge Man Passion
The same is the case with those opinions of man to which he has been accustomed from his youth; he likes them, defends them, and shuns the opposite views.
MAIMONIDES

Himself Man View Youth
It is hard for a woman with whom an uncircumcised man has had sexual intercourse to separate from him. In my opinion this is the strongest of the reasons for circumcision.
MAIMONIDES

Himself Man Reason Sex Strong Woman
The whole object of the Prophets and the Sages was to declare that a limit is set to human reason where it must halt.
MAIMONIDES

Human Limitation Reason Religious Stop
Silence is the maturation of wisdom.
MAIMONIDES

One Liner Silence Wisdom
If a person studies too much and exhausts his reflective powers, he will be confused, and will not be able to apprehend even that which had been within the power of his apprehension. For the powers of the body are all alike in this respect.
MAIMONIDES

Body Himself Person Power Reflection Respect
The soul is subject to health and disease, just as is the body. The health and disease of both, undoubtedly depend upon beliefs and customs, which are peculiar to mankind.
MAIMONIDES

Body Doubt Health Humanity Sick Soul
In the beginning we must simplify the subject, thus unavoidably falsifying it, and later we must sophisticate away the falsely simple beginning.
MAIMONIDES

Avoid Beginning Philosophy Simplicity Talk
The fact that laws were given to man, both affirmative and negative, supports the principle, that God’s knowledge of future events does not change their character. The great doubt that presents itself to our mind is the result of the insufficiency of our intellect.
MAIMONIDES

Change Character Doubt God Intellectual Knowledge Law Man Mindset Ourselves Present Principle Result Support
God is identical with His attributes, so that it may be said that He is the knowledge, the knower, and the known.
MAIMONIDES

God Himself Knowledge Philosophy Religious
There are eight rungs in charity. The highest is when you help a man to help himself.
MAIMONIDES

Charity Help Himself Man

The great sickness and the grievous evil consist in this: that all the things that man finds written in books, he presumes to think of as true-and all the more so if the books are old.

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The great sickness and the grievous evil consist in this: that all the things that man finds written in books, he presumes to think of as true-and all the more so if the books are old.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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