“In Confucianism, the whole of an ethical life can be summarized by ‘doing unto others as you would have them do unto you;’ the highest calling is to be true to your conscience, to your true moral nature; in government, that rulers must be educated and must govern for the benefit of their fellow citizens rather than for their own pleasure.”

Comments: Click to comment

“I fear that we live in an ahistorical age in which we believe that we are so wise that we no longer need the lessons of the past, perhaps most disturbingly of all that technology has put us beyond the lessons of the past.”

Comments: Click to comment

“The highways of American cities are an enduring testimony to our acceptance of ugliness”

Comments: Click to comment

“Science and technology do not make us immune to the laws of history.”

Comments: Click to comment

Comments: Click to comment

“The Middle East is the crucible of conflict and the graveyard of empires.”

Comments: Click to comment

“Along with the lust for power, religion and spirituality are the most profound motivators in human history.”

Comments: Click to comment

“The statesman is distinguished from a mere politician by four qualities: a bedrock of principles, a moral compass, a vision, and the ability to create a consensus to achieve that vision.”

Comments: Click to comment

“Confucius taught the art of government as it should be. Machiavelli taught government as it is in fact… concerned with power, how to get and how to keep it. The ruler governs for his own benefit, not for the benefit of those he rules…. as useful today to corporate CEOs as it is to politicians, ethics consists of one maxim: ‘Do others in before they do you in.’”

Comments: Click to comment

“The spread of Islam was not just a spiritual event but a historical, political, and military event that changed the history of the world.”

Comments: Click to comment

“The message of the Koran is an uncompromising one of absolute monotheism, focused on the ideal of God as truth, mercy, and power; demanding complete submission and ethical conduct; and rewarding the faithful and punishing those who reject his revelation.”

Comments: Click to comment

“The power and success of Jesus’ teaching and the uncompromising message that he taught brought Jesus into direct and conscious conflict with the established political and social powers of his day… changed untold millions of lives and has made history. It has been the source of great art and philosophical treatises, poetry, novels, and motions pictures.”

Comments: Click to comment

“In the American Revolution, the Civil War, World War II, and the Cold War, democracy proved its superiority to dictatorships in producing leaders worthy of the challenge, leaders that were but a reflection of the robust love of freedom held by their fellow citizens… can we find in the lessons of history the wisdom to choose such leaders today?”

Comments: Click to comment

“Huxley’s 1932 novel is about a world without love. Far from being outdated, it has a profound message for our day showing us a society that confounds sex with love, family disintegrating under the impact of scientific reproduction techniques that turn out children perfectly adapted to their roles in society. Pornography, meaningless travel, and mindless consumerism fill the time of people who have no concept of religion, honor, or great literature.”

Comments: Click to comment

“The Bhagavad Gita, like the Divine Comedy, is one of the greatest works of education ever composed. It leads from the darkness of a life without meaning to the clarity of God’s wisdom... The ultimate message of the Bhagavad Gita is that God has created many roads to the truth; each person must find his or her own road.”

Comments: Click to comment

“Bonhoeffer believed that God had been driven from the world and had abandoned it. This belief allowed him to come to grips with the concept of evil. He explored the question of why evil flourishes and whether evil exists. He believed that the individual must take action and in that action find his own God. His Christianity, therefore, became a Christianity without formulas of religion.”

from Books That Made History

Comments: Click to comment

“Books are our link to the great ideas of the past... great books, great ideas, and great individuals make history. This concept runs counter to the Marxist idea that social and economic forces make great ideas. Such great men as Socrates, Napoleon, and Lincoln all built on ideas of the past. In truth, great ideas propel people to become great in themselves.”

from Books That Made History

Comments: Click to comment

“The Iliad of Homer... one of the most deeply religious books ever composed... is an enduring statement of the living tradition of polytheism. Immortal and powerful, the gods of Homer are nonetheless strikingly human in their greed, arrogance, jealously, and promiscuity. However, far from being simplistic or childish, the gods of Homer are testimony to a profound effort to understand the meaning of life.”

from Books That Made History

Comments: Click to comment

“Marcus Aurelius is one of the most noble of the Roman emperors but his importance goes far beyond his role in the policies and history of an empire he knew to be ephemeral... He dreamed of an empire in which individuals were free to live life as they chose and to follow their ambitions.”

from Books That Made History

Comments: Click to comment

“The Iliad of Homer and the Bible are the two fountainheads of our literature. Both are attempts to explain the ways of God to man. Both thus offer answers to the first of our fundamental questions: Is there a god and does god have any effect on our lives?”

from Books That Made History

Comments: Click to comment

“The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius represents the culmination of Greek thought with regard to god, fate, and good and evil. It has proven to be an enduring legacy, a reflection of an ethical life as applicable today as it was almost 2,000 years ago.”

from Books That Made History

Comments: Click to comment

“Wisdom lies in understanding that we can control only our minds, what we think with our minds, and our actions based on those thoughts.”

from Books That Made History

Comments: Click to comment

“The most creative current of Greek religious thought—Stoicism—believed that god is one, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good, all-just. It developed a theme found in Homer: the Zeus of the Iliad was transitioned from being a capricious and lecherous king to being a god of wisdom.”

from Books That Made History

Comments: Click to comment

“In Hinduism—a polytheistic religion that rejects the notion that the world of the gods is finite, but is willing to recognize any new divine power capable of rendering supernatural benefits to the community of worshipers—all nature was seen as a manifestation of the divine.”

from Books That Made History

Comments: Click to comment

“I rank Cicero—my favorite Roman—with Gandhi and Churchill as models of the whole person, a person shaped by the great books, a person of thought and action, who lived and died for his ideals. Like Plato, Cicero believed that God had established a set of absolute values, including wisdom, justice, courage, and moderation.”

from Books That Made History

Comments: Click to comment

“To many, including Winston Churchill, the British Empire was a great force for good. To an unprepossessing Indian lawyer, the British Empire, which saw itself as the bastion of liberty, was evil, for it rested on a lie. It denied to many of its subjects the very equality that was the essence of freedom... Strong in the truth, he used moral power to bring a great power to its knees. Gandhi focuses on his entire life as a search for truth, teaching us that there are many roads to wisdom and many ways to fight the battles of life.”

from Books That Made History

Comments: Click to comment