You are strong, you are young.
It is time to arise.
So arise!
Lest through irresolution and idleness
You lose the way.
Master your words.
Master your thoughts.
Never allow your body to do no harm.
Follow these three roads with purity
And you will find yourself upon the one way,
The way of wisdom.
—Buddha
In God’s Name be the course and the mooring: let us embark.
–Surah 11.41
Whatever share of this world Thou dost bestow upon me, bestow it on Thine enemies, and whatever share of the next world Thou dost give me, give it thy friends. Thou art enough for me!
–Rabia Ul Basra
These are the things whose interest a man enjoys in this world, while the capital remains for him in the world to come—this is what they are:
Respecting one’s father and mother,
Acts of generosity and love,
Coming early to the Synagogue for morning and evening study,
Giving hospitality to strangers,
Visiting the sick,
Assisting the bride,
Attending the dead,
Devotion in prayer,
Working peace between a man and his companion.
And the study of Torah leads to them all.
—Mishnah
Misuse of Ahimsa
The dialogue between Banda Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh (the tenth Sikh guru):
Thus Said Banda:
But do not the wise scripture say “Indifference toward the evil pay”?
Thus spake Guru Gobind:
Yes, we should indifferent stay
As we send evil on its way.
We never slay in passion’s throes,
For then we’d be what we oppose.
Nor do we loathe what we must do,
For through it Truth do we pursue.
We simply carry out our mission
So Dharma finds its own fruition.
We are instrument of fate;
It is beyond mere fear or hate.
—From “Celestial Song/Gobind Geet” by Swami Rama
