Great Throughts Treasury

"At the time of prayer, clear all worldly matters out of your heart; prepare your heart before God, blessed be He, purify your senses, and consider your words before you allow them to leave your mouth."

"Haughtiness toward men is rebellion to God."

"Your eyes should look down, your heart up."

"Think before you speak."

"From the beginning of Time, through eternities, I was among His hidden treasures. From Nothing He called me forth, but at the End of Time I shall be recalled by the King."

"When you pray, remove from your heart all worldly concerns."

"The whole Torah is god's names."

"Every glory and wonder, every deep mystery and all beautiful wisdom are hidden in the Torah, sealed up in her treasures."

"Hear, my son, the instruction of your father and don't forsake the teaching of your mother (Mishlei 1:8). Get into the habit of always speaking calmly to everyone. This will prevent you from anger, a serious character flaw which causes people to sin... Once you have distanced yourself from anger, the quality of humility will enter your heart.This radiant quality is the finest of all admirable traits... so that you will succeed in all your ways. Thus you will succeed and merit the World to Come which lies hidden away for the righteous."

"An individual should hold an awareness of God and His love All the time. He should not separate his consciousness from the Divine while he journeys on the way, nor when he lies down nor when he rises up."

"Erring, I wandered in the wilderness, in passion's grave nigh sinking, powerless; now deeply I repent, in sore distress, that I kept not the statutes of the King!"

"A person should always live in Eretz Yisrael, even in a city that is mostly inhabited by non-Jews, and not in the Diaspora, even in a city that is mostly inhabited by Jews. For all those that live in Eretz Yisrael are as if they have a G-d, and all those that live in the Diaspora are as if they have no G-d. As it says (Vayikra 25:38) ?I took you out of Mitzrayim] to give you the land of Cna?an to be a G-d for you?. And anyone that lives in the Diaspora has no G-d? Rather, it means that anyone that lives in the Diaspora is as if he worships idols, and similarly by David it says (Shmuel I 26:19)? for they have driven me out this day that I should not cleave unto the inheritance of G-d, saying: Go, serve other gods.? For who told David to worship other gods? Rather, it means that anyone that lives in the Diaspora is as if he worships idols"

"Even though I exiled you from the land, you shall be adorned with mitzvos, so that when you come back they should not be like new to you."

"And you shall dispossess of the land and dwell in it, because I have given you the land to possess it."

"In that era there will be neither famine nor war..., for the delicacies will be as freely available as dust. The occupation of the entire world will be solely to know G-d."

"The fourth mitzvah that we were commanded [is] to conquer the land that God gave to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and not to abandon it to the hands of other nations or to emptiness."

"One should not entertain the notion that in the era of Mashiach any element of the natural order will be nullified, or that there will be any innovation in the work of creation"

"What are these three oaths? One is that the Jewish people should not go up [to Eretz Yisrael] in force (on mass), one is that G-d made the Jewish people swear not to rebel against the nations of the world (to settle the land), and one that G-d made the other nations swear not to persecute the Jewish people more than necessary."