"But what makes these 'experts' preach their opinion and call it truth?" asked the inquirer. "Is it an inheritance of humankind to do this, or is it merely something they gain satisfaction from?"
"Apart from consciousness," answered the Buddha, "no absolute truths exist. False reasoning declares one view to be true and another view wrong. It is delight in their dearly held opinions that makes them assert that anyone who disagrees is bound to come to a bad end. But no true seeker becomes embroiled in all this. Pass by peacefully and go a stainless way, free from theories, lusts and dogmas."
-Majjhima Nikaya
"The results of karma cannot be known by thought, and so should not be speculated about. Thus, thinking, one would come to distraction and distress.
"Therefore, Ananda, do not be the judge of people; do not make assumptions about others. A person is destroyed by holding judgments about others."
-Anguttura Nikaya
A miracle cannot prove what is impossible; it is useful only to confirm what is possible.
-Maimonides
I struggled hard but did not reap the fruits of my labors. Then I gazed into myself and found that my ego and my heart were unified. When the ego and the heart are united, a portion of all that shines upon the heart is seized by the self. Thus I came to know the cause of my dilemma, that the light illuminating my heart was being seized by my ego.
-Al-Nuri
Arjuna, those who eat too much or eat too little, who sleep too much or sleep too little, will not succeed in meditation. But those who are temperate in eating and sleeping, work and recreation, will come to the end of sorrow through meditation. Through constant effort they learn to withdraw the mind from selfish cravings and absorb it in the Self. Thus they attain the state of union.
-Bhagavad Gita
A person getting enlightened is like the moon reflecting in the water. The moon does not get wet, the water is not disturbed. Though it is a great expanse of light, it reflects in a little bit of water; the whole moon and the whole sky reflect even in the dew on the grass; they reflect even in a single drop of water. Enlightenment not disturbing the person is like the moon not piercing the water. A person not obstructing enlightenment is like the dewdrop not obstructing the heavens.
-Dogen
A poor man's prayer breaks its way through all barriers and storms into the presence of the Almighty.
-Zohar