Man's shortcomings and sins are all due to substance of the body and not to its form, while all his merits are exclusively due to his form.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that physical attributes do not determine a person's worth, but rather their character and intentions do.
Maimonides highlights the distinction between the physical body and the intrinsic qualities of a person, asserting that flaws and mistakes stem from bodily weaknesses while virtues and merits arise from one's deeper essence. This reflects a philosophical view that emphasizes the importance of inner qualities over external appearances.
In practice
This quote can be used in a motivational speech about personal growth.
If men possessed wisdom, which stands in the same relation to the form of man as the sight to the eye, they would not cause any injury to themselves or to others; for the knowledge of truth removes hatred and quarrels, and prevents mutual injuries.
There are eight rungs in charity. The highest is when you help a man to help himself.
God who preceded all existence is a refuge.
When man possesses a good, sound body that does not overpower him nor disturb the equilibrium in him, he possesses a divine gift. In short, a good constitution facilitates the rule of the soul over the body, but it is not impossible to conquer a bad constitution by training.
If the whole earth is infinitely small in comparison with the sphere of the stars, what is man compared with all these created beings!
One should see the world, and see himself as a scale with an equal balance of good and evil. When he does one good deed the scale is tipped to the good - he and the world is saved. When he does one evil deed the scale is tipped to the bad - he and the world is destroyed.
I hear much of people's calling out to punish the guilty, but very few are concerned to clear the innocent.
Rosencrantz: We might as well be dead. Do you think death could possibly be a boat? Guildenstern: No, no, no... Death is...not. Death isn't. You take my meaning. Death is the ultimate negative. Not-being. You can't not-be on a boat. Rosencrantz: I've frequently not been on boats. Guildenstern: No, no, no--what you've been is not on boats.
In essentials, unity; in differences, liberty; in all things, charity.
Religion is capable of driving people to such dangerous folly that faith seems to me to qualify as a kind of mental illness.
The great Way is easy, yet people prefer the side paths. Be aware when things are out of balance. Stay centered within the Tao. When rich speculators prosper While farmers lose their land; when government officials spend money on weapons instead of cures; when the upper class is extravagant and irresponsible while the poor have nowhere to turn- all this is robbery and chaos. It is not in keeping with the Tao.
Originality is being different from oneself, not others.
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