Quotes from Piero Ferrucci

Eliminate something superfluous from your life. Break a habit. Do something that makes you feel insecure.

Eliminate something superfluous from your life. Break a habit. Do something that makes you feel insecure. Carry out an action with complete attention and intensity, as if it were your last.

If kindness has falseness at its base, it is no longer kindness. It is labored courtesy.

Generosity is, by definition, disinterested." (p.157)

it is clear that our very survival, even today, depends upon the acts and kindness of so many people.

Human relations are becoming colder. Communications are becoming more hurried and impersonal. Values such as profit and efficiency are taking on greater importance at the expense of human warmth and genuine presence.

It's all really very simple. You don't have to choose between being kind to yourself and others. It's one and the same.

How often – even before we began – have we declared a task "impossible"? And how often have we construed a picture of ourselves as being inadequate? . . . A great deal depends upon the thought patterns we choose and on the persistence with which we affirm them.

whether we are aware of it or not, every act of trust carries with it a shiver of fear.

To be in the present with someone else is a gift. The gift of attention is perhaps the most precious and envied of all, even though we do not always realize it.

The essence of memory is not in the storage of information, but in the emotions we hold, in the meaning we give to our recollections, in relationships that, because we remember them, stay alive. The friends of my childhood, the pain of a goodbye, the meeting with a special person, a wonderful September afternoon, and so forth—all these are not merely items I keep in an archive. They are vital ingredients of my history.

Just as warmth brings to light our personalities and makes us feel special and indispensable, coldness can turn us into nameless shadows.

The heart follows a different kind of math: Acts of kindness and generosity increase our feeling of time affluence.

The fabric of our life is made of care, solidarity, mutual service. These qualities are so embedded in our daily events that we may not even notice them.

TO ACT HONESTLY—EVEN AT THE RISK OF SAYING THE unpleasant truth, or of saying no and causing distress to others—if done with intelligence and tact, is the kindest thing to do, because it respects our own integrity and acknowledges in others the capacity to be competent and mature.

We can find beauty anywhere. Sometimes it is obvious, sometimes it needs some commitment on our part. Sometimes it jumps out at us suddenly, other times we come upon it slowly.

But a lesser evil is still an evil. Therefore one commits an evil act, and evil, besides staining those who commit it, generates further evil. Hannah Arendt has shown how the principle of the lesser evil, for example, a temporary collaboration with a wicked regime, has ended up allowing atrocities and terror of all kinds. According to her, acceptance of a lesser evil is a dangerous compromise that slides into acceptance of all evil.

After meeting you I felt relieved": Who wouldn't want to hear this kind of comment? When we receive it, it's because we have been harmless, and our innate capacity to comfort other people, maybe heal their wounds, found no obstacle on its way. Every human being potentially has this capacity. Just our presence, if we do not judge, if we do not give advice and do not invade, can in all likelihood be beneficial for anyone who is suffering.

Young people use more aggressive words, senior citizens in that same area have more heart problems. The greater frequency of aggressive wording in a certain geographical area shows this social environment to be more charged with negativity, which causes problems to all—especially the aged.

But when there is real warmth, no one is the same as everyone else, just as no two soups are alike. We are all unique. We are all loved for who we are, with our qualities and with our faults. We are loved because we are irredeemably ourselves. But when warmth decreases, we are all the same—all anonymous. Just as warmth brings to light our personalities and makes us feel special and indispensable, coldness can turn us into nameless shadows.

We can proceed according to the planned itinerary, strenuously trying to make life conform to our needs, or we can adapt to whatever we meet and flow without effort.

Giving kindness does as much good as receiving it...Kind people are healthier and live longer.

If kindness has falseness at its base, it is no longer kindness. It is labored courtesy.

Eliminate something superfluous from your life. Break a habit. Do something that makes you feel insecure.