40+ Holy Talmud Quotes About Love, Life And Friendship

The Holy Talmud is the book of Jewish law and writings.

There are two versions of the book. The earlier version is called the Jerusalem Talmud and the comparatively newer version is named the Babylonian Talmud.

The book's contents talk about Jewish law, the way of life in Judaism, and legends of the Mishnah and the Gemara. Mishnah is the written version of the laws of Judaism and Gemara is the part where significant Rabbis throughout history have discussed it and they have all been written down. The Talmud consists of different opinions on various matters, and they all have been studied among people for generations. Here's a few of them for you to get to know it better and find out the beauty of it for yourselves. You can go through them at a time and place of your own leisure and you might just find your favorite quote here.

If you are looking for more quotes, check out Hanukkah quotes and Torah quotes.

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The Talmud has the best quotes that you can take up as advice to lead your life the best possible way. Here's a few of them for you.

1. "What is hateful to thee, do not unto thy fellow; this is the whole law. All the rest is a commentary to this law; go and learn it."

- Holy Talmud.

2. "Man has three friends on whose company he relies. First, wealth which goes with him only while good fortune lasts. Second, his relatives, they go only as far as the grave, leave him there. The third friend, his good deeds, go with him beyond the grave."

- Holy Talmud.

3. "If your friend calls you a donkey, prepare a saddle for your back."

- Holy Talmud.

4. "Even a poor person who subsists on the charity of others should perform [acts of] charity."

- Holy Talmud.

5. "Let every man divide his money into three parts, and invest a third in land, a third in business, and a third let him keep by him in reserve."

- Holy Talmud.

6. "Anyone who introduces excessive fear into his house will ultimately cause three sins: infidelity, murder, and Sabbath desecration."

- Gittin 6b.

7. "A man should endeavor to be as pliant as a reed, and never unyielding like the cedar."

-  Taanit 20b:33.

8. "A person's true character is ascertained by three parameters: his cup (i.e., his behavior when he drinks), his pocket (i.e., his financial dealings), and his anger."

- Rabbi Ilai, Eruvin 65b.

9. "He who carries out one good deed acquires one advocate in his own behalf, and he who commits one transgression acquires one accuser against himself. Repentance and good works are like a shield against calamity."

- Mishnah, Abot 4:13.

10. "Once a person has sinned and repeated the sin, he treats it as if it has become permitted."

- Rav Huna, Arachin 30b.

The Talmud speaks about love and respect towards one another amongst the Jewish fraternity. These are a few beautiful quotes that are examples of that. All these quotes come from a place of love and compassion. So, here are a few examples of what The Talmud says about love.

11. "Know that this union is a holy and pure thing when it is properly conducted in the proper time, and with the proper intention... God has created everything according to His wisdom, and has not created things to be ugly or shameful."

- Ramban, Igeret Hakodesh.

12. "A husband and wife are one soul, separated only through their descent to this world. When they are married, they are reunited again."

- The Zohar, I91a

13. "One who takes revenge due to his zealotry destroys his own house."

-  Sanhedrin, 102b.

14. "Any love that depends on a specific cause, when that cause is gone, the love is gone; but if it does not depend on a specific cause, it will never cease."

- Pirkei Avot, 5:19.

15. "If your wife is short, bend down and whisper to her."

- Bava Metzia 59a.

16. "A man should eat and drink less than his means, clothe himself according to his means, and honor his wife and children beyond his means."

- Chullin 84b.

17. "When our love was strong, we could have lain on the blade of a sword. Now that our love is not strong, a bed of sixty cubits is insufficient."

- Sanhedrin 7a.

18. "Loving-kindness is greater than laws; and the charities of life are more than all ceremonies."

- Sukkah 49b:11.

19. "If a dog barks at you, stay; if a female dog barks at you, leave."

- Eruvin 86a.

20. "All the blessings of a household come through the wife, therefore should her husband honour her."

-Bava Metzia 59a.

It is a book of God. So, below are some of the best Talmud quotes which speaks about God and the Son of God that you should definitely know from the Jewish holy book.

21. "He who devotes himself to the mere study of religion without engaging in works of love and mercy is like one who has no God."

- Holy Talmud.

22. "There are three who are especially beloved by God: he who is forbearing, he who is temperate, and he who is courteous."

- Holy Talmud.

23. "Charitable people silence the complaints of the poor. God says to these pious ones: 'By your liberality you reconcile the poor man with Myself; you make peace between us.'"

- Holy Talmud.

24. "A child must love and honor his parents while they are living, and must love and respect them after they are dead; and as they loved and honored God, he must love and honor God, and thus make his parents live again in his own good deeds."

- Holy Talmud.

25. "He who unjustly hands over one man's goods to another, he shall pay God for it with his own soul."

- Holy Talmud.

26. "Teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot."

- Shabat 31a.

27. "Whosoever engages in the study of the Law, and does not practise benevolence, is to be compared to a man who has no God."

- Holy Talmud.

28. "Whosoever does not persecute them that persecute him; whosoever takes an offence in silence; he who does good because of love; he who is cheerful under his sufferings -- these are the friends of God, and of them the Scripture says: 'They shall shine forth like the sun at noontide.'"

- Holy Talmud.

29. "While the son honors his parents, God holds it as if He were dwelling near the child, and were Himself receiving honor."

- 'Legends Of The Jews', Holy Talmud.

30. "Just as the soul fills the body, so God fills the world. Just as the soul bears the body, so God endures the world. Just as the soul sees but is not seen, so God sees but is not seen."

- Orchot Tzadikim ,28.

Talmud can be a great motivation for the man who's trying to live a good life. And even if you're at a confused state in your life, take a look at these quotes that can definitely inspire you from this grand old book. Some of them can even become your favorite the first time you read them.

31. "Greater even than the pious man is he who eats that which is the fruit of his own toil; for scripture declares him twice-blessed."

- Holy Talmud.

32. "Every blade of grass has its Angel that bends over it and whispers, Grow, Grow."

- Midrash Rabbah, Bereshit 10:6.

33. "A person will be called to account on Judgment Day for every permissible thing he might have enjoyed but did not."

- Holy Talmud.

34. "Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world."

- Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5

35. "There are stars who's light only reaches the earth long after they have fallen apart. There are people who's remembrance gives light in this world, long after they have passed away. This light shines in our darkest nights on the road we must follow."

- Holy Talmud.

36. "If a person says I have worked hard but have not found success, don't believe him. If a person says I have not exerted myself, and I have found success, don't believe him. If he says I gave it my all and I have found success, believe him!"

- Holy Talmud.

37. "Richer is one hour of repentance and good works in this world than all of life of the world to come; and richer is one hour's calm of spirit in the world to come than all of life of this world."

- Holy Talmud.

38. "There is no community where everyone is rich; neither is there a community where everyone is poor."

- Holy Talmud.

39. "A legal decision depends not on the teacher's age, but on the force of his argument."

- Holy Talmud.

40. "Do not celebrate among the mourners, and do not weep among revelers."

- Holy Talmud.

The Talmud is full of wise words from wise men. Here are a few of the wisest and most important lines from the book that one should keep by their heart because you will always find something to help you even if you are reading these old teachings for the first time.

41. Even if all the seas would be ink … and the heavens would be parchment upon which the words would be written … these would be insufficient to write the unquantifiable extent of governmental responsibility - that is, all the considerations with which a government must concern itself and deal."

- Holy Talmud.

42. "He who has more learning than goodness is like a tree with many branches and few roots, which the first wind throws down; whilst he whose works are greater than his knowledge is like a tree with many roots and fewer branches, which all the winds of heaven cannot uproot."

- Holy Talmud.

43. "If one has eaten garlic and has acquired a bad odor, he must not eat more garlic because the bad odor is about him already."

- Holy Talmud.

44. "Never expose yourself unnecessarily to danger a miracle may not save you...and if it does, it will be deducted from your share of luck or merit."

- Holy Talmud.

45. "One may decline the request of a lesser person, but one may not decline the request of a great person."

- Holy Talmud.

46. "Just as you are obligated to speak when your words will be heeded, you must remain silent when you know your words will be ignored."

- Holy Talmud.

47. "The servant of a King is like a King."

- Holy Talmud.

48. "Be wary of authorities who befriend a person for their own purposes. They appear loving when it is beneficial to them, but do not stand by the other person in his time of distress."

- Holy Talmud.

49. "Nothing is more becoming a man than silence. It is not the preaching but the practice which ought to be considered as the more important. A profusion of words is sure to lead to error."

- Holy Talmud.

50. "The liar's punishment is that even when he speaks the truth, no one believes him."

- Holy Talmud.

Lastly, we have a few quotes from people around the world that say how much the Holy book has changed their lives and how much impact it has had upon them. You can always study the wisdom of the Talmud even if you are from another religion or faith. You will find something in the studies that tells you about wisdom and knowledge.

51. "In my town, we studied the five Books of Moses, but rarely the prophets. We studied the Talmud so much that I sometimes knew the prophets because of the prophetic quotations in the Talmud. We almost never studied the prophets themselves."

- Elie Wiesel.

52. "The truth is that what the great religions preached, the Yiddish-speaking people of the ghettos practiced day in and day out… They knew of no greater joy than the study of man and human relations, which they called Torah, Talmud, Mussar, Cabala."

- Isaac Bashevis Singer.

53. "All the questions discussed in the Talmud and related rabbinic literature are normative questions: either they are questions of what one is to think or what one is to do. Every prescribed thought has some practical implication; every prescribed act has some theoretical implication."

- Rabbi David Novak.

54. "Keep score, which is what the Talmud recognizes as a distinction between work and play that renders a game unfit for the Sabbath."

- John Thorn.

55. "Someone wrongs or wounds you; in resenting it, you re-feel the injury. And you've hurt yourself. The Hebrew Talmud says that a person who bears a grudge is 'Like one who, having cut one hand while handling a knife, avenges himself by stabbing the other hand'."

- Norman Vincent Peale.

56. "If it be true that our people represent a high percentage of mental vigor, the distinction is probably due, in some measure, to the extremely important part which Talmud studies have played in the spiritual life of the race."

- Abraham Cahan.

57. "It's the side-by-side culture of the Talmud I like so much. 'On the one hand' and 'on the other hand' is frustrating for people seeking absolute faith, but for me it gives religion an ambidextrous quality that suits my temperament."

- Jonathan Rosen.

58. "The night was gone. The morning star was shining in the sky. I too had become a completely different person. The student of the Talmud, the child that I was, had been consumed in the flames. There remained only a shape that looked like me."

- Elie Wiesel.

59. "The history of the Jews has been written overwhelmingly by scholars of texts - understandably given the formative nature of the Bible and the Talmud. Seeing Jewish history through artifacts, architecture and images is still a young but spectacularly flourishing discipline that's changing the whole story."

- Simon Schama.

60. "One of the sages of the Talmud taught nearly 200 years ago that God could have created a plant that would grow loaves of bread. Instead He created wheat for us to mill and bake into bread… So that we could be His partners in completing the work of creation."

- Rabbi Harold S. Kushner.

61. "I believe mysticism is a very serious endeavor. One must be equipped for it. One doesn't study calculus before studying arithmetic. In my tradition, one must wait until one has learned a lot of Bible and Talmud and the Prophets to handle mysticism… There is no instant mysticism."

- Elie Wiesel.

62. "The Jews invented a portable religion in the shape of the Bible, the Torah, and eventually the Talmud, and with other portable forms of writing. So it's now possible to carry the religion, that is embedded in that writing, away from the ruins of political and military power."

- Simon Schama.

63. "The Talmud is to this day the circulating heart's blood of the Jewish religion. Whatever laws, customs, or ceremonies we observe - whether we are orthodox, conservative, reform or merely spasmodic sentimentalists-we follow the Talmud. It is our common law."

- Herman Wouk.

64. "There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. The Talmud tells us that by saving a single human being, man can save the world."

- Elie Wiesel.

65. "In that moment, the Rabbi dies and his soul goes to heaven. The servant, too, the Talmud says, is guaranteed her place in the world to come."

- Jonathan Rosen.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Talmud quotes then why not take a look at [Abraham Joshua Heschel quotes], or faith in God quotes?

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