That to which one accustoms the tongue becomes its natural speech.

Excerpt

It is related of one of the Chassideem, that once when he was taking a walk with his disciples, they passed the carcass of a dog in an advanced stage of decomposition. His disciples exclaimed: “Oh, how this carcass stinks!” He replied: “Oh, how white its teeth are!” so as to counteract their remark. If it be wrong to speak disparagingly of a dead dog, how much more so, of a living man; and if it be a merit to praise a dead dog for the whiteness of its teeth, how much more is it a duty to find out, and praise, the least merit in an intellectual human being? But it was also the intention of this pious man to teach his pupils to habituate themselves to speaking favourably, and to the avoidance of evil speaking. For that to which one accustoms the tongue becomes its natural speech.

Source Duties of the Heart, The Charity Of The Meek · 📖 Read the full passage

✨ To meditate on today

According to Bahya ibn Paquda, a medieval Jewish sage and author of the Duties of the Heart, a hasid (a pious man, “Chassideem” in the plural) taught his disciples to look for the least merit in everyone, even where everything seems repulsive, for what the tongue grows used to saying becomes its natural way of speaking. Today, each time a criticism comes to your lips, first look for a quality in the person or the situation, and say it aloud.

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