It is only because people need money that is in the possession of others that they are willing to do things. Money is thus the incentive to for doing all the things that men need [to do] for each other. The inequality in the distribution of wealth is one of the great benefits that Hashem provided to mankind.  — Ohr Avigdor Shaar Habechinah

The world is full of testimonies which are available to those who that are willing to look. Non-seeing is the cause of weakness in believing. — Sing, You Righteous

A person's intellect encompasses all that he is able to understand in the course of his life. The human mind is infinitely capable. A person can absorb facts and experiences without end. The mind is the most stunning of all accomplishments that Hashem made in the whole universe. — Ohr Avigdor Shaar Habechinah

We are responsible for our character. Don't say, "That's how I am!" That's untrue. We have free will and we are able to control out characters. For midos [character traits], everybody is accountable: men and women, and boys and girls. Character--that's the touchstone, that's the test by which all mitzvos and all aveiros [sins] are measured. — The Complainer (#379)

Hashem imprinted on human nature a complicated set of instructions about right and wrong, truth and falsehood. And a man's character cannot be happy unless it is in accordance with the instructions that are programmed in his soul. — The Happiness Within (#E-40)

In order to live like a servant of Hashem, you must study how to do it. In order to live decently, you must learn and train yourself. You need a great deal of planning and advice. The Mesillas Yesharim is telling us here that you shouldn’t expect to have any success unless you train yourself. — Ohr Avigdor Mesillas Yesharim vol. 1 

You are not pious by nature. It doesn’t say you are not good, but you’re not perfect. Any perfection you acquired is the result of hard work. Most human beings think that they are lucky to have been born with good character. Although they know they didn’t work on their character, they didn’t labor to train themselves, but they’re convinced that they’re good anyhow. — Ohr Avigdor Mesillas Yesharim vol. 1

Many people never learned halachah properly. When they look back on their lives, their consciences are clear, even though they did many wrong things, because they never learned what to be aware of. One cannot claim to be a servant of Hashem while doing all sorts of wrong things just because he is not aware that they are wrong. He must study and learn the details of what Hashem expects of us. — Ohr Avigdor Mesillas Yesharim vol. 1 

After Shemoneh Esrei we say, "May it be Your will that the Beis
Hamikdash be built speedily in our days.”
What if it doesn’t bother you that there is no Beis Hamikdash? Then you are just saying words. You must think about the Beis Hamikdash when you say these words and long for it. After a period of trying, you will begin to actually feel it. — Ohr Avigdor Mesillas Yesharim vol. 1

If our thoughts are not in accordance with our deeds, then
Hashem does not accept the deeds — Ohr Avigdor Mesillas Yesharim vol. 1

Let’s say a person brings a korban to the Beis Hamikdash. He spends
a lot of money on the animal, but it has a blemish, so the entire korban is invalid. So does a blemish in his avodah also cause it to be disqualifed.ּ Hashem looks into the hearts and minds of people, and their intentions are what count. — Ohr Avigdor Mesillas Yesharim vol. 1

A person does certain mitzvos, but not purely for the purpose of serving Hashem, he is
also doing them because otherwise he would not have any standing in the community or in his family. That’s a blemish that … would result in his avodah not being accepted at all...  He is not exaggerating. — Ohr Avigdor Mesillas Yesharim vol. 1

If a person is lacking in perfection of avodah, it is not accepted at all. I’ll give a simple example. If a person prays but doesn’t think about what he is saying, it’s not going to be accepted at all. That, of course, is a very simple thing, and yet it’s a universal problem. There are so many people who daven without intention, and it is not accepted by Hashem at all. — Ohr Avigdor Mesillas Yesharim vol. 1

Not only do you have to work to become good, but even if you make yourself good, you have to make sure that you remain good, because in the course of time, you may revert back to your old ways. — Ohr Avigdor Mesillas Yesharim vol. 1

 ​He is speaking to the people who think that these things can be acquired without any effort, that they are natural, that we are born with instinctive reactions, that anyone who is a decent person automatically has these attributes. The Mesillas Yesharim says no, this does not even begin to be true. You are not born good; you have to become good. —
Ohr Avigdor Mesillas Yesharim vol. 1

There are certain things that can be likened to icebergs facing a person traveling in his ship on the sea of life. If he knows how to look, he will find opportunities to navigate himself safely through the icebergs. It’s not a small matter which does not require any special work, such that people who have good heads needn’t waste their time on it. — Ohr Avigdor Mesillas Yesharim vol. 1

Tachbulos (strategies) is an interesting word; it comes from the word chevel, a rope. A rope is not made of just one thing; it’s a number of strands intertwined, one with the other, until it becomes very long. This suggests that you must have a series of strategies, one after the other, to ultimately achieve your goal. — Ohr Avigdor Mesillas Yesharim vol. 1

Hashem wants us to have self-control. Even though a person agrees in principle, when it comes to certain challenges, he says, “That’s not a matter of self-control!”
People know that it is wrong to speak against a Jew. But if you ask, “Why did you talk against him?” They may say, “Against him? That’s a different story!” In practice, they will always have a reason why this principle did not apply. — Ohr Avigdor Mesillas Yesharim, Vol. 1 (coming soon)

A pious man, he's not interested in relating his good deeds, in boasting about himself. He is busy scolding himself, in urging himself on to become better. The Jewish nation in general has been that kind of a tzaddik. -- The Concubine at Giveah (#11)

We're put in this world to be formed into something beautiful. And so a pummel here... and a knock here.... and a punch here. We think it's all a waste. We would like to get along without it, but that's making us, it's rounding us out, and it's smoothing us. It's making us into what we are supposed to become. Part of our being in this world is in voluntary perfection. 

Man is great. The superiority of man is over all the trees, over the continents, and over the universe. The vastness is also between the station of a gentile and that of a Jew. We are already staggering at the first superiority, and now the second we can't begin to think, as our minds would be numb. Perils of Humility, (#12)

When Yom Kippur is over, you're not the same person. You have changed fundamentally. You have learned the very great lesson of Bitachon (trust in Hashem). You put i the effort of believing in Hashem's management of all your affairs. That is a gem that's settled in your mind and it's a diamond that's going to shine and illuminate all the days of the coming year. -- Best Day of the Year (#933)

Abraham made a career of demonstrating to the world the plan and design of Hashem, and for this he was chosen to be the father of the Jewish people. -- Rejoice, O Youth