t so much by their physical strength as by the strength of
their soul. Besides, it was a great temptation for the Serbs to abandon
the Christian faith and to accept the faith of the Crescent. Under this
condition only, the Turks promised freedom to the Serbs and equal
rights. Several of the aristocratic families could not resist this
temptation and became renegade to the faith of their ancestors in order
to save their lives. But the mass of the people fearlessly continued to
be faithful to the belief in the Cross.

Allow me to give you only a few examples of the

ACTIVITY OF THE SERBIAN SOUL

in the time when the Serbian body was in chains. Although the Serbian
body was enslaved, the Serbian soul was still free and active. Here are
some proverbs made during the time of slavery and abasement of the body:

It is better not to be born than to misuse life.

The sun sees everything and keeps silent; the foolish man knows nothing
and still talks.

Why does God send suffering to the best of His children? Because the
weak cannot endure it.

The tears of the weak are accusations of the strong; the tears of the
poor are accusations of the rich; the tears of the righteous will be
transformed into diamonds under the throne of God.

A king asks another king: How many people do you govern? But if God
speaks to a king, he asks: How many people are you helping?

Even the dry leaves cry out when trodden on; why should not the trodden
man cry out?

It is better to give life than to take life. If you give life, you do
what God does; if you take life, you do what Satan does.

Some men are better than others, but there is no man so good as God and
no one so bad as the devil.

Some people are dressed in silk and satin, and others are dressed in
rags. Very often that is the only difference between man and man.

There is a great difference between a learned man and a good man. The
learned man can do good, but the good man will do good. The learned man
can build the world up, but can destroy it too; the good man can only
build it up.

A man's judgment lasts as long as a man's life, but God's judgment lasts
as long as God.

It is better to dress the soul in silk and the body in rags than the
reverse.

If life does not mean work, then life is worth nothing.

Work and virtue are sisters, as well as idleness and vice.

Work and prayer are two eyes on the same face. The man who works only,
without praying, has one eye only; an