work on yourself

--> One morning I noticed that the people of my town did not respect me any more. Troubled, I sought to understand why. At last I found that it had nothing to do with them and everything to do with me. I simply had lost all respect for myself. And why should others be more charitable than I? So I decided to work on myself. As a result, people around me began to treat me with increased consideration.

Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev

[from Souls on Fire by Elie Wiesel]

fear God as much as man

--> When Rabbi Jochanan was ill, his pupils visited him and asked him for blessing. With his dying voice The Rabbi said, "I pray that you may fear God as you fear man." . "What!" acclaimed his pupils, "should we not fear God more than man?"

"I should be well content," answered the sage, "if your actions proved that you feared Him as much. When you do wrong you first make sure that no human eyes see you; show the same fear of God, who sees everywhere, and everything, at all times."

from Talmud