A prayer from Talmud

MAY it be Thy will, O God, that we return to Thee in perfect penitence, so that we may not be ashamed to meet our fathers in the life to come.

Unite our hearts, O God, to fear Thy name; keep us far from what Thou hatest; bring us near to what Thou lovest; and deal mercifully with us for Thy name’s sake. May it be Thy will, O God, that love and peace and brotherliness dwell among us! May our hopes of Heaven be fulfilled! Grant that the good inclination may uphold us. Fill us with the desire to fear Thy name, and do Thou give us our soul’s peace. Amen. 

TALMUD.

A person should be soft

The Rabbis taught: "A person should always be soft like a reed and not hard like a cedar." 

Once R. Elazar the son of R. Shimon was coming from his teacher's house in Migdal Gedor, riding on a donkey. He was traveling along the bank of the river with a feeling of great joy and a sense of arrogance, because he had learned a great deal of Torah. 

A very ugly person happened upon him. The ugly person said: "How are you Rebbe?" 

R. Elazar did not respond. [Rather,] he said: "Empty one - how ugly this fellow is! Are all the people of your town as ugly as you?" 

The ugly person responded: "I don't know, but you should go to the craftsman who made me and tell him how ugly is the vessel that he made." 

R. Elazar knew that he had sinned. He got off the donkey, prostrated himself before the other fellow and said: "I have pained you. Forgive me." 

The man said: "I will not forgive you until you go to the craftsman who made me and tell him how ugly is the vessel he made." 

R. Elazar followed him until they came to his town. All the townspeople came out to greet R. Elazar and they said: "Welcome, our Rabbi, our Rabbi, our teacher, our teacher." 

The ugly fellow said: "Who are you referring to as your rabbi?" 

They said: "The one who is walking behind you." 

He said to them: "If this is a rabbi, let there not be more like him in Israel." 

They said: "Why?" 

He said to them: "This is what he did to me." 

They said to him: "Nevertheless, forgive him because he is a great Torah scholar." 

He said to them: "For your sake I forgive him, but on condition that he not become accustomed to act this way." 

R. Elazar immediately entered [the study hall] and taught: "A person should always be soft like a reed and not hard like a cedar." (Ta'anit 20a-20b)

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In presence of the King of kings

There are two ways before me, one leading into Paradise, the other into Hell." When Yochanan, the son of Zachai, was sick unto death, his disciples came to visit him; and when he saw them he wept, upon which his disciples exclaimed, "Light of Israel! Pillar of the right! Mighty Hammer! why weepest thou?" He replied, "If I were going to be led into the presence of a king, who is but flesh and blood, to-day here and to-morrow in the grave, whose anger with me could not last forever, whose sentence against me, were it even unto death, could not endure forever, and whom perhaps I might pacify with words or bribe with money, yet for all that should I weep; but now that I am about to enter the presence of the King of kings, the Holy One—blessed be He forever and ever!—whose anger would be everlasting, whose sentence of death or imprisonment admits of no reprieve, and who is not to be pacified with words nor bribed with money, and in whose presence there are two roads before me, one leading into Paradise and the other into Hell, and should I not weep?" Then prayed they him, and said, "Rabbi, give us thy farewell blessing;" and he said unto them, "Oh that the fear of God may be as much upon you as the fear of man."

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Repent one day before death

"Repent one day before thy death." In relation to which Rabbi Eliezer was asked by his disciples, "How is a man to repent one day before his death, since he does not know on what day he shall die?" "So much the more reason is there," he replied, "that he should repent to-day, lest he die to-morrow; and repent to-morrow, lest he die the day after: and thus will all his days be penitential ones."

From Talmud 

The soul fills the body, as God fills the world.The soul bears the body,  as God bears the world. The soul outlasts the body, as God outlasts the world.The soul is one in the body, as God is  one in the world.The soul sees and is not seen, as God sees and is not seen. The soul is pure in the body, even as God is pure in the world.

Rabbi Simeon Ben Pazi, the Talmud

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