"melody causes whatever feeling is in the heart to increase"

Whatever is in the heart of man, melody moves and awakens. If a heart full of good feelings and a pure voice are joined together, a great effect is produced. For instance: if there be love in the heart, through melody, it will increase until its intensity can scarcely be borne; but if bad thoughts are in the heart, such as hatred, it will increase and multiply. For instance: the music used in war awakens the desire for bloodshed. The meaning is that melody causes whatever feeling is in the heart to increase. 

- 'Abdu'l-Bahá  (Words to Mrs. Mary L. Lucas, as quoted in "A Brief Account of My Visit to Acca" (Chicago: Bahá'í Publishing Society, 1905), pp. 11-14; The Compilation of Compilations vol. II)

“Speak thou no word of politics”

Speak thou no word of politics; thy task concerneth the life of the soul, for this verily leadeth to man's joy in the world of God. Except to speak well of them, make thou no mention of the earth's kings, and the worldly governments thereof. Rather, confine thine utterance to spreading the blissful tidings of the Kingdom of God, and demonstrating the influence of the Word of God, and the holiness of the Cause of God. Tell thou of abiding joy and spiritual delights, and godlike qualities, and of how the Sun of Truth hath risen above the earth's horizons; tell of the blowing of the spirit of life into the body of the world. 

- ‘Abdu'l-Baha  (Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu'l-Baha)

Associating with the “transcendent power emanating from the Word of God”

The Word of God is the storehouse of all good, all power and all wisdom. The illiterate fisherman and savage Arabs through it were enabled to solve such problems as were puzzles to eminent sages from the beginning of time. It awakens within us that brilliant intuition which makes us independent of all tuition, and endows us with an all-embracing power of spiritual understanding. Many a soul after fruitless struggles in the ark of philosophy was drowned in the sea of conflicting theories of cause and effect, while those on board the craft of simplicity reached the shore of the Universal Cause, aided by favorable winds blowing from the point of divine knowledge. When man is associated with that transcendent power emanating from the Word of God, the tree of his being becomes so well rooted in the soil of assurance that it laughs at hurricanes of skepticism violently attempting its destruction. For this association of the part with the Whole endows him with the Whole, and this union of the particular with the Universal makes him all in all.  

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Compilation: ‘Baha'i Scriptures’)

The “hosts of God”: - “goodly deeds and a praiseworthy character” and God’s “blessed and holy Word”

Centre your attention unceasingly upon that which will cause the Word of God to be exalted. In this Most Great Revelation goodly deeds and a praiseworthy character are regarded as the hosts of God, likewise is His blessed and holy Word. These hosts are the lodestone of the hearts of men and the effective means for unlocking doors. Of all the weapons in the world this is the keenest. 

- Baha'u'llah  (Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)

Training for Local Assembly members

In the courses for Local Assembly members special attention should be paid to the significance of the Assembly and the importance of attending its meetings; the functions and duties of the Assembly's officers, especially those of the secretary, upon the proper discharge of whose responsibilities the efficient functioning of the Assembly largely depends; the importance of making the Word of God easily accessible to the friends and of holding regular deepening classes where the Teachings can be studied and discussed; the vital necessity of prayer, and the value of holding gatherings for dawn prayers where and when feasible; the proper holding of Nineteen Day Feasts and the observance of Baha'i Holy Days and anniversaries; the need to pay particular attention to the education of children; and the value of organizing social gatherings, such as picnics, encouraging the friends to associate together and with their non-Baha'i friends in love and fragrance. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a message dated April 17, 1981 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to all National Spiritual Assemblies; ‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963-1986’)

The use of arts to “reflect, however inadequately, the Divine Spirit which Bahá'u'lláh has breathed into the world”

Although now is only the very beginning of Bahá'í art, yet the friends who feel they are gifted in such matters should endeavour to develop and cultivate their gifts and through their works to reflect, however inadequately, the Divine Spirit which Bahá'u'lláh has breathed into the world. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 4 November 1937, written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi  to an individual believer; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. II, Music)

We should always rely upon the “confirmation of the Holy Spirit“

O ye beloved of Baha'! Do not look at your weakness, nay, rely upon the confirmation of the Holy Spirit. Verily, It maketh the weak strong, the lowly mighty, the child grown, the infant mature and the small great. 

- ‘Abdu'l-Baha  (Tablets of ‘Abdu'l-Baha vol. 2)

“every Bahá'í should teach, and each one has his own capacities”

There is a great need for teaching the Cause at present; every Bahá'í should teach, and each one has his own capacities and can expect to reach certain souls who respond to his efforts… Every one is perforce only an instrument in giving the Message which is more or less coloured by his own capacities and approach to life. There is no harm in this. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 23 March 1945 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi; The Compilation of Compilations, Vol. II, Writers and Writing)

The “human soul comes into being at the time of conception…”

... the Bahá'í Writings affirm that the human soul comes into being at the time of conception. However, they do not clearly define the exact biological moment and nature of the event described as conception and this may, indeed, be a question that is insoluble by human thought or investigation, since it relates to mysteries of the spiritual world and the nature of the soul itself. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter dated 6 February 1997 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to a National Spiritual Assembly; compilation ‘Reproduction and other Biological Subjects ‘, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice)

Nineteen Day Feasts: - “to foster comradeship and love, to call God to mind and supplicate Him with contrite hearts, and to encourage benevolent pursuits”

Your detailed letter hath been received, but because of the press of work a brief answer must suffice. You have asked as to the Feast in every Bahá'í month. This Feast is held to foster comradeship and love, to call God to mind and supplicate Him with contrite hearts, and to encourage benevolent pursuits. That is, the friends should there dwell upon God and glorify Him, read the prayers and holy verses, and treat one another with the utmost affection and love. Should trouble arise between two of the friends, let both be invited in, and efforts be made to compose their differences. Let all discussion centre on the doing of charitable acts and holy deeds, that laudable results may be the fruit thereof. 

- 'Abdu'l-Bahá  (From a Tablet to an individual; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. I, Nineteen Day Feast)

Baha’u’llah called for “comprehensive” education

Bahá'u'lláh considered education as one of the most fundamental factors of a true civilization. This education, however, in order to be adequate and fruitful, should be comprehensive in nature and should take into consideration not only the physical and the intellectual side of man but also his spiritual and ethical aspects. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 9 July 1931 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. III, Scholarship)

The power inherent in the Manifestation of God

It is in Our power, should We wish it, to enable a speck of floating dust to generate, in less than the twinkling of an eye, suns of infinite, of unimaginable splendor, to cause a dewdrop to develop into vast and numberless oceans, to infuse into every letter such a force as to empower it to unfold all the knowledge of past and future ages. 
- Baha’u’llah  (quoted by Shoghi Effendi in ‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

The “blessings” that God “hast reserved for the people of Bahá in the realm of creation”

Glorified art Thou, O Lord my God! Can anyone befittingly thank Thee for such blessings as Thou hast sent down from the heaven of Thy oneness and the firmament of Thy Will, blessings which Thou hast reserved for the people of Bahá in the realm of creation? Nay, by Thy might, O Thou the Beloved of the worlds and the sole Desire of them that have recognized Thee! Wert Thou to endow every creature of earth and heaven with a myriad tongues, even to the number of the atoms of the universe, and were they to yield Thee thanks, so long as Thy kingdom and Thy dominion endure, for the bounties which Thou hast bestowed upon Thy loved ones in this Day—a Day whereon Thou hast revealed Thyself in Thine own Essence and inmost Being to the dwellers of earth and heaven, and in Thy Beauty to the inhabitants of the cities of eternity, and through Thy Names to them that are immersed in the billowing oceans of grandeur—yet would their thanksgiving fade into nothingness before that which Thou hast bestowed upon them through Thy grace and bounty. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Days of Remembrance’)

“…no multiplicity of races, since… are the descendants of Adam”

All humanity are the children of God; they belong to the same family, to the same original race. There can be no multiplicity of races, since all are the descendants of Adam. This signifies that racial assumption and distinction are nothing but superstition. In the estimate of God there are no English, French, Germans, Turkish or Persians. All these in the presence of God are equal; they are of one race and creation; God did not make these divisions. These distinctions have had their origin in man himself. Therefore, as they are against the plan and purpose of reality, they are false and imaginary. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a talk, Montreal. Canada, 1 September, 1912; ‘The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912’)

Greatness of this Day

“This Day a different Sun hath arisen, and a different Heaven hath been adorned with its stars and its planets. The world is another world, and the Cause another Cause.” “Should the greatness of this Day be revealed in its fulness, every man would forsake a myriad lives in his longing to partake, though it be for one moment, of its great glory—how much more this world and its corruptible treasures!” 

- Baha’u’llah  (Quoted by Shoghi Effendi in ‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)