Christianity
“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
—The New Testament (2 Corinthians 13:14), Christian text
Buddhism
“Om is composed of three letters, A, U, and M. These symbolize the practitioner’s impure body, speech, and mind; they also symbolize the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha.”
—The Dalai Lama, Buddhist spiritual leader
“Control of the senses, contentment, restraint according to the code of monastic discipline — these form the basis of holy life here for the wise monk.”
—The Buddha
Baha’i
“For the intention, the power and the action, all the three essential elements are brought together and the realization of everything in the contingent world dependeth upon these three principles.”
—‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Baha’i leader
Judaism
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
—Ecclesiastes 3:11, The Hebrew Bible
Hinduism
“Om Tat Sat: these three words represent Brahman, from which come priests and scriptures and sacrifice. Those who follow the Vedas, therefore, always repeat the word Om when offering sacrifices, performing spiritual disciplines, or giving gifts.”
—The Bhagavad Gita (17:23-24), Hindu text
Islam
“Perhaps no other theme of the mosque lessons better captures the Aristotelian principle of ethical formation than that of the classical triad of fear (al-khauf), hope (al-raja’), and love (al-hubb).”
—Saba Mahmood, scholar of Islam
Taoism
“The Way gave birth to the One
The One gave birth to the Two
The Two gave birth to the Three;
And the Three gave birth to the ten thousand things.”
—The Tao Te Ching (Chapter 42), Taoist text
Confucianism
“There are three things constantly on the lips of the gentleman none of which I have succeeded in following: ‘A man of benevolence never worries; a man of wisdom is never in two minds; a man of courage is never afraid.’”
—The Analects (14:28), Confucian text
Modern Social Sciences
“[There is a] relatively uniform description of [memory] capacity limits of three to five chunks as the population average (with a maximum range of two to six chunks in individuals).”
—Nelson Cowan, psychologist
“Civilization, instead, has always rested on three pillars. Public goods, social investments, and cooperation by average people, to better themselves — instead of paying tribute to warlords, emperors, and rulers.”
—Umair Haque, British economist