Week 2023-52: Ekai [Mumon Wumen Huikai] - Collected Quotes

"Arouse your entire body with its three hundred and sixty bones and joints and its eighty-four thousand pores of the skin. Summon up a spirit of great doubt and concentrate on this word “mu.” In order to do so, hold to the problem from morning to night without letting it go even for one second, and become one with the word “mu” (void) with all your strength." (Ekai)

"Awaken your three hundred and sixty bones and eighty-four thousand pores into one great body of inquiry and concentrate yourself into this mu (void)." (Ekai)

"Enlightenment always comes after the road of thinking is blocked." (Ekai, "The Gateless Gate", cca. 13the century)

"If anyone thinks that the one’s insight exceeds the other’s, he has no eyes." (Ekai, "The Gateless Gate", cca. 13the century)

"If you want to study Zen, you must study it with your heart." (Ekai, "The Gateless Gate", cca. 13the century)

"Just concentrate your whole energy into this Mu, and do not allow any discontinuation. When you enter this Mu and there is no discontinuation, your attainment will be as a candle burning and illuminating the whole universe." (Ekai, "The Gateless Gate", cca. 13the century)

"[Nansen:] The Way is not a matter of knowing or not knowing. Knowing is delusion; not knowing is confusion. When you have really reached the true Way beyond doubt, you will find it as vast and boundless as space. How can it be talked about on the level of right and wrong?" (Mumon Ekai, Mumonkan)

"Repeat mu (void) with all the spiritual power you possess." (Ekai)

"Zen has no gates. The purpose of Buddha’s words is to enlighten others. Therefore Zen should be gateless." (Ekai, "The Gateless Gate", cca. 13the century)

Week 2023-51: Kekuan [Niwa Jurozaemon Tadaaki] - Collected Quotes

"But if your thoughts intrude, even a little, you have intention, and your body will not move naturally. Therefore the opponent’s mind will not give in to you but continuously oppose you." (Issai Chozan, "The Mysterious Skills of the Old Cat" ["Neko No Myoujutsu"], 1727)

"[…] first, you should concentrate on the principle of life and death, with an unbending will, without doubt or hesitation, using neither cleverness nor calculation; if you can keep your mind calm, dignified and free in its normal state, you can respond without constraint even to constantly changing conditions." (Issai Chozan, "The Mysterious Skills of the Old Cat" ["Neko No Myoujutsu"], 1727)

"It is easy to teach, and easy to hear the words we are taught, but difficult to find it within ourselves and make it our own. This is called ‘self-realization’. ‘Enlightenment’ is waking up to see the dream for what it is. Self-realization is the same. There is no difference." (Issai Chozan, "The Mysterious Skills of the Old Cat" ["Neko No Myoujutsu"], 1727)

"Outer forms are taught to indicate the direction we should follow, so though they do, in fact, contain the truth - but if you specialize in them, jumping from one to another and devising new variations, you will lack the essence of the skills of the old masters. Using your own cleverness, you’ll end up as a collector of techniques and your skill will amount to nothing." (Issai Chozan, "The Mysterious Skills of the Old Cat" ["Neko No Myoujutsu"], 1727)

"Swordsman-ship is not something you persevere in just to achieve victory over others. It is also an art through which you can face troubles and clarify issues of life and death. This is an attitude that samurai must always strive to maintain, and so you should master this art." (Issai Chozan, "The Mysterious Skills of the Old Cat" ["Neko No Myoujutsu"], 1727)

"Whatever has form, has opposition, but if your mind has no form, it can have no opposition. When there is no opposition, there is no opponent." (Issai Chozan, "The Mysterious Skills of the Old Cat" ["Neko No Myoujutsu"], 1727)

"You have to consider things yourselves. This is the way things are passed down from the masters: they can teach theory only. You are the ones who have to get the truth from it. [….] You must educate yourself. Teaching is just pointing out what you cannot see without help. You are not ‘given’ anything by the teacher." (Issai Chozan, "The Mysterious Skills of the Old Cat" ["Neko No Myoujutsu"], 1727)

Week 2023-50: Gyalwa Karmapa - Collected Quotes

"Contentment is a wealth that gives the highest satisfaction, and we can gain it simply by mining our own mental resources, and knowing our own mind. We can cultivate the perspective that what we have is enough. We can see that we do not actually need more than we already have, and can be completely satisfied with that." (Gyalwa Karmapa)

"If in our minds we are joyful and peaceful, then this will show in the way we use our bodies and speech." (Gyalwa Karmapa)

"In order to meditate, it is very important to first identify what we are meditating on. If we meditate without identifying that, there is the danger it will become idiot meditation or idiot Dharma. If we do not first fully comprehend through listening and contemplating the meaning of what we are meditating on, how can we practice?" (Gyalwa Karmapa)

"Much of our work is based on the use of our brains, by which I mean our intelligence. But compassion is something that arises or is present at a much deeper level of the mind, very much just as the roots of a tree - unlike its branches - are present within and beneath the ground." (Gyalwa Karmapa)

"On a day when the wind is perfect, the sail just needs to open and the world is full of beauty. Today is such a day." (Gyalwa Karmapa)

"One of the attributes of Buddhahood is that the way things appear and the way things are, or their true nature, are no longer different or distinct from one another." (Gyalwa Karmapa)

"Our existence is always based on and dependent on our relationship to and the existence of others." (Gyalwa Karmapa)

"The main purpose of dharma practice is to transform your mind." (Gyalwa Karmapa)

"The past is over - it’s already done. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. So the only time that we have is now." (Gyalwa Karmapa)

"To secure our own happiness and causes of happiness, we must first act to create wholesome causes of happiness. We must create virtue. We must engage in good conduct. We must generate wholesome attitudes. These are important." (Gyalwa Karmapa)

"We mistakenly believe that our welfare, our wellbeing, is utterly independent from the well-being of others. Based on that, we have decided my welfare alone is important and the welfare of others is unimportant." (Gyalwa Karmapa)

"We must ask the question, 'What is actually going to do us good? What can we do that will actually be of benefit to ourselves?' Certainly, it is obvious that to callously and selfishly ignore the welfare of others and attempt to achieve our own well-being does not really help us. In fact, it harms us." (Gyalwa Karmapa)

"We need to concern ourselves with the wellbeing of all beings that surround us and of all living things because we depend upon them and we cannot really separate our welfare from theirs." (Gyalwa Karmapa)

"When, because of external or internal circumstances there comes some sort of a change, we need to be able to go along with that change. So whatever happens, we go with the flow of events. If we are able to do this, then in our own mind we can be more relaxed. We can be more expansive. When we go along with that we can be comfortable, relaxed and spacious in our minds. If we are able to do this then we are able to be happy, and to have a comfortable and content life."  (Gyalwa Karmapa)

"When I have difficulties, I feel like sometimes it's good to just close the door, relax a little bit, let my mind be a little bit looser and more spacious. I feel that this is helpful, and this is probably something that will be helpful for you as well."  (Gyalwa Karmapa)

"Without those things that produce the air that we breathe, there would be no air for us to breathe. In that way, we always depend on others and everything around us and therefore our well-being depends upon their wellbeing as well." Gyalwa Karmapa

Week 2023-49: Pierre T de Chardin - Collected Quotes

"Religion and science are the two conjugated faces of phases of one and the same act of complete knowledge - the only one which can embrace the past and future of evolution so as to contemplate, measure and fulfill them." (Pierre T de Chardin, "The Phenomenon of Man", 1955)

"Science, philosophy and religion are bound to converge as they draw nearer to the whole." (Pierre T de Chardin, "The Phenomenon of Man", 1955)

"The time has come to realise that an interpretation of the universe - even a positive one - remains unsatisfying unless it covers the interior as well as the exterior of things; mind as well as matter. The true physics is that which will, one day, achieve the inclusion of man in his wholeness in a coherent picture of the world." (Pierre T de Chardin, "The Phenomenon of Man", 1955)

"The world can no more have two summits than a circumference can have two centres." (Pierre T de Chardin, "The Divine Milieu", 1960)

"All that really matters is devotion to something bigger than ourselves." (Pierre T de Chardin)

"Driven by the force of love, the fragments of the world seek each other that the world may come into being." (Pierre T de Chardin)

"Historically, the stuff of the universe goes on becoming concentrated into ever more organized forms of matter." (Pierre T de Chardin)

"Life does not work by following a single thread, nor yet by fits and starts. It pushes forward its whole network at one and the same time." (Pierre T de Chardin)

"Love alone is capable of uniting living beings in such a way as to complete and fulfill them, for it alone takes them and joins them by what is deepest in themselves." (Pierre T de Chardin)

"Some day, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides, and gravity, we shall harness the energies of love. Then, for the second time in the history of the world, humankind will have discovered fire." (Pierre T de Chardin)

"The most satisfying thing in life is to have been able to give a large part of oneself to others." (Pierre T de Chardin)

"The universe as we know it is a joint product of the observer and the observed." (Pierre T de Chardin)

"To discover and know has always been a deep tendency of our nature." (Pierre T de Chardin)

"To our critical eyes, the threads of which the past is woven are, by nature, endless and indivisible. Scientifically speaking, we cannot grasp the absolute beginning of anything: everything extends backwards to be prolonged by something else." (Pierre T de Chardin)

"What is imponderable in the world is greater than what we can handle." (Pierre T de Chardin)

"We are not humans having a spiritual experience. Instead, we are spirits having a human experience." (Pierre T de Chardin)

Week 2023-48: Publilius Syrus - Collected Quotes

"A thing is worth whatever the buyer will pay for it." (Publilius Syrus)

"A wise man never refuses anything to necessity." (Publilius Syrus)

"Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm." (Publilius Syrus)

"Audacity augments courage; hesitation, fear." (Publilius Syrus)

"Avarice is as destitute of what it has as poverty is of what it has not." (Publilius Syrus)

"Each day should be passed as though it were our last." (Publilius Syrus)

"Friendship neither finds nor makes equals." (Publilius Syrus)

"From the errors of others, a wise man corrects his own." (Publilius Syrus)

"He gives twice who gives promptly." (Publilius Syrus)

"He is much to be dreaded who stands in dread of poverty." (Publilius Syrus)

"He who is shipwrecked twice is foolish to blame the sea." (Publilius Syrus)

"He who lives only for himself is truly dead to others." (Publilius Syrus)

"How unhappy is he who cannot forgive himself." (Publilius Syrus)

"If you wish to reach the highest, begin at the lowest." (Publilius Syrus)

"It is a bad plan that admits of no modification." (Publilius Syrus)

"It is more easy to get a favor from fortune than to keep it." (Publilius Syrus)

"It's a bad plan that can't be changed." (Publilius Syrus)

"Learn to see in another's calamity the ills which you should avoid." (Publilius Syrus)

"No man is happy unless he believes he is." (Publilius Syrus)

"No one knows what he can do until he tries." (Publilius Syrus)

"No one reaches a high position without daring." (Publilius Syrus)

"Prosperity makes friends, adversity tries them." (Publilius Syrus)

"Speech is a mirror of the soul: as a man speaks, so he is." " (Publilius Syrus)

"The opportunity is often lost by deliberating." (Publilius Syrus)

"To do two things at once is to do neither." (Publilius Syrus)

"Unless you bear with the faults of a friend you betray your own." (Publilius Syrus)

"We die as often as we lose a friend." (Publilius Syrus)

"We may with advantage at times forget what we know." (Publilius Syrus)

"We must master our good fortune, or it will master us." (Publilius Syrus)

"What we fear comes to pass more speedily than what we hope." (Publilius Syrus)

"When you are at sea, keep clear of the land." (Publilius Syrus)

Week 2023-47: Ole Hallesby - Collected Quotes

 "A humble and contrite heart knows that it can merit nothing before God, and that all that is necessary is to be reconciled to one's helplessness and let our holy and almighty God care for us, just as an infant surrenders himself to his mother's care." (Ole Hallesby)

"As impossible as it is for us to take a breath in the morning large enough to last us until noon, so impossible is it to pray in the morning in such a way as to last us until noon. Let your prayers ascend to Him constantly, audibly or silently, as circumstances throughout the day permit." (Ole Hallesby)

"As white snow flakes fall quietly and thickly on a winter day, answers to prayer will settle down upon you at every step you take, even to your dying day. The story of your life will be the story of prayer and answers to prayer." (Ole Hallesby)

"Be sure to remember that nothing in your daily life is so insignificant and so inconsequential that the Lord will not help you by answering your prayer" (Ole Hallesby)

"Begin to realize more and more that prayer is the most important thing you do. You can use your time to no better advantage than to pray whenever you have an opportunity to do so, either alone or with others; while at work, while at rest, or while walking down the street. Anywhere!" (Ole Hallesby)

"By prayer we couple the powers of heaven to our helplessness, the powers which can capture strongholds and make the impossible possible." (Ole Hallesby)

"Do not forget that prayer is ordained for the purpose of glorifying the name of God. Therefore, whether you pray for big things or for little things, say to God, "If it will glorify Thy name, then grant my prayer and help me."" (Ole Hallesby)

"God alone fully understands what each one of us needs; we make mistakes continually and pray for things which would be harmful to us if we received them. Afterwards we see our mistakes and realize that God is good and wise in not giving us these things, even though we plead ever so earnestly for them." (Ole Hallesby)

"Helplessness becomes prayer the moment that you go to Jesus and speak candidly and confidently with him about your needs. This is to believe." (Ole Hallesby)

"Helplessness is unquestionably the first and the surest indication of a praying heart. [...] Prayer and helplessness are inseparable. Only he who is helpless can truly pray." (Ole Hallesby)

"If God does not give you something you ask for, wait on Him. He will speak with you tenderly and sympathetically about the matter until you yourself understand that He cannot grant your prayer." (Ole Hallesby)

"If we pray for anything according to the will of God, we already have what we pray for the moment we ask it. We do not know exactly when it will arrive; but we have learned to know God through the Spirit of God, and have learned to leave this in His hands, and to live just as happily whether the answer arrives immediately or later." (Ole Hallesby)

"If we will make use of prayer to call down upon ourselves and others those things which will glorify the name of God, then we shall see the strongest and boldest promises of the Bible about prayer fulfilled. Then we shall see such answers to prayer as we had never thought were possible." (Ole Hallesby)

"It is God's will not only to hear our prayer, but to give us the best and the richest answer which He, the almighty and omniscient God, can devise. He will send us the answer when it will benefit us and His cause the most." (Ole Hallesby)

"It is necessary for us to withdraw at regular intervals and enable our souls to attain that quietude and inward composure which are essential if we would hear the voice of God." (Ole Hallesby)

"It is not only blessed to give thanks; it is also of vital importance to our prayer life in general. If we have noted the Lord's answers to our prayers and thanked Him for what we have received of Him, then it becomes easier for us, and we get more courage, to pray for more." (Ole Hallesby)

"It is only when we pray for something according to the will of God that we have the promise of being heard and answered." (Ole Hallesby)

"It is the will of our heavenly Father that we should come to Him freely and confidently and make known our desires to Him, just as we would have our children come freely and of their own accord and speak to us about the things they would like to have." (Ole Hallesby)

"Jesus is moved to happiness every time He sees that you appreciate what He has done for you. Grip His pierced hand and say to Him, "I thank Thee, Savior, because Thou hast died for me." Thank Him likewise for all the other blessings He has showered upon you from day to day. It brings joy to Jesus." (Ole Hallesby)

"Listen, my friend! Your helplessness is your best prayer. It calls from your heart to the heart of God with greater effect than all your uttered pleas. He hears it from the very moment that you are seized with helplessness, and He becomes actively engaged at once in hearing and answering the prayer of your helplessness." (Ole Hallesby)

"My helpless friend, your helplessness is the most powerful plea which rises up to the tender father-heart of God. You think that everything is closed to you because you cannot pray. My friend, your helplessness is the very essence of prayer." (Ole Hallesby)

"My praying friend, continue to make known your desires to God in all things.... Let Him decide whether you are to receive what you ask for or not." (Ole Hallesby)

"Nothing is so blessed as quiet, unbroken communication with our Lord. The sense of the Lord's nearness, which then fills our souls, is greater than any other peace, joy, inner satisfaction, or security which we have known." (Ole Hallesby)

"Our groanings, which cannot be uttered, rise to Him and tell Him better than words how dependent we are upon Him." (Ole Hallesby)

"Our prayer life will become restful when it really dawns upon us that we have done all we are supposed to do when we have spoken to Him about it. From the moment we have left it with Him, it is His responsibility." (Ole Hallesby)

"Pray a little each day in a childlike way for the Spirit of prayer. If you feel that you know, as yet, very little concerning the deep things of prayer and what prayer really is, then pray for the Spirit of prayer. There is nothing He would rather do than unveil to you the grace of prayer." (Ole Hallesby)

"Pray for whatsoever you will. In the name of Jesus you have permission, not only to stand in the presence of God, but also to pray for everything you need." (Ole Hallesby)

"Prayer brings a good spirit in our homes. For God hears prayer. Heaven itself would come down to our homes. And even though we who constitute the home all have our imperfections and our failings, our home would, through God's answer to prayer, become a little paradise." (Ole Hallesby)

"Prayer can assume very different forms, from quiet, blessed contemplation of God, in which eye meets eye in restful meditation, to deep sighs or sudden exclamations of wonder, joy, gratitude or adoration." (Ole Hallesby)

"Prayer is a condition of mind, an attitude of heart, which God recognizes as prayer whether it manifests itself in quiet thinking, in sighing or in audible words." (Ole Hallesby)

"Prayer is a fine, delicate instrument. To use it right is a great art, a holy art. There is perhaps no greater art than the art of prayer. Yet the least gifted, the uneducated and the poor can cultivate the holy art of prayer." (Ole Hallesby)

"Prayer is something deeper than words. It is present in the soul before it has been formulated in words. And it abides in the soul after the last words of prayer have passed over our lips." (Ole Hallesby)

"See to it, night and day, that you pray for your children. Then you will leave them a great legacy of answers to prayer, which will follow them all the days of their life. Then you may calmly and with a good conscience depart from them, even though you may not leave them a great deal of material wealth." (Ole Hallesby)

"The more helpless you are, the better you are fitted to pray, and the more answers to prayer you will experience." (Ole Hallesby)

"The quiet hour of prayer is one of the most favorable opportunities He has in which to speak to us seriously. In quietude and solitude before the face of God our souls can hear better than at any other time." (Ole Hallesby)

"The shower of answers to your prayers will continue to your dying hour. Nor will it cease then. When you pass out from beneath the shower, your dear ones will step into it. Every prayer and every sigh which you have uttered for them and their future welfare will, in God's time, descend upon them as a gentle rain of answers to prayer." (Ole Hallesby)

"There come times when I have nothing more to tell God. If I were to continue to pray in words, I would have to repeat what I have already said. At such times it is wonderful to say to God, "May I be in Thy presence, Lord? I have nothing more to say to Thee, but I do love to be in Thy presence."" (Ole Hallesby)

"To pray is nothing more involved than to open the door, giving Jesus access to our needs and permitting Him to exercise His own power in dealing with them." (Ole Hallesby)

"To pray is to open the door unto Jesus and admit Him into your distress. Your helplessness is the very thing which opens wide the door unto Him and gives Him access to all your needs." (Ole Hallesby)

"We need to learn to know Him so well that we feel safe when we have left our difficulties with Him. To know Jesus in that way is a prerequisite of all true prayer." (Ole Hallesby)

"We should not be afraid, when praying to God, to give expression to a definite desire, even though we are in doubt at the time we are praying whether it is really the right thing to pray for or not." (Ole Hallesby)

"We should say to God as we mingle with our dear ones each day, "God, give them each Thy blessing. They need it, because they live with me, and I am very selfish and unwilling to sacrifice very much for them, although I do love them."" (Ole Hallesby)

"When it becomes clear to us that prayer is a part of our daily program of work, it will also become clear to us that we must arrange our daily program in such a way that there is time also for this work, just as we set aside time for other necessary things, such as eating and dressing." (Ole Hallesby)

"When prayer is a struggle, do not worry about the prayers that you cannot pray. You yourself are a prayer to God at that moment. All that is within you cries out to Him. And He hears all the pleas that your suffering soul and body are making to Him with groanings which cannot be uttered." (Ole Hallesby)

"When we go to our meeting with God, we should go like a patient to his doctor, first to be thoroughly examined and afterwards to be treated for our ailment. Then something will happen when you pray." (Ole Hallesby)

"When we in prayer seek only the glorification of the name of God, then we are in complete harmony with the spirit of prayer. Then our hearts are at rest both while we pray and after we have prayed. Then we can wait for the Lord." (Ole Hallesby)

"When we succeed in truly thanking God, we feel good at heart. The reason is that we have been created to give glory to God, now and forever-more. And every time we do so, we feel that we are in harmony with His plans and purposes for our lives. Then we are truly in our element. That is why it is so blessed." (Ole Hallesby)

"When you enter your secret chamber, take plenty of time before you begin to speak. Let quietude wield its influence upon you. Let the fact that you are alone assert itself. Give your soul time to get released from the many outward things. Give God time to play the prelude to prayer for the benefit of your distracted soul." (Ole Hallesby)

Week 2023-46: Zig Ziglar - Collected Quotes

"A goal properly set is halfway reached." (Zig Ziglar)

"Don't be distracted by criticism. Remember, the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you." " (Zig Ziglar)

"Doubt, fear and worry will only slow you down. Focus on doing your best and celebrate every step of the way." (Zig Ziglar)

"Hope is the power that gives a person the confidence to step out and try." (Zig Ziglar)

"If you can dream it, then you can achieve it. You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want." (Zig Ziglar)

"If you have enough push, you don't have to worry about the pull." (Zig Ziglar)

"It's not what you've got, it's what you use that makes a difference." (Zig Ziglar)

"Let your dreams be bigger than your fears and your actions louder than your words." (Zig Ziglar)

"Look back in forgiveness, forward in hope, down in compassion and up in gratitude." (Zig Ziglar)

"Motivation needs to be a part of your own life for you to be effective in conveying it to others." (Zig Ziglar)"

"Other people can stop you temporarily. You're the only one who can stop you permanently." (Zig Ziglar)

"Some people find fault like there's a reward for it." (Zig Ziglar)

"The choice to have a great attitude is something nobody or no circumstance can take from you." (Zig Ziglar)

"The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more things you'll have to express gratitude for."(Zig Ziglar)

"We don't meet people by accident. They are meant to cross our path for a reason." (Zig Ziglar)

"What you GET by achieving your goals is not near as important as what you BECOME by achieving your goals." (Zig Ziglar)

"When you do the right things in the right way you have nothing to lose because you have nothing to fear." (Zig Ziglar)

"When you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear." " (Zig Ziglar)

"When you touch someone's heart they will never be quite the same again. Part of you will live in their life always." (Zig Ziglar)

"Where you start is not nearly as important as where you finish." (Zig Ziglar)

"You are not alone, and this is not the end of your story." (Zig Ziglar)

"You are the only one who can use your ability. It's an awesome responsibility." (Zig Ziglar)

"You are what you are and where you are because of what has gone into your mind. You can change what you are and where you are by changing what goes into your mind." (Zig Ziglar)

"You can start where you are with what you've got and go to wherever it is you want to go." (Zig Ziglar)

"You never know when a moment and a few sincere words will have an impact on a life." (Zig Ziglar)

"You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win." (Zig Ziglar)

Week 2023-45: B Alan Wallace - Collected Quotes

"It is best not to silence the mind with a crushing blow of our will." (B Alan Wallace, "Tibetan Buddhism from the Ground Up: A Practical Approach for Modern Life", 1993)

"The point of Buddhist meditation is not to stop thinking, for [...] cultivation of insight clearly requires intelligent use of thought and discrimination. What needs to be stopped is conceptualisation that is compulsive, mechanical and unintelligent, that is, activity that is always fatiguing, usually pointless, and at times seriously harmful." (B Alan Wallace, Tibetan Buddhism from the Ground Up: A Practical Approach for Modern Life", 1993)

"An indispensable ingredient for spiritual maturation is the cultivation of fortitude: strength, forbearance, and patience." (B Alan Wallace, "The Four Immeasurables: Cultivating A Boundless Heart", 1999)

"The mind that reaches out to other people, to the environment, to provide what it seems to lack itself, is a mind that is ignorant of its own resources for peace and happiness." (B Alan Wallace, "The Four Immeasurables: Cultivating A Boundless Heart", 1999)

"Life is a flash of lightning in the dark of night. It is a brief time of tremendous potential." (B Alan Wallace, "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Tibetan Seven-Point Mind Training", 2001)

"Again and again, counteract the agitation and turbulence of the mind by relaxing more deeply, not by contracting the body or mind." (B Alan Wallace, "The Attention Revolution, Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind", 2006)

"The demarcation between science and metaphysics is determined by the limits of experiential inquiry, not Nature or God." (B Alan Wallace, "The Attention Revolution, Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind", 2006)

"When attention is impaired, it detracts from everything we do, and when it is well focused, it enhances everything we do." (B Alan Wallace, "The Attention Revolution, Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind", 2006)

"Mindfulness was experienced as not holding onto the past, the future, or 'nowness:' but relaxing into the immediacy of whatever was happening." (B Alan Wallace, "Mind in the Balance: Meditation in Science, Buddhism, and Christianity", 2009)

"One of the most persistent of all delusions is the conviction that the source of our dissatisfaction lies outside ourselves." (B Alan Wallace, "Mind in the Balance: Meditation in Science, Buddhism, and Christianity", 2009)

"It takes no deep insight to see that the source of both our well-being and our maladies lies within our own hearts and minds. To change our experience of life we must inevitably change our hearts and minds, or rather our heart/minds." (B Alan Wallace)

"Samsara is not out there, but rather in the way that we experience our environment. To target it precisely, samsara is in the quality of our minds. Our minds are not functioning in accord with reality, and therein lies the problem." (B Alan Wallace)

"Settling your mind in its natural state entails releasing all grasping, grasping onto the future, and the past, grasping onto cogitations about the present. Letting your awareness rest in its own place, naturally luminous and still." (B Alan Wallace)

Week 2024-14: Nitobe Inazö - Collected Quotes

"A truly brave man is ever serene; he is never taken by surprise; nothing ruffles the equanimity of his spirit. In the heat of battle he remains cool; in the midst of catastrophes he keeps level his mind. Earthquakes do not shake him, he laughs at storms. We admire him as truly great, who, in the menacing presence of danger or death, retains his self-possession; who, for instance, can compose a poem under impending peril or hum a strain in the face of death. Such indulgence betraying no tremor in the writing or in the voice, is taken as an infallible index of a large nature - of what we call a capacious mind (Yoyū), which, far from being pressed or crowded, has always room for something more." (Nitobe Inazö, "Bushidö: The Soul of Japan", 1900)

"Beneath the instinct to fight there lurks a diviner instinct to love." (Nitobe Inazö, "Bushidö: The Soul of Japan", 1900)

"Bushido as an independent code of ethics may vanish, but its power will not perish from the earth; its schools of martial prowess or civic honor may be demolished, but its light and its glory will long survive their ruins. Like its symbolic flower, after it is blown to the four winds, it will still bless mankind with the perfume with which it will enrich life." (Nitobe Inazö, "Bushidö: The Soul of Japan", 1900)

"It is a brave act of valor to contemn death, but where life is more terrible than death, it is then the truest valor to dare to live." (Nitobe Inazö, "Bushidö: The Soul of Japan", 1900)

"It is not the weapon that wins, it is the spirit of the wearer." (Nitobe Inazö, "Bushidö: The Soul of Japan", 1900)

"Knowledge becomes really such only when it is assimilated in the mind of the learner and shows in his character." (Nitobe Inazö, "Bushidö: The Soul of Japan", 1900)

"Rectitude is the power of deciding upon a certain course of conduct in accordance with reason, without wavering - to die when it is right to die, to strike when to strike is right." (Nitobe Inazö, "Bushidö: The Soul of Japan", 1900)

"Self-control, which was universally required of samurai. The discipline of fortitude on the one hand, inculcating endurance without a groan, and the teaching of politeness on the other, requiring us not to mar the pleasure or serenity of another by manifestations of our own sorrow or pain, combined to engender a stoical turn of mind, and eventually to confirm it into a national trait of apparent stoicism." (Nitobe Inazö, "Bushidö: The Soul of Japan", 1900)

"Spiritual service, be it of priest or teacher, was not to be repaid in gold or silver, not because it was valueless but because it was invaluable." (Nitobe Inazö, "Bushidö: The Soul of Japan", 1900)

"That calmness of mind, that serenity of temper, that composure and quietness of demeanor, which are the first essentials of Cha-no-yu, are without doubt the first conditions of right thinking and right feeling. The scrupulous cleanliness of the little room, shut off from sight and sound of the madding crowd, is in itself conducive to direct one’s thoughts from the world." (Nitobe Inazö, "Bushidö: The Soul of Japan", 1900)

"[...] the feeling of distress is the root of benevolence, therefore a benevolent man is ever mindful of those who are suffering and in distress." (Nitobe Inazö, "Bushidö: The Soul of Japan", 1900)

"The sens of honor which cannot bear being looked down upon as an inferior power, - that was the strongest of motives." (Nitobe Inazö, "Bushidö: The Soul of Japan", 1900)

"Tranquility is courage in repose. It is a statical manifestation of valor, as daring deeds are a dynamical. A truly brave man is ever serene; he is never taken by surprise; nothing ruffles the equanimity of his spirit." (Nitobe Inazö, "Bushidö: The Soul of Japan", 1900)

Week 2023-44: Paracelsus [Theophrastus von Hohenheim] - Collected Quotes

"All is interrelated. Heaven and earth, air and water. All are but one thing; not four, not two and not three, but one. Where they are not together, there is only an incomplete piece." (Paracelsus)

"Dreams must be heeded and accepted. For a great many of them come true." (Paracelsus)

"He who wants to govern must have insight into the hearts of men and act accordingly." (Paracelsus)

"In us there is the Light of Nature, and that Light is God." (Paracelsus)

"It is said that a wise man rules over the stars, but this does not mean that he rules over the influences which come from the stars in the sky. It means that he rules over the powers which exist in his own constitution." (Paracelsus)

"Magic has power to experience and fathom things which are inaccessible to human reason. For magic is a great secret wisdom, just as reason is a great public folly." (Paracelsus)

"The art of healing comes from nature, not from the physician. Therefore the physician must start from nature, with an open mind." (Paracelsus)

"The art of medicine has its roots in the heart. If your heart is false, then also the doctor in you is false. If it is fair, then also the doctor is fair." (Paracelsus)

"The book of Nature is that which the physician must read; and to do so he must walk over the leaves." (Paracelsus)

"The dreams which reveal the supernatural are promises and messages that God sends us directly: they are nothing but His angels, His ministering spirits, who usually appear to us when we are in a great predicament." (Paracelsus)

"Time is a brisk wind, for each hour it brings something new [...] but who can understand and measure its sharp breath, its mystery and its design?" (Paracelsus)

"We do not know it because we are fooling away our time with outward and perishing things, and are asleep in regard to that which is real within ourself." (Paracelsus)

"When a man undertakes to create something, he establishes a new heaven, as it were, and from it the work that he desires to create flows into him [...] For such is the immensity of man that he is greater than heaven and earth." (Paracelsus)

Week 2023-43: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi - Collected Quotes

"Meditation makes the man Divine and brings the Divine to the world of man." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Meditation: Easy system propounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi", 1962)

"Meditation is a means to discover all the glories of the ocean of mind." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Meditation: Easy system propounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi", 1962)

"Meditation is a technique to integrate one's personality, to be able to live and enjoy full life of all glories - worldly and divine." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Meditation: Easy system propounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi", 1962)

"Meditation is the most effective form of relaxation. It not only relaxes the body and mind but also feeds them with vital energy, peace and happiness." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Meditation: Easy system propounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi", 1962)

"Meditation is the straight flight of the mind to the Kingdom of Heaven present in the heart of everyone." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Meditation: Easy system propounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi", 1962)

"If a man is able to submit himself to nature, then nature will react to his needs. Almighty nature is all powerful and all loving, for the laws of nature are for the creation and evolution of all beings and creatures throughout the cosmos. There is no greater kindness than the kindness of nature." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Thirty Years Around the World: 1957-1964", 1986)

"In meditation we research the field without time and space and activity, and yet produce a useful effect while conducting the research." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Thirty Years Around the World: 1957-1964", 1986)

"Let the standard of everybody's mind be raised to the heights of his own inner glory and then man will feel for himself the greatness of the higher values of life and would be tempted to bring them down into practical life and live them." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Thirty Years Around the World: 1957-1964", 1986)

"Life is not a struggle, not a tension. Life has not to be suffering. Life is bliss. It is eternal wisdom, eternal existence." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Thirty Years Around the World: 1957-1964", 1986)

"Nothing from outside can stop a man from enjoying lasting peace and permanent joy in life, for it is the essential nature of his own soul." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Thirty Years Around the World: 1957-1964", 1986)

"When the conscious mind expands to embrace deeper levels of thinking, the thought wave becomes more powerful and results in added energy and intelligence." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Thirty Years Around the World: 1957-1964", 1986)

Week 2023-42: Stephen R Covey - Collected Quotes

"Be sure that, as you scramble up the ladder of success, it is leaning against the right building." (Stephen R Covey)

"Empathy takes time, and efficiency is for things, not people." (Stephen R Covey)

"Habit is the intersection of knowledge (what to do), skill (how to do), and desire (want to do)." (Stephen R Covey)

"Happiness can be defined, in part at least, as the fruit of desire and ability to sacrifice what we want now for what we want eventually." (Stephen R Covey)

"It is futile to put personality ahead of character, to try to improve relationships with others before improving ourselves." (Stephen R Covey)

"Live out of your imagination, not your history." (Stephen R Covey)

"Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important." (Stephen R Covey)

"Seek first to understand, then to be understood." (Stephen R Covey)

"Start with the end in mind." (Stephen R Covey)

"Strength lies in differences, not in similarities." (Stephen R Covey)

"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." (Stephen R Covey)

"There are three constants in life [...] change, choice and principles." (Stephen R Covey)

"To receive gratitude with grace is a form of gratitude by itself, and not always an easy art to master." (Stephen R Covey)

"To touch the soul of another human being is to walk on holy ground." (Stephen R Covey)

"Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships." (Stephen R Covey)

"Two people can see the same thing, disagree, and yet both be right. It's not logical; it's psychological." (Stephen R Covey)

"We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey." (Stephen R Covey)

"We seek not to imitate the masters, rather we seek what they sought." (Stephen R Covey)

"When we succumb to believing that we are victims of our circumstances and yield to the plight of determinism, we lose hope, we lose drive, and we settle into resignation and stagnation." (Stephen R Covey)

"While I believe in the power of positive thought, I do not believe that you or I can simply psyche ourselves into success or peace of mind." (Stephen R Covey)

"While values drive behaviors, principles govern consequences." (Stephen R Covey)

Week 2023-40: Richard Bandler - Collected Quotes

"Magic is hidden in the language we speak. The webs that you can tie and untie are at your command if only you pay attention to what you already have (language) and the structure of the incantations for growth." (Richard Bandler & John Grinder, "The Structure of Magic", 1975)

"Models are not intended to either reflect or construct a single objective reality. Rather, their purpose is to simulate some aspect of a possible reality. In NLP, for instance, it is not important whether or not a model is 'true', but rather that it is 'useful'. In fact, all models can be perceived as symbolic or metaphoric, as opposed to reflective of reality. Whether the description being used is metaphorical or literal, the usefulness of a model depends on the degree to which it allows us to move effectively to the next step in the sequence of transformations connecting deeper structures and surface structures. Instead of 'constructing' reality, models establish a set of functions that serve as a tool or a bridge between deep structures and surface structures. It is this bridge that forms our 'understanding' of reality and allows us to generate new experiences and expressions of reality." (Richard Bandler & John Grinder, "The Structure of Magic", 1975)

"The most pervasive paradox of the human condition which we see is that the processes which allow us to survive, grow, change, and experience joy are the same processes which allow us to maintain an impoverished model of the world - our ability to manipulate symbols, that is, to create models. So the processes which allow us to accomplish the most extraordinary and unique human activities are the same processes which block our further growth if we commit the error of mistaking the model of the world for reality." (Richard Bandler & John Grinder, "The Structure of Magic", 1975)

"[…] there is an irreducible difference between the world and our experience of it. We as human beings do not operate directly on the world. Each of us creates a representation of the world in which we live - that is, we create a map or model which we use to generate our behavior. Our representation of the world determines to a large degree what our experience of the world will be, how we will perceive the world, what choices we will see available to us as we live in the world." (Richard Bandler & John Grinder, "The Structure of Magic", 1975)

"In general communication theory there is a basic axiom that a signal only has meaning in terms of the frame or context in which it appears. The sound of a squeaky shoe on a busy sidewalk has little meaning; the same sound outside your window when you are alone in bed means something else altogether." (Richard Bandler, "Reframing: Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the Transformation of Meaning", 1982)

"As soon as we believe in something, we search for ways to prove it’s true." (Richard Bandler, "Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with Neuro-Linguistic Programming", 2008)

"In my experience, the biggest challenge people face is learning to get out of their own way. When you can see just how easy change can be, you can begin to take control over your life and make all the changes you want - but you need to take the action." (Richard Bandler, "Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with Neuro-Linguistic Programming", 2008)

"In order to change beliefs, we first need to learn a way of finding out the qualities of beliefs." (Richard Bandler, "Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with Neuro-Linguistic Programming", 2008)

"Most problems we face in life, as I have said already, happen in our minds. Furthermore, problems generally exist in our concept of the past and the future. The past and the future don’t exist except in our minds." (Richard Bandler, "Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with Neuro-Linguistic Programming", 2008)

"Once they have a choice, people always make the best choice. The trouble is that people don’t think they have one." (Richard Bandler, "Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with Neuro-Linguistic Programming", 2008)

"One of the most important aspects of what human beings do is build beliefs. Beliefs are what trap most people in their problems. Unless you believe you can get over something, get through something, or get to something, there is little likelihood you will be able to do it. Your beliefs refer to your sense of certainty on some of your thoughts." (Richard Bandler, "Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with Neuro-Linguistic Programming", 2008)

"Reframing is also the pivotal element in the creative process: it is the ability to put a commonplace event in a new frame that is useful or enjoyable." (Richard Bandler, "Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with Neuro-Linguistic Programming", 2008)

"Thinking isn’t a passive process unless you do it passively. Thinking should always be an active process where you think in a way that gets you the results you want." (Richard Bandler, "Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with Neuro-Linguistic Programming", 2008)

"We have been trained to believe that change isn’t easy and requires a lot of effort and a lot of time. I’ve always found this to be simply not true." (Richard Bandler, "Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with Neuro-Linguistic Programming", 2008)

"When you can take on board new, positive suggestions and disbelieve the old, limiting suggestions, you will be ready to tackle the rest of your problems, especially your fears." (Richard Bandler, "Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with Neuro-Linguistic Programming", 2008)

"Whenever people have trouble letting go of good things or bad things, it’s because they are associated to the memory. It doesn’t matter what it is, it’s just like being there. If you’re holding on to bad memories, it’s now time to look at them and shrink them down." (Richard Bandler, "Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with Neuro-Linguistic Programming", 2008)

"Our biggest limit is not in what we want and cannot do; it is in what we have never considered that we can do." (Richard Bandler, How to Take Charge of Your Life: The User’s Guide to NLP, 2914)

Week 2023-39: Dan Millman - Collected Quotes

"Everything you'll ever need to know is within you; the secrets of the universe are imprinted on the cells of your body." (Dan Millman, "Way of the Peaceful Warrior", 1980)

"Life is not a private affair. A story and its lessons are only made useful if shared." (Dan Millman, "Way of the Peaceful Warrior", 1980)

"No amount of knowledge will nourish or sustain your spirit, it can never bring you ulimate happiness or peace. Life requires more that knowledge; it requires intense feeling and constant energy. Life demands right action if knowledge is to come alive." (Dan Millman, "Way of the Peaceful Warrior", 1980)

"To rid yourself of old patterns, focus all your energy not on struggling with the old, but on building the new." (Dan Millman, "Way of the Peaceful Warrior", 1980)

"When you resist what happens, your mind begins to race; the same thoughts that impinge upon you are actually created by you." (Dan Millman, "Way of the Peaceful Warrior", 1980)

"Before you can see the Light, you have to deal with the darkness." (Dan Millman, "Sacred Journey of the Peaceful Warrior" (ed. Dan Millman, 1991) 

"Conscious evolution begins as we take responsibility for clearing our own obstructions." (Dan Millman, "No Ordinary Moments: A Peaceful Warrior's Guide to Daily Life", 1992)

"Every positive change - every jump to a higher level of energy and awareness - involves a rite of passage. Each time to ascend to a higher rung on the ladder of personal evolution, we must go through a period of discomfort, of initiation. I have never found an exception." (Dan Millman, "No Ordinary Moments: A Peaceful Warrior's Guide to Daily Life", 1992)

"Peaceful warriors have the patience to wait until the mud settles and the water clears. They remain unmoving until the right time, so the right action arises by itself. They do not seek fulfillment, but wait with open arms to welcome all things." (Dan Millman, "No Ordinary Moments: A Peaceful Warrior's Guide to Daily Life", 1992)

"Energy follows thought; we move toward, but not beyond, what we can imagine. What we assume, expect, or believe creates and colors our experience. By expanding our deepest beliefs about what is possible, we change our experience of life." (Dan Millman, "The Life You Were Born to Live: A Guide to Finding Your Life Purpose", 1993)

"Choice means giving up something you want for something else you want more." (Dan Millman, "The Laws of Spirit: Simple, Powerful Truths for Making Life Work", 1995) 

"Faith is our direct link to universal wisdom, reminding us that we know more than we have heard or read or studied that we have only to look, listen, and trust the love and wisdom of the Universal Spirit working through us all." (Dan Millman, "The Laws of Spirit: Simple, Powerful Truths for Making Life Work", 1995) 

"Process transforms any journey into a series of small steps, taken one by one, to reach any goal. Process transcends time, teaches patience, rests on a solid foundation of careful preparation, and embodies trust in our unfolding potential." (Dan Millman, "The Laws of Spirit: Simple, Powerful Truths for Making Life Work", 1995) 

"So be gentle with yourself; show yourself the same kindness and patience you might show a young child - the child you once were. If you won't be your own friend, who will be? If, when playing an opponent, you are also opposing yourself, you will be outnumbered." (Dan Millman, "The Laws of Spirit: Simple, Powerful Truths for Making Life Work", 1995) 

"So trust the process of your life unfolding, and know with certainty, through the peaks and valleys of your journey, that your soul rests safe and secure in the arms of God." (Dan Millman, "The Laws of Spirit: Simple, Powerful Truths for Making Life Work", 1995)

"Unless the desire to change remains strong, body and mind tend to return to old, familiar patterns. It takes time-from three to six months-for old habits to become obsolete. By the end of that time, you'll have adapted to a new pattern. In a sense, you'll have found a new way of life." (Dan Millman, "The Laws of Spirit: Simple, Powerful Truths for Making Life Work", 1995) 

"Pain is a relatively objective, physical phenomenon; suffering is our psychological resistance to what happens. Events may create physical pain, but they do not in themselves create suffering. Resistance creates suffering. Stress happens when your mind resists what is... The only problem in your life is your mind's resistance to life as it unfolds." (Dan Millman, "Everyday Enlightenment: The Twelve Gateways to Personal Growth", 1998)

"Masters of one art have mastered all because they have mastered themselves. With dominion over both mind and muscle, they demonstrate power, serenity, and spirit. They not only have talent for their sport, they have an expanded capacity for life. The experts shine in the competitive arena; the masters shine everywhere." (Dan Millman, "Body Mind Mastery: Training for Sport and Life", 1999)

"Avoid fragmentation: Find your focus and seek simplicity. Purposeful living calls for elegant efficiency and economy of effort-expanding the minimum time and energy necessary to achieve desired goals." (Dan Millman, "Living on Purpose", 2000)

"I learned that we can do anything, but we can't do everything... at least not at the same time. So think of your priorities not in terms of what activities you do, but when you do them. Timing is everything." (Dan Millman, "Living on Purpose", 2000)

"Simplicity has power. Founding our life on constructive, positive behavior is the simplest, most direct, and powerful approach I've ever found-simple, but not easy." (Dan Millman, "Living on Purpose", 2000)

Week 2023-38: Mahatma Gandhi - Collected Quotes

"A living faith cannot be manufactured by the rule of majority." (Mahatma Gandhi, "India on Trial" 1922)

"The most practical, the most dignified way of going on in the world is to take people at their word, when you have no positive reason to the contrary." (Mahatma Gandhi, Young India, 1924)

"True art takes note not merely of form but also of what lies behind." (Mahatma Gandhi, Young India, 1924)

"Without devotion, action and knowledge are cold and dry and many even become shackles." (Mahatma Gandhi, Young India, 1930)

"Democracy is a great institution and, therefore, it is liable to be greatly abused." (Mahatma Gandhi, Young India, 1931)

"Dignity of human nature requires that we must face the storms of life." (Mahatma Gandhi, Young India, 1931)

"Reason has to be strengthened by suffering, and suffering opens the eyes of understanding." (Mahatma Gandhi, Young India, 1931)

"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." (Mahatma Gandhi, Young India, 1931)

"Much that we hug today as knowledge is ignorance pure and simple. It makes the mind wander and even reduces it to a vacuity." (Mahatma Gandhi, "The Gandhi Sutras", 1949)

"Religion is one tree with many branches. As branches, you may say, religions are many, but as a tree, religion is only one." (Mahatma Gandhi, "None High: None Low", 1965)

"Prayer is a sign of repentance, a desire to become better, purer." (Mahatma Gandhi, "The Supreme power", 1963)

"Belief in non-violence is based on the assumption that human nature in the essence is one and therefore unfailingly responds to the advances of love..." (Mahatma Gandhi)

"There is an indefinable mysterious Power that pervades everything." (Mahatma Gandhi)

"You cannot stop big wars if you carry on little wars yourselves." (Mahatma Gandhi)

Week 2023-37: Henri-Frédéric Amiel - Collected Quotes

"An error is the more dangerous in proportion to the degree of truth which it contains." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1852)

"Common sense is the measure of the possible; it is composed of experience and prevision; it is calculation applied to life." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1852)

"The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1856)

"To know how to suggest is the great art of teaching. To attain it we must be able to guess what will interest." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, 1864)

"Nature does at least what she can to translate into visible form the wealth of the creative formula. By the vastness of the abysses into which she penetrates, in the effort - the unsuccessful effort - to house and contain the eternal thought, we may measure the greatness of the divine mind." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1866)

"What we call little things are merely the causes of great things; they are the beginning, the embryo, and it is the point of departure which, generally speaking, decides the whole future of an existence. One single black speck may be the beginning of gangrene, of a storm, of a revolution." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1868)

"Pure truth cannot be assimilated by the crowd; it must be communicated by contagion." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1875)

"Everything which is, is thought, but not conscious and individual thought. The human intelligence is but the consciousness of being. It is what I have formulated before: Everything is a symbol of a symbol, and a symbol of what? of mind." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, 1882)

""Time is but the measure of the difficulty of a conception. Pure thought has scarcely any need of time, since it perceives the two ends of an idea almost at the same moment." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, 1883)

"Time is but the space between our memories; as soon as we cease to perceive this space, time has disappeared." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry]  1884)

"Every situation is an equilibrium of forces; every life is a struggle between opposing forces working within the limits of a certain equilibrium." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1885)

"Understanding [...] must begin by saturating itself with facts and realities. [...] Besides, we only understand that which is already within us. To understand is to possess the thing understood, first by sympathy and then by intelligence. Instead of first dismembering and dissecting the object to be conceived, we should begin by laying hold of it in its ensemble. The procedure is the same, whether we study a watch or a plant, a work of art or a character." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1886)

"The art which is grand and yet simple is that which presupposes the greatest elevation both in artist and in public." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1893)

"The test of every religious, political, or educational system is the man that it forms." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1893)

"Time is the supreme illusion. It is but the inner prism by which we decompose being and life, the mode under which we perceive successively what is simultaneous in idea." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1893)

"Our systems, perhaps, are nothing more than an unconscious apology for our faults, a gigantic scaffolding whose object is to hide from us our favorite sin." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1896)

"Analysis kills spontaneity. The grain once ground into flour springs and germinates no more." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel)

"Minds accustomed to analysis never allow objections more than half-value, because they appreciate the variable and relative elements which enter in." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel)

"No forms of error are so erroneous as those that have the appearance without the reality of mathematical precision." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel)

"Time and space are fragments of the infinite for the use of finite creatures." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel)

"To do easily what is difficult for others is the mark of talent. To do what is impossible for talent is the mark of genius." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel)

"Wisdom consists in rising superior both to madness and to common sense, and in lending one's self to the universal delusion without becoming its dupe." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel)

Week 2023-36: Donald C Gause - Collected Quotes

"A problem is a difference between things as desired and things as perceived. […] Seen in this way, the problem could be solved either by changing desires or changing perceptions." (Donald C Gause & Gerald M Weinberg, "Are Your Lights On?", 2011)

"As a practical matter, it is impossible to define natural, day-to-day problems in a single, unique, totally unambiguous fashion. On the other hand, without some common understanding of the problem, a solution will almost invariably be to the wrong problem." (Donald C Gause & Gerald M Weinberg, "Are Your Lights On?", 2011)

"Don't mistake a solution method for a problem definition - especially if it’s your own solution method." (Donald C Gause & Gerald M Weinberg, "Are Your Lights On?", 2011)

"Each solution is the source of next problem. We never get rid of problems. Problems, solutions, and new problems weave an endless chain. The best we can hope for is that the problems we substitute are less troublesome than the ones we 'solve'." (Donald C Gause & Gerald M Weinberg, "Are Your Lights On?", 2011)

"If you can’t think of at least three things that might be wrong with your understanding of the problem, you don’t understand the problem." (Donald C Gause & Gerald M Weinberg, "Are Your Lights On?", 2011)

"Much of what has traditionally been called 'problem-solving' is, in reality, puzzle solving. A puzzle is difficult by design - but that difficulty implies a designer." (Donald C Gause & Gerald M Weinberg, "Are Your Lights On?", 2011)

"The fledgling problem solver invariably rushes in with solutions before taking time to define the problem being solved. Even experienced solvers, when subjected to social pressure, yield to this demand for haste. When they do, many solutions are found, but not necessarily to the problem at hand." (Donald C Gause & Gerald M Weinberg, "Are Your Lights On?", 2011)

"The really important thing in dealing with problems is to know that the question is never answered, but that it doesn't matter, as long as you keep asking. It's only when you fool yourself into thinking you have the final problem definition - the final, true answer - that you can be fooled into thinking you have the final solution. And if you think that, you're always wrong, because there is no such thing as a 'final solution'." (Donald C Gause & Gerald M Weinberg, "Are Your Lights On?", 2011)

"Wherever possible, we initially place the problem in the semantic level that lends us the most comfort." (Donald C Gause & Gerald M Weinberg, "Are Your Lights On?", 2011)

Week 2023-35: Hypatia of Alexandria

"All formal dogmatic religions are fallacious and must never be accepted by self-respecting persons as final." ([attributed] Hypatia of Alexandria)

"Fables should be taught as fables, myths as myths, and miracles as poetic fancies. To teach superstitions as truths is a most terrible thing. The child mind accepts and believes them, and only through great pain and perhaps tragedy can he be in after years relieved of them. In fact, men will fight for a superstition quite as quickly as for a living truth - often more so, since a superstition is so intangible you cannot get at it to refute it, but truth is a point of view, and so is changeable." ([attributed] Hypatia of Alexandria)

"He who influences the thinking of his time, influences all the moments that follow him. Leave your opinion for eternity." (Hypatia of Alexandria)

"In fact men will fight for a superstition quite as quickly as for a living truth - often more so, since a superstition is so intangible you cannot get at it to refute it, but truth is a point of view, and so is changeable." (Hypatia of Alexandria)

"Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we can comprehend. To understand the things that are at our door is the best preparation for understanding those that lie beyond." (Hypatia of Alexandria)

"Life is growth, and the more we travel, the more truth we can understand. Understanding the things that surround us is the best preparation to understand the things that lie beyond." (Hypatia of Alexandria)

"Neoplatonism is progressive philosophy, and does not expect to state final conditions to men whose minds are finite. Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we can comprehend. To understand the things that are at our door is the best preparation for understanding those that lie beyond." ([attributed] Hypatia of Alexandria)

"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all." (Hypatia of Alexandria)

"To rule by fettering the mind through fear of punishment in another world, is just as base as to use force. [...] Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all." ([attributed] Hypatia of Alexandria)

Week 2023-34: Sophocles - Collected Quotes

"A human being is only breath and shadow." (Sophocles)

"A state is not a state if it belongs to one man." (Sophocles)

"All a man's affairs become diseased when he wishes to cure evils by evils." (Sophocles)

"All is disgust when one leaves his own nature and does things that misfit it." (Sophocles)

"Chance never helps those who do not help themselves." (Sophocles)

"Enemies' gifts are no gifts and do no good." (Sophocles)

"Evil gains work their punishment." (Sophocles)

"Fortune cannot aid those who do nothing." (Sophocles)

"Gratitude to gratitude always gives birth." (Sophocles)

"He who throws away a friend is as bad as he who throws away his life." (Sophocles)

"How dangerous can false reasoning prove!" (Sophocles)

"How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be when there's no help in the truth." (Sophocles)

"In a just cause the weak will beat the strong." (Sophocles)

"It is a painful thing to look at your own trouble and know that you yourself, and no one else, has made it." (Sophocles)

"It is best to live however one can be." (Sophocles)

"It is terrible to speak well and be wrong." (Sophocles)

"Is anyone in all the world safe from unhappiness?" (Sophocles)

"Kindness gives birth to kindness." (Sophocles)

"Knowledge must come through action; you can have no test which is not fanciful, save by trial." (Sophocles)

"Man is not constituted to take pleasure in the same things always." (Sophocles)

"Men of ill judgment ignore the good that lies within their hands, till they have lost it." (Sophocles)

"Men should pledge themselves to nothing; for reflection makes a liar of their resolution." (Sophocles)

"Money is the worst currency that ever grew among mankind. This sacks cities, this drives men from their homes, this teaches and corrupts the worthiest minds to turn base deeds." (Sophocles)

"Much wisdom often goes with fewest words." (Sophocles)

"No great thing comes without a curse" Sophocles

"No lie ever reaches old age." (Sophocles)

"No treaty is ever an impediment to a cheat." (Sophocles)

"Not knowing anything is the sweetest life." (Sophocles)

"Not all things are to be discovered; many are better concealed." (Sophocles)

"Old age and the passage of time teach all things." (Sophocles)

"One must learn by doing the thing, for though you think you know it, you have no certainty until you try." (Sophocles)

"One who knows how to show and to accept kindness will be a friend better than any possession." (Sophocles)

"Our happiness depends on wisdom all the way." (Sophocles)

"Quick decisions are unsafe decisions." (Sophocles)

"Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud." (Sophocles)

"Rather throw away that which is dearest to you, your own life, than turn away a good friend." (Sophocles)

"The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves." (Sophocles)

"The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities." (Sophocles)

"There is a point at which even justice does injury." (Sophocles)

"There is no witness so terrible and no accuser so powerful as conscience which dwells within us." (Sophocles)

"To be doing good deeds is man's most glorious task." (Sophocles)

"To him who is in fear everything rustles." (Sophocles)

"To throw away an honest friend is, as it were, to throw your life away." (Sophocles)

"What fate can be worse than to know we have no one but ourselves to blame for our misfortunes!" (Sophocles)

"Wisdom is the most important part of happiness." (Sophocles)

"When a man has lost all happiness, he's not alive. Call him a breathing corpse." (Sophocles)

"When trouble ends even troubles please." (Sophocles)

"Whoever understands how to do a kindness when he fares well would be a friend better than any possession." (Sophocles)

"Why should a man fear, since chance is all in all for him, and he can clearly fore-know nothing? Best to live lightly as one can, unthinking." (Sophocles)

"Wise thinkers prevail everywhere." (Sophocles)

"You win the victory when you yield to friends." (Sophocles)

Week 2023-33: Marcus Aurelius - Collected Quotes

"Always take the short cut; and that is the rational one. Therefore say and do everything according to soundest reason." (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations". cca. 121–180 AD)

"And in the case of superior things like stars, we discover a kind of unity in separation. The higher we rise on the scale of being, the easier it is to discern a connection even among things separated by vast distances." (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations". cca. 121–180 AD)

 

"Constantly regard the universe as one living being, having one substance and one soul; and observe how all things have reference to one perception, the perception of this one living being; and how all things act with one movement; and how all things are the cooperating causes of all things which exist; observe too the continuous spinning of the thread and the contexture of the web." (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations". cca. 121–180 AD)

 

"Either all things proceed from one intelligent source and come together as in one body, and the part ought not to find fault with what is done for the benefit of the whole; or there are only atoms, and nothing else than a mixture and dispersion. Why, then, art thou disturbed? Say to this ruling faculty, Art thou dead, art thou corrupted, art thou playing the hypocrite, art thou become a beast, dost thou herd and feed with the rest?" (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations". cca. 121–180 AD)

 

"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations", cca. 121–180 AD)

 

"Look to the essence of a thing, whether it be a point of doctrine, of practice, or of interpretation." (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations", cca. 121–180 AD)

"In the series of things those which follow are always aptly fitted to those which have gone before; for this series is not like a mere enumeration of disjointed things, which has only a necessary sequence, but it is a rational connection: and as all existing things are arranged together harmoniously, so the things which come into existence exhibit no mere succession, but a certain wonderful relationship." (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations", cca. 180 AD)

 

"Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life." (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, cca. 121–180)

 

"Observe the movements of the stars as if you were running their courses with them, and let your mind constantly dwell on the changes of the elements into each other." (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations", cca. 121–180 AD)

 

"Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.“ (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations", cca. 121–180 AD)

"The other reason is that what happens to the individual is a cause of well-being in what directs the world - of its well-being, its fulfillment, or its very existence, even. Because the whole is damaged if you cut away anything - anything at all - from its continuity and its coherence. Not only its parts, but its purposes. And that's what you're doing when you complain: hacking and destroying." (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations", cca. 121–180 AD)

 

"The universal intelligence puts itself in motion for every separate effect [...] or it puts itself in motion once, and everything else comes by way of a sequence in a manner; or individual elements are the origin of all things. In a word, if there is a god, all is well; and if chance rules, do not thou be governed by it." (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations", cca. 121–180 AD)

 

"The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it." (Marcus Aurelius)

"You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength." (Marcus Aurelius)

Week 2023-32: Epictetus - Collected Quotes

"Any person capable of angering you becomes your master." (Epictetus)

"As it is pleasant to see the sea from the land, so it is pleasant for him who has escaped from troubles to think of them." (Epictetus, "Discourses")

"Fight against yourself, recover yourself to decency, to modesty, to freedom. And, in the first place, condemn your actions; but when you have condemned them, do not despair of yourself. For both ruin and recovery are from within." (Epictetus)

"He who exercises wisdom exercises the knowledge which is about God." (Epictetus, "Discourses")

"In every affair consider what precedes and what follows, and then undertake it." (Epictetus)

"In theory there is nothing to hinder our following what we are taught; but in life there are many things to draw us aside." (Epictetus, "Discourses")

"It is better by assenting to truth to conquer opinion, than by assenting to opinion to be conquered by truth." (Epictetus, "Discourses")

"It is my business, to manage carefully and dexterously whatever happens." (Epictetus)

"It is no easy thing for a principle to become a man's own unless each day he maintains it and works it out in his life." (Epictetus)

"Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly." (Epictetus)

"No matter what happens, it is within my power to turn it to my advantage." (Epictetus)

"Not every difficult and dangerous thing is suitable for training, but only that which is conducive to success in achieving the object of our effort." (Epictetus, "Discourses")

"Reason is not measured by size or height, but by principle." (Epictetus)

"The essence of good and evil is a certain disposition of the will." (Epictetus, "Of Courage")

"Things true and evident must of necessity be recognized by those who would contradict them." (Epictetus)

"To be getting an education means this: to be learning what is your own, and what is not your own." (Epictetus, "Discourses")

"When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger." (Epictetus)

"You are but an appearance, and not absolutely the thing you appear to be." (Epictetus)

Week 2023-31: Heraclitus of Ephesus - Collected Quotes

"Everything flows and nothing stays. [...] You can't step twice into the same river." (Heraclitus of Ephesus)

"For those who are awake there is one common universe." (Heraclitus of Ephesus, "Fragments" [3.89], cca. 5th century)

"He who does not expect will not find out the unexpected, for it is trackless and unexplored." (Heraclitus of Ephesus)

"It should be known that war is universal, that strife is justice, and all things come into existence by strife and necessity." (Heraclitus of Ephesus)

"Much learning does not teach a man to have intelligence." (Heraclitus of Ephesus)

"Opposition brings concord. Out of discord comes the fairest harmony." (Heraclitus of Ephesus)

"The fairest order in the world is a heap of random sweepings." (Heraclitus of Ephesus)

"The real constitution of things is accustomed to hide itself." (Heraclitus of Ephesus)

"The road up and the road down is one and the same." (Heraclitus of Ephesus, "On the Universe", cca. 5th century)

"The greatest virtue is to be prudent, and wisdom is to speak the truth and with understanding to act according to nature. (Heraclitus of Ephesus, "Fragments" [75.112], cca. 5th century)

"There is one wisdom, to understand how reason steers everything through everything." (Heraclitus of Ephesus, "Fragments" [4.41], cca. 5th century)

"Time is like a river flowing endlessly through the universe." (Heraclitus of Ephesus)

"Unite whole and part, agreement and disagreement, accordant and discordant; from all comes one, and from one all." (Heraclitus of Ephesus)

Week 2023-30: Kahlil Gibran - Collected Quotes

"Much of your pain is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self." (Kahlil Gibran, "The Prophet", 1923)

"You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts." (Kahlil Gibran, "The Prophet", 1923)

"Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon which your reason and your judgment wage war against passion and your appetite." (Kahlil Gibran, "The Prophet", 1923)

"A pearl is a temple built by pain around a grain of sand." (Kahlil Gibran, "Sand and Foam", 1926)

"Faith is an oasis in the heart which will never be reached by the caravan of thinking." (Kahlil Gibran, "Sand and Foam", 1926)

"Perhaps the sea's definition of a shell is the pearl." (Kahlil Gibran, "Sand and Foam", 1926)

"A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle." (Kahlil Gibran)

"And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb." (Kahlil Gibran)

"Keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life." (Kahlil Gibran)

"Knowledge and understanding are life's faithful companions who will never prove untrue to you. For knowledge is your crown, and understanding your staff; and when they are with you, you possess no greater treasures." (Kahlil Gibran)

"Life without Love is like a tree without blossom and fruit." (Kahlil Gibran)

"Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing." (Kahlil Gibran)

"Philosophy's work is finding the shortest path between two points." (Kahlil Gibran)

"Solitude has soft, silky hands, but with strong fingers it grasps the heart and makes it ache with sorrow." (Kahlil Gibran)

"The appearance of things changes according to the emotions; and thus we see magic and beauty in them, while the magic and beauty are really in ourselves." (Kahlil Gibran)

"We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them." (Kahlil Gibran)

Week 2023-29: Plutarch of Chaeronea - Collected Quotes

"For it was not so much that by means of words I came to a complete understanding of things, as that from things I somehow had an experience which enabled me to follow the meaning of words." (Plutarch of Chaeronea, "Lives")

"For to err in opinion, though it be not the part of wise men, is at least human." (Plutarch of Chaeronea, "Moralia" ["Morals"], cca. 1st century)

"If Nature be not improved by instruction, it is blind; if instruction be not assisted by Nature, it is maimed; and if exercise fail of the assistance of both, it is imperfect." (Plutarch of Chaeronea, "Moralia" ["Morals"], cca. 1st century)

"It is circumstance and proper measure that give an action its character, and make it either good or bad." (Plutarch of Chaeronea, "Life of Agesilaus II")

"Silence at the proper season is wisdom, and better than any speech." (Plutarch of Chaeronea, "Moralia" ["Morals"], cca. 1st century)

"The generous mind adds dignity to every act, and nothing misbecomes it." (Plutarch of Chaeronea, "Lives")

"The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled." (Plutarch of Chaeronea, "Moralia" ["Morals"], cca. 1st century)

"The two most powerful agencies in man's nature are reason and mind." (Plutarch of Chaeronea)

"To conduct great matters and never commit a fault is above the force of human nature." (Plutarch of Chaeronea, "Life of Fabius")

"Were it only to learn benevolence to humankind, we should be merciful to other creatures." (Plutarch of Chaeronea, "Lives")

"Wise men are able to make a fitting use even of their enmities." (Plutarch of Chaeronea, "Moralia" ["Morals"], cca. 1st century)

Week 2023-28: Oliver Goldsmith - Collected Quotes

"People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy." (Oliver Goldsmith, "The Bee", 1759)

"In two opposite opinions, if one be perfectly reasonable, the other can't be perfectly right." (Oliver Goldsmith, "The Poetical and Dramatic Works of Oliver Goldsmith", 1780)

"All that philosophy can teach is to be stubborn or sullen under misfortunes." (Oliver Goldsmith, "The Miscellaneous Works of Dr. Goldsmith", 1792)

"Books are necessary to correct the vices of the polite; but those vices are ever changing, and the antidote should be changed accordingly should still be new." (Oliver Goldsmith, "The Miscellaneous Works of Dr. Goldsmith", 1792)

"If we do not find happiness in the present moment, in what shall we find it?" (Oliver Goldsmith, "The Miscellaneous Works of Dr. Goldsmith", 1792) 

"Religion does what philosophy could never do; it shows the equal dealings of Heaven to the happy and the unhappy, and levels all human enjoyments to nearly the same standard. It gives to both rich and poor the same happiness hereafter, and equal hopes to aspire after it." (Oliver Goldsmith, "The Miscellaneous Works of Dr. Goldsmith", 1792)

"Taste is the power of relishing or rejecting whatever is offered for the entertainment of the imagination." (Oliver Goldsmith, "The Miscellaneous Works of Dr. Goldsmith", 1792)

"The wisdom of the ignorant somewhat resembles the instinct of animals; it is diffused in but a very narrow sphere, but within the circle it acts with vigor, uniformity, and success." (Oliver Goldsmith, "The Miscellaneous Works of Dr. Goldsmith", 1792)

'Nothing is so contemptible as that affectation of wisdom, which some display, by universal incredulity." (Oliver Goldsmith, "A history of the earth: and animated nature", 1813)

"A man's own heart must ever be given to gain that of another." (Oliver Goldsmith, "The Vicar of Wakefield, a Tale: To which is Annexed The Deserted Village", 1828)

"Our greatest glory is, not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." (Oliver Goldsmith, "The Complete Works of Oliver Goldsmith", 1893)

"Teaching by lecture makes men mere scholars, but instructing by examination makes them learned: the student has the best chance of becoming actually great." (Oliver Goldsmith)

Week 2023-27: Democritus - Collected Quotes

"By convention sweet, by convention bitter; by convention hot, by convention cold, by convention color: but in reality, atoms and void." (Democritus)

"By desiring little, a poor man makes himself rich." (Democritus)

"Everything existing in the universe is the fruit of chance and necessity." (Democritus)

"Hope of ill gain is the beginning of loss." (Democritus)

"I would rather discover one true cause than gain the kingdom of Persia." (Democritus)

"If thou suffer injustice, console thyself; the true unhappiness is in doing it." (Democritus)

"It is better to destroy one's own errors than those of others." (Democritus)

"It is godlike ever to think on something beautiful and on something new." (Democritus)

"It is greed to do all the talking but not to want to listen at all." (Democritus)

"Men should strive to think much and know little." (Democritus)

"Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion." (Democritus)

"Neither art nor wisdom may be attained without learning."  (Democritus)

"No power and no treasure can outweigh the extension of our knowledge." (Democritus)

"Nothing is so easy as to deceive one's self; for what we wish, that we readily believe." (Democritus)

"Raising children is an uncertain thing; success is reached only after a life of battle and worry." (Democritus)

"The first principles of the universe are atoms and empty space; everything else is merely thought to exist." (Democritus)

"The wrongdoer is more unfortunate than the man wronged." (Democritus)

"There are many who know many things, yet are lacking in wisdom." (Democritus)

"Throw moderation to the winds, and the greatest pleasures bring the greatest pains." (Democritus)

Week 2023-26: Plotinus - Collected Quotes

"All things are filled full of signs, and it is a wise man who can learn about one thing from another." (Plotinus, "Enneads", cca. 270 AD)

"But if anyone despises the arts because they produce their works by imitating nature, we must tell him, first, that natural things are imitations too. Then he must know that the arts do not simply imitate what they see, but they run back up to the forming principles from which nature derives" (Plotinus, "Enneads", cca. 270 AD)

"Conscious apprehension seems to exist […] as happens in a mirror-image when the smooth and bright surface is peaceful." (Plotinus, "Enneads", cca. 270 AD)

“In the same way as regards the soul, when that kind of thing in us which mirrors the images of thought and intellect is undisturbed, we see them and know them in a way parallel to sense-perception, along with the prior knowledge that it is intellect and thought that are active. But when this is broken because the harmony of the body is upset, thought and intellect operate without an image, and then intellectual activity takes place without a mind-picture.” (Plotinus, “Enneads”, cca. 270 AD)

"On the assumption that all happens by Cause, it is easy to discover the nearest determinants of any particular act or state to trace it plainly to them." (Plotinus, "Enneads", cca. 270 AD)

"[...] so external sensation is the image of this perception of the soul, which is in its essence truer and is a contemplation of forms alone without being affected. From these forms, from which the soul alone receives its lordship over the living being, come reasonings, and opinions and noetic acts; and this is precisely where ‘we’ are." (Plotinus, "Enneads", cca. 270 AD)

"The noetic act is without parts and has not, so to speak, come out into the open, but remains unobserved within, but the verbal expression unfolds its content and brings it out of the noetic act into the image making power, and so shows the noetic act as if in a mirror, and this is how there is conscious apprehension and persistence and memory of it." (Plotinus, "Enneads", cca. 270 AD)

"You can only apprehend the Infinite by a faculty superior to reason, by entering into a state in which you are your finite self no longer." (Plotinus, "Enneads", cca. 270 AD)

"Beauty is rather a light that plays over the symmetry of things than that symmetry itself." (Plotinus)

"Knowledge has three degrees - opinion, science, illumination. The means or instrument of the first is sense; of the second, dialectic; of the third, intuition." (Plotinus)

"We must close our eyes and invoke a new manner of seeing […] a wakefulness that is the birthright of us all, though few put it to use." (Plotinus)

Week 2023-25: Isaac Asimov - Collected Quotes

"Old men tend to forget what thought was like in their youth; they forget the quickness of the mental jump, the daring of the youthful intuition, the agility of the fresh insight. They become accustomed to the more plodding varieties of reason, and because this is more than made up by the accumulation of experience, old men think themselves wiser than the young." (Isaac Asimov, "Pebble in the Sky", 1950)

"The easiest way to solve a problem is to deny it exists." (Isaac Asimov, "The Gods Themselves", 1972)

"Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is. The only function of a school is to make self-education easier; failing that, it does nothing." (Isaac Asimov, "Science Past, Science Future", 1975)

"People are entirely too disbelieving of coincidence. They are far too ready to dismiss it and to build arcane structures of extremely rickety substance in order to avoid it. I, on the other hand, see coincidence everywhere as an inevitable consequence of the laws of probability, according to which having no unusual coincidence is far more unusual than any coincidence could possibly be." (Isaac Asimov, "The Planet That Wasn't", 1976)

"At odd and unpredictable times, we cling in fright to the past." (Isaac Asimov, "Foundation's Edge", 1982)

"The greatest weapons in the conquest of knowledge are an understanding mind and the inexorable curiosity that drives it on." (Isaac Asimov, "Asimov's New Guide to Science", 1984)

"If we only obey those rules that we think are just and reasonable, then no rule will stand, for there is no rule that some will not think is unjust and unreasonable." (Isaac Asimov, "Foundation and Earth", 1986)

"A subtle thought that is in error may yet give rise to fruitful inquiry that can establish truths of great value." (Isaac Asimov, "Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations", 1988)

"Any increase in knowledge anywhere helps pave the way for an increase in knowledge everywhere." (Isaac Asimov, "Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations", 1988)

"There is very little flexibility in the behavior of the Universe. What it does once, it does again." (Isaac Asimov, "Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations", 1988)

"What makes it so hard to organize the environment sensibly is that everything we touch is hooked up to everything else." (Isaac Asimov, "Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations", 1988)

Week 2023-24: Philip K Dick - Collected Quotes

"Can any of us fix anything? No. None of us can do that. We're specialized. Each one of us has his own line, his own work. I understand my work, you understand yours. The tendency in evolution is toward greater and greater specialization. Man's society is an ecology that forces adaptation to it. Continued complexity makes it impossible for us to know anything outside our own personal field - I can't follow the work of the man sitting at the next desk over from me. Too much knowledge has piled up in each field. And there are too many fields." (Philip K. Dick, The Variable Man", 1952)

"[…] anybody with a genuine system of prediction would be using it, not selling it." (Philip K Dick, "Solar Lottery", 1955) 

"It’s the highest goal of man - the need to grow and advance [...] to find new things [...] to expand. To spread out, reach areas, experiences, comprehend and live in an evolving fashion. To push aside routine and repetition, to break out of mindless monotony and thrust forward. To keep moving on [...]" (Philip K Dick, "Solar Lottery", 1955)

"These machines had become old and worn-out, had begun making mistakes; therefore they began to seem almost human." (Philip K Dick & Ray Nelson, "The Ganymede Takeover", 1967)

"A humanoid robot is like any other machine; it can fluctuate between being a benefit and a hazard very rapidly." (Philip K Dick, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", 1968)

"To the paranoid, nothing is a surprise; everything happens exactly as he expected, and sometimes even more so. It all fits into his system. For us, though, there can be no system; maybe all systems - that is, any theoretical, verbal, symbolic, semantic, etc. formulation that attempts to act as an all-encompassing, all-explaining hypothesis of what the universe is about - are manifestations of paranoia. We should be content with the mysterious, the meaningless, the contradictory, the hostile, and most of all the unexplainably warm and giving." (Philip K Dick, "The Android and the Human", [speech] 1972)

"Reality is that which when you stop believing in it, it doesn’t go away." (Philip K Dick, "Valis", 1981)

"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words." (Philip K. Dick)

"The problem with introspection is that it has no end." (Philip K. Dick)

"The true measure of a man is not his intelligence or how high he rises in this freak establishment. No, the true measure of a man is this: how quickly can he respond to the needs of others and how much of himself he can give." (Philip K. Dick)