Week 2023-08: Jean de La Bruyère - Collected Quotes

"A vain man finds it wise to speak good or ill of himself; a modest man does not talk of himself." (Jean de La Bruyère)

"Children have neither a past nor a future. Thus they enjoy the present, which seldom happens to us." (Jean de La Bruyère)

"Everything has been said, and we are more than seven thousand years of human thought too late." (Jean de La Bruyère)

"He who has lived a day has lived an age." (Jean de La Bruyère)

"Love and friendship exclude each other." (Jean de La Bruyère)

"Making a book is a craft, like making a clock; it needs more than native wit to be an author." (Jean de La Bruyère)

"Man has but three events in his life: to be born, to live, and to die. He is not conscious of his birth, he suffers at his death and he forgets to live." (Jean de La Bruyère)

"Out of difficulties grow miracles." (Jean de La Bruyère)

"Profound ignorance makes a man dogmatic. The man who knows nothing thinks he is teaching others what he has just learned himself; the man who knows a great deal can't imagine that what he is saying is not common knowledge, and speaks indifferently." (Jean de La Bruyère)

"The best way to get on in the world is to make people believe it’s to their advantage to help you." (Jean de La Bruyère)

"The exact contrary of what is generally believed is often the truth." (Jean de La Bruyère)

"The most exquisite pleasure is giving pleasure to others." (Jean de La Bruyère)

"The people have little intelligence." (Jean de La Bruyère)

"The regeneration of society is the regeneration of society by individual education." (Jean de La Bruyère)

"The shortest and best way to make your fortune is to let people see that it is in their interests to promote yours." (Jean de La Bruyère)

"The wise person often shuns society for fear of being bored." (Jean de La Bruyère)

"There are certain people who so ardently and passionately desire a thing, that from dread of losing it they leave nothing undone to make them lose it." (Jean de La Bruyère)

"There is no business in the world so troublesome as the pursuit of fame: life is over before you have hardly begun your work." (Jean de La Bruyère)

"Those who make the worst use of their time most complain of its brevity." (Jean de La Bruyère)

"Two persons cannot long be friends if they cannot forgive each other's little failings." (Jean de La Bruyère)

"We must laugh before we are happy, for fear of dying without having laughed at all." (Jean de La Bruyère)

Week 2023-07: Chang Tsai - Collected Quotes

"All rotating things have a spontaneous force and thus their motion is not imposed on them from outside." (Chang Tsai)

"By enlarging one's mind, one can enter into all the things in the world [to examine and understand their principle]. As long as anything is not yet entered into, there is still something outside the mind. The mind of ordinary people is limited to the narrowness of what is seen and what is heard. The sage, however, fully develops his nature and does not allow what is seen or heard to fetter his mind. He regards everything in the world to be his own self. This is why Mencius said that if one exerts his mind to the utmost, he can know nature and Heaven. (1) Heaven is so vast that there is nothing outside of it. Therefore the mind that leaves something outside is not capable of uniting itself with the mind of Heaven. Knowledge coming from seeing and hearing is knowledge obtained through contact with things. It is not knowledge obtained through one's moral nature. Knowledge obtained through one's moral nature does not originate from seeing or hearing." (Chang Tsai)

"Every birth is a condensation (of Qi). Every death is a dispersal (of Qi). Birth is not a gain; Death is not a loss. When condensed, Qi becomes a living thing, when dispersed, it is the substrata of mutation." (Chang Tsai)

"Everything is destiny. A man should accept obediently what is correct [in his destiny]." If one obeys the principles of his nature and destiny, he will obtain what is correct in them. If one destroys principle and indulges in desires to the limit, he will be inviting evil fortune." (Chang Tsai)

"From the Great Vacuity, there is Heaven. From the transformation of material force, there is the Way. In the unity of the Great Vacuity and material force, there is the nature (of man and things). And in the unity of the nature and consciousness, there is the mind." (Chang Tsai)

"He who understands virtue will have a sufficient amount, that is all. He will not allow sensual desires to be a burden to his mind, the small to injure the great, or the secondary to destroy the fundamental." (Chang Tsai)

"Human nature at its source is absolutely tranquil and unaffected by externality. When it is affected by contact with the external world, consciousness and knowledge emerge. Only those who fully develop their nature can unify the state of formlessness and unaffectedness, and the state of objectification and affectedness." (Chang Tsai)

"In one's words there should be something to teach others. In one's activities there should be something to serve as model for others. In the morning something should be done. In the evening something should be realized. At every moment something should be nourished. And in every instant something should be preserved." (Chang Tsai)

"Material force moves and flows in all directions and in all manners. Its two elements unite and give rise to the concrete. Thus the multiplicity of things and human beings is produced. In their ceaseless successions the two elements of yin and yang constitute the great principles of the universe." (Chang Tsai)

"The Great Void cannot but consist of ch’i; this ch’i cannot but condense to form all things; and these things cannot but become dispersed so as to form (once more) the Great Void." (Chang Tsai)

"The great benefit of learning is to enable one to transform his physical nature himself. Otherwise he will have the defect of studying in order to impress others, in the end will attain no enlightenment, and cannot see the all-embracing depth of the sage." (Chang Tsai)

"The Great Harmony is called the Way (Tao, Moral Law). It embraces the nature which underlies all counter processes of floating and sinking, rising and falling, and motion and rest. It is the origin of the process of fusion and intermingling, of overcoming and being overcome, and of expansion and contraction. At the commencement, these processes are incipient, subtle, obscure, easy, and simple, but at the end they are extensive, great, strong, and firm. It is ch'ien (Heaven) that begins with the knowledge of Change, and k'un (Earth) that models after simplicity. That which is dispersed, differentiated, and capable of assuming form becomes material force (ch'i), and that which is pure, penetrating, and capable of assuming form becomes spirit. Unless the whole universe is in the process of fusion and intermingling like fleeting forces moving in all directions, it may not be called Great Harmony." (Chang Tsai)

"The Great Vacuity is clear. Being clear, it cannot be obstructed. Not being obstructed, it is therefore spirit. The opposite of clearness is turbidity. Turbidity leads to obstruction. And obstruction leads to physical form. When material force is clear, it penetrates; and when it is turbid, it obstructs. When clearness reaches its limit, there is spirit. When spirit concentrates, it penetrates like the breeze going through the holes (of musical instruments), producing tones and carrying them to great distances. This is the evidence of clearness. As if arriving at the destination without the necessity of going there, penetration reaches the highest degree." (Chang Tsai)

"The integration and disintegration of material force is to the Great Vacuity as the freezing and melting of ice is to water. If we realize that the Great Vacuity is identical with material force, we know that there is no such thing as non-being." (Chang Tsai)

"When a thing first comes into existence, material force comes gradually into it to enrich its vitality. As it reaches its maturity, material force gradually reverts to where it came from, wanders off and disperses. Its coming means positive spiritual force (shen), because it is expanding (shen). Its reversion means negative spiritual force (kuei), because it is returning (kuei)." (Chang Tsai)

"When one knows that the Great Void is full of ch’i, one realizes that there is no such thing as nothingness." (Chang Tsai)

"When the ch’i condenses, its visibility becomes apparent so that there are then the shapes (of individual things). When it disperses, its visibility is no longer apparent and there are no shapes. At the time of its condensation, can one say otherwise than that this is but temporary? But at the time of its dispersing, can one hastily say that it is then non-existent?'" (Chang Tsai)

"When it is understood that the Vacuity, the Void, is nothing but material force, then existence and nonexistence, the hidden and the manifested, spirit and eternal transformation, and human nature and destiny are all one and not a duality. He who apprehends integration and disintegration, appearance and disappearance, form and absence of form, and trace them to their source, penetrates the secret of Change." (Chang Tsai)

"When the Way of Heaven [or principle] and the nature of man [or desires] function separately, there cannot be sincerity. When there is a difference between the knowledge obtained by following (the Way of) Heaven and that obtained by following (the nature of) man, there cannot be perfect enlightenment. What is meant by enlightenment resulting from sincerity is that in which there is no distinction between the Way of Heaven as being great and the nature of man as being small." (Chang Tsai)

Week 2023-06: Hakuin Ekaku - Collected Quotes

"All beings are by nature are Buddhas, as ice by nature is water. Apart from water there is no ice; apart from beings, no Buddhas. How sad that people ignore the near and search the truth afar: like someone in the midst of watercrying out in thirst: like a child of a wealthy home wandering among the poor." (Hakuin Ekaku)

"At the bottom of great doubt lies great awakening. If you doubt fully, you will awaken fully." (Hakuin Ekaku)

"From the sea of effortlessness, let your great uncaused compassion shine forth." (Hakuin Ekaku)

"If you forget yourself, you become the universe." (Hakuin Ekaku)

"Meditation in action is endlessly more important than meditation in stillness." (Hakuin Ekaku)

"Should you desire the great tranquility prepare to sweat white beads." (Hakuin Ekaku)

"The spirit of meditation is the combating of self-willed thinking - it is a combat against the weight of one's feelings."

"Those who practice only in silence/tranquility, cannot establish their [internal] freedom when entering into activity. When they engage into worldy activities, their usual satori (enlightment) will eventually disappear without any trace." (Hakuin Ekaku)

"Those who testify to the truth of the nature of the Self, Have found it by reflecting within themselves." (Hakuin Ekaku)

"Zen practice in the midst of activity is a million times superior to that pursued within tranquility." (Hakuin Ekaku)

"What is this true meditation? It is to make everything: coughing, swallowing, waving the arms, motion, stillness, words, action, the evil and the good, prosperity and shame, gain and loss, right and wrong, into one single koan." (Hakuin Ekaku)

"You know the sound of two hands clapping; tell me, what is the sound of one hand?" (Hakuin Ekaku)

Week 2023-5: Anaxagoras of Clazomenae - Collected Quotes

"All things were together, infinite both in number and in smallness; for the small too was infinite." (Anaxagoras, cca. 5th century BC) 

"And since the portions of the great and the small are equal in number, so too all things would be in everything. Nor is it possible that they should exist apart, but all things have a portion of everything." (Anaxagoras, cca. 5th century BC)

"Appearances are a glimpse of the unseen." (Anaxagoras, cca. 5th century BC)

"Everything has a natural explanation. The moon is not a god, but a great rock, and the sun a hot rock.

The seed of everything is in everything else." (Anaxagoras, cca. 5th century BC)

"Men would live exceedingly quiet if these two words, mine and thine, were taken away." (Anaxagoras, cca. 5th century BC)

"Mind is infinite and self-ruled, and is mixed with nothing, but is alone itself by itself." (Anaxagoras, cca. 5th century BC)

"The contents of the cosmos are not separated from each other or cut of by an axe not the hot from the cold nor the cold from the hot." (Anaxagoras, cca. 5th century BC)

"The descent to Hades is the same from every place." (Anaxagoras, cca. 5th century BC)

"Th ere is no smallest among the small and no largest among the large; but always something still smaller and something still larger." (Anaxagoras, cca. 5th century BC)

"There is no smallest among the small and no largest among the large, But always something still smaller and something still larger." (Anaxagoras, cca. 5th century BC)

"Thought is something limitless and independent, and has been mixed with no thing but is alone by itself. […] What was mingled with it would have prevented it from having power over anything in the way in which it does. […] For it is the finest of all things and the purest." (Anaxagoras, cca. 5th century BC)

"Wise men argue causes; fools decide them." (Anaxagoras, cca. 5th century BC)

Week 2023-4: Thales of Miletus - Collected Quotes

"A multitude of words is no proof of a prudent mind." (Thales of Miletus)

"All things are from water and all things are resolved into water." (Thales of Miletus)

"Avoid doing what you would blame others for doing." (Thales of Miletus)

"Hope is the only good that is common to all men; those who have nothing else possess hope still." (Thales of Miletus)

"Nothing is more active than thought, for it travels over the universe, and nothing is stronger than necessity for all must submit to it." (Thales of Miletus)

"Place is the greatest thing, as it contains all things." (Thales of Miletus)

"The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself." (Thales of Miletus)

"There are three attributes for which I am grateful to Fortune: that I was born, first, human and not animal; second, man and not woman; and third, Greek and not barbarian." (Thales of Miletus)

"What is the sagest of all? It is a time, because it opens all." (Thales of Miletus)

Week 2023-3: Pythagoras of Samos - Collected Quotes

"All was numbers." (Pythagoras of Samos, cca. 6th century BC)

"Animals share with us the privilege of having a soul." (Pythagoras of Samos, cca. 6th century BC)

"Be silent or let thy words be worth more than silence." (Pythagoras of Samos, cca. 6th century BC)

"Choose always the way that seems the best, however rough it may be; custom will soon render it easy and agreeable." (Pythagoras of Samos, cca. 6th century BC)

"Do not say a little in many words but a great deal in a few." (Pythagoras of Samos, cca. 6th century BC)

"everything changes, nothing is lost" (Pythagoras of Samos, cca. 6th century BC)

"Geometry is knowledge of the eternally existent."  (Pythagoras of Samos, cca. 6th century BC)

"Hearing and keeping silence, you become a wise man. The beginning of wisdom is silence." (Pythagoras of Samos, cca. 6th century BC)

"Number is the ruler of forms and ideas, and the cause of gods and demons." (Pythagoras of Samos, cca. 6th century BC)

"Number rules the universe." (Pythagoras of Samos, cca. 6th century BC)

"Number was the substance of all things." (Pythagoras of Samos, cca. 6th century BC)

"The first elements of wisdom: you should study to reflect and to lose your ability to chat." (Pythagoras of Samos, cca. 6th century BC)

"The learning of many things does not teach intelligence […]." (Pythagoras of Samos, cca. 6th century BC)

"There is geometry in the humming of the strings; there is music in the spacing of the spheres." (Pythagoras of Samos, cca. 6th century BC)

Week 2023-2: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Collected Quotes

"One does not get to know that one exists until one rediscovers oneself in others." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1775)

"The imagination lurks as the most powerful foe. It has an irresistible affinity for the absurd. Even cultured individuals are subject to this impulse to a high degree. It  is hostile to all civilized life and it confronts our decorous society with a reversion to the innate rudeness of the savage and his love of grimaces." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Annals", 1805)

"Genuine works of art carry their own aesthetic theory implicit within them and suggest the standards according to which they are to be judged." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1808)

"The highest gift we have received from God and nature is life, the rotating movement of the monad about itself, knowing neither pause nor rest. The impulse to nurture this life is ineradicably implanted in each individual, although its specific nature remains a mystery to ourselves and to Others." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "On Theory of Color", 1810)

"The modern age has a false sense of superiority because of the great mass of data at its disposal. But the valid criterion of distinction is rather the extent to which man knows how to form and master the material at his command." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "On Theory of Color", 1810)

"As soon as we proceed from the principle that knowledge and faith are not designed to cancel each other out but rather to supplement each other, we are on the right path pointing to just solutions." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1813)

"Faith is a sacred vessel in which each individual is prepared to sacrifice his feeling, his reason, his imagination, to the best of his ability. In the case of knowledge exactly the opposite holds true, I said. Not that one knows but what one knows, how well and how much one knows, is what counts. That is why knowledge is a subject for argument, inasmuch as it may be corrected, expanded, and concealed. Knowledge begins with isolated facts; it is endless and formless, and we can at most dream of grasping it as a totality. Hence it is diametrically opposed to faith." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "The Autobiography", 1814)

"Idea and experience will never coincide in the center. Only art and action can effect a synthesis." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1816) 

"When all is said and done, nothing suits the theater except what also makes a symbolic appeal to the eyes a significant action suggesting an even more significant one." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Shakespeare and No End", 1816)

"That which is formed is straightway transformed again, and if we would to some degree arrive at a living intuition of Nature, we must on our part remain forever mobile and plastic, according to her own example." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Morphology", 1817)

"As we contemplate the edifice of the universe, in its vastest extension, in its minutest divisibility, we cannot resist the notion that an idea underlies the whole, according to which God and Nature creatively interact forever and ever. Intuition, contemplation, reflection give us an approach to these mysteries, We are emboldened to venture upon ideas; in a more modest mood we fashion concepts that might bear some analogy to those primal beginnings." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Doubts and Resignation", 1820)

"Even in the sciences, mere knowing is of no avail. It is always a matter of doing." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Maxims and Reflections", 1822)

"General concepts and great conceit are always poised to make a terrible mess of things." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Maxims and Reflections", 1822)

"The most foolish of all errors is for young people to believe that they lose their originality by accepting the truths which have already been accepted by their predecessors." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Maxims and Reflections", 1822)

"When Nature begins to reveal her manifest mystery to a man, he feels an irresistible longing for her worthiest interpreter art." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Maxims and Reflections", 1823)

"Truth is like a torch, but of gigantic proportions. It is all we can do to grope our way with dazzled eyes, in fear even of getting scorched." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Maxims and Reflections", 1824)

"Man was not born to solve the problems of the universe, but rather to seek to lay bare the heart of the problem and then confine himself within the limits of what is amenable to understanding." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1825)

"The true, which is identical with the divine, transcends our grasp as such. We perceive it only as reflection, parable, symbol, in specific and related manifestations.  We become aware of it as life that defies comprehension, and for all that we cannot renounce the wish to comprehend. " (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Essay on Meteorology", 1825)

"Error finds ceaseless repetition in deed, for which reason one must never tire of repeating the truth in words." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Maxims and Reflections", 1826)

"Knowing is possible only when one knows little. As one comes to experience more, one gets gradually assailed by doubts. [...] No phenomenon can be explained, taken merely by itself. Only many, surveyed in their connection, and methodically arranged, finally yield something that can pass for theory." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1828)

"The greatest art, both in teaching and in life itself, consists in transforming the problem into a postulate." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1928)

"For truth is simple and without fuss, whereas error affords opportunity for dissipating time and energy." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1829)

"Man must cling to the belief that the incomprehensible is comprehensible. Else he would give up investigating. " (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Maxims and Reflections", 1829)  

"To concentrate on a craft is the best procedure. For the person of inferior gifts it will always remain a craft. The more gifted person  will raise it to an art. And as for the man of highest endowment, in doing one thing he does all things; or, to put it less paradoxically, in the one thing that he does properly, he sees a symbol of all things that are done right. " (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1829)

"'Nature does nothing for nothing' is an old Philistine saying. She is eternally alive, prodigal and extravagant in her workings, to keep the infinite ever present, because nothing can endure without change." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1831)

"The desire to explain what is simple by what is complex, what is easy by what is difficult, is a calamity affecting the whole body of science, known, it is true, to men of insight, but not generally admitted." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Maxims and Reflections", 1833)

"With the growth of knowledge our ideas must from time to time be organized afresh. The change takes place usually in accordance with new maxims as they arise, but it always remains provisional. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Maxims and Reflections", 1833)

"Nothing hurts a new truth more than an old error." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Sprüche in Prosa", 1840)

"All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take root in our personal experience." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) 

"Everything is simpler than one can imagine, at the same time more involved than can be comprehended." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

"In nature we never see anything isolated, but everything in connection with something else which is before it, beside it, under it and over it." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

"In tearing down a position, all false arguments carry weight; not so in building up. Only the truth is constructive." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Maxims and Reflections" [posthumous])

"It requires a much higher organ to seize upon truth than it does to defend error." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Maxims and Reflections" [posthumous])

"Nature, despite her seeming diversity, is always a unity, a whole; and thus, when she manifests herself in any part of that whole, the rest must serve as a basis for that particular manifestation, and the latter must have a relationship to the rest of the system." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

"No phenomenon can be explained in and of itself; only many comprehended together, methodically arranged, in the end yield something that could be regarded as theory." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

"That is the way of youth and life generally, that we usually come to understand the strategy only after the campaign is over. " (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "The Autobiography",  [posthumous])

"The highest happiness of man as a thinking being is to have probed what is knowable and quietly to revere what is unknowable." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Maxims and Reflections" [posthumous])

"The orbits of certainties touch one another; but in the interstices there is room enough for error to go forth and prevail." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

"The tissue of the world is built from necessities and randomness; the intellect of men places itself between both and can control them; it considers the necessity and the reason of its existence; it knows how randomness can be managed, controlled, and used." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

"Thinking by analogy is not to be despised. Analogy has this merit, that it does not settle things - does not pretend to be conclusive. On the other hand, that induction is pernicious which, with a preconceived end in view, and working right forward for only that, drags in its train a number of unshifted observations, both false and true." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

"Thinking is more interesting than knowing, but not more so than beholding." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Maxims and Reflections", [posthumous])

Week 2023-01: Leonardo da Vinci - Collected Quotes

"All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions." (Leonardo da Vinci)

"Although nature commences with reason and ends in experience it is necessary for us to do the opposite, that is to commence with experience and from this to proceed to investigate the reason." (Leonardo da Vinci)

"Experience does not feed investigators on dreams, but always proceeds from accurately determined first principles, step by step in true sequence to the end." (Leonardo da Vinci)

"He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast." (Leonardo da Vinci)

"Inequality is the cause of all local movements." (Leonardo da Vinci)

"Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind." (Leonardo da Vinci)

"Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets." (Leonardo da Vinci)

"Mechanics is the paradise of mathematical science, because by means of it one comes to the fruits of mathematics." (Leonardo da Vinci)

"Nature is economical and her economy is quantitative." (Leonardo da Vinci)

"[…] no human inquiry can be called science unless it pursues its path through mathematical exposition and demonstration." (Leonardo da Vinci)

"Science is the observation of things possible." (Leonardo da Vinci)

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." (Leonardo da Vinci)

"The grandest pleasure is the joy of understanding." (Leonardo da Vinci)

"There is no certainty where one can neither apply any of the mathematical sciences nor any of those which are connected with the mathematical sciences." (Leonardo da Vinci)

"There is no higher or lower knowledge, but one only, flowing out of experimentation." (Leonardo da Vinci)

"Those who condemn the supreme certainty of mathematics feed on confusion, and can never silence the contradictions of the sophistical sciences which lead to eternal quackery." (Leonardo da Vinci)

"To me it seems that all sciences are vain and full of errors that are not born of Experience, mother of all certainty […] that is to say, that do not at their origin, middle or end, pass through any of the five senses." (Leonardo da Vinci)

Week 2022-52: Gichin Funakoshi - Collected Quotes

"In training, do not expect good results in a short time. [...] train systematically, without becoming impatient or overexerting yourself, and develop gradually, advancing steadily, one stop at a time, with increased application of force and numbers of exercises practiced." (Gichin Funakoshi, "Karate-do Kyohan: The Master Text", 1935)

"The objective of martial arts has always been to defend oneself and not to attack others [...]" (Gichin Funakoshi, "Karate-do Kyohan: The Master Text", 1935)

"The secret principle of martial arts is not vanquishing the attacker but resolving to avoid an encounter before its occurrence. To become the object of an attack is an indication that there was an opening in one's guard, and the important thing is to be on guard at all times." (Gichin Funakoshi, "Karate-do Kyohan: The Master Text", 1935)

"To stand still is to regress; those who think that they have learned everything and become conceited braggarts proclaiming their own merits after learning the movements of some kata and acquiring dexterity in their physical movements are not fit to be considered as serious trainees in the martial arts." (Gichin Funakoshi, "Karate-do Kyohan: The Master Text", 1935)

"Karate is a defensive art from beginning to end" (Gichin Funakoshi)

"Since karate is a martial art, you must practice with the utmost seriousness from the very beginning." (Gichin Funakoshi, Karate-dō Nyūmon: The Master Introductory Text")

"The ultimate aim of the art of Karate lies not in victory or defeat, but in the perfection of the character of it's participants." (Gichin Funakoshi)

"There is no first strike in Karate." (Gichin Funakoshi)

"You may train for a long time, but if you merely move your hands and feet and jump up and down like a puppet, learning karate is not very different from learning a dance. You will never have reached the heart of the matter; you will have failed to grasp the quintessence of karate-do." (Gichin Funakoshi)

"When two tigers fight, one is certain to be maimed, and one to die." (Gichin Funakoshi)

Week 2022-51: Jim Lau - Collected Quotes

"A good player recognizes these moves for what they are: a process of sounding out and experimentation. The good player is patient. He is observant, controlling his patience, and organizing his composure. When he sees an opportunity he explodes." (Jim Lau)

"I can defeat you physically with or without a reason. But I can only defeat your mind with a reason. (Jim Lau)

"It's not bad to have aggressive or hostile thoughts and feelings towards others. When you acknowledge these feelings you no longer have to pretend to be that which you are not. You can learn to accept these moods. What is bad, however, is letting them dictate your nature. When you unleash your aggression or hostility on another person, it inspires aggression and hostility in return. The result then is conflict, which all true martial artists try to avoid. Anger doesn't demand action. When you act in anger, you lose self-control." (Jim Lau)

"Stop straining. The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be." (Jim Lau)

"There are times when you should fight, and there are times when you should split." (Jim Lau)

"When a problem arises, don't fight with it or try to deny it. Accept and acknowledge it. Be patient in seeking a solution or opening, and then fully commit yourself to the resolution you think advisable." (Jim Lau)

"You must learn to allow patience and stillness to take over from anxiety and frantic activity for the sake of doing something, Between martial artists of the first rank, there is room for only one mistake. Before an exchange of blows, several minutes may be spent in controlled patience and planning while each man respectfully observes his opponent, studying his position or stance, watching, getting ideas, and charging his energy. When one man thinks he is going to attack, his opponent may quickly change his stance. If he has overreacted, his opponent makes a note of it. This is a weakness which he will later attempt to use to his advantage." (Jim Lau)

Week 2022-50: Wayne Dyer - Collected Quotes

"Acceptance means no complaining, and happiness means no complaining about the things over which you can do nothing." (Wayne Dyer, "Your Erroneous Zones", 1976)

"Behavior is a much better barometer of what you are than words." (Wayne Dyer, "Your Erroneous Zones", 1976)

"Be a student. Stay open and willing to learn from everyone and anyone. Being a student means you have room for new input. When you are green you grow, when you are ripe you rot. By staying green you will avoid the curse of being an expert. When you know in your heart that every single person you encounter in your lifetime has something to teach you, you are able to utilize their offerings in a profound way." (Wayne Dyer, "Real Magic: Creating Miracles in Everyday Life", 1992)

"Everything in the universe has a purpose. Indeed, the invisible intelligence that flows through everything in a purposeful fashion is also flowing through you." (Wayne Dyer, "Real Magic: Creating Miracles in Everyday Life", 1992)

"Act as if what you intend to manifest in life is already a reality. Eliminate thoughts of conditions, limitations, or the possibility of it not manifesting. If left undisturbed in your mind and in the mind of intention simultaneously, it will germinate in the physical world." (Wayne Dyer, "Everyday Wisdom for Success", 1993)

"The only boundaries we have are in form. There are no obstacles in thought." (Wayne Dyer, "Everyday Wisdom", 1993)

"You create your thoughts, your thoughts create your intentions, and your intentions create your reality." (Wayne Dyer, "Everyday Wisdom for Success", 1993)

"Gratitude is a sacred space where you allow and know that a force greater than your ego is always at work and always available." (Wayne Dyer, "The Power of Intention", 2004)

"Intention is not something you do, but rather a force that exists in the universe as an invisible field of energy, a power that can carry us. (Wayne Dyer, "The Power of Intention", 2004)

"Your imagination creates the inner picture that allows you to participate in the act of creation." (Wayne Dyer, "The Power of Intention", 2004)

"Thoughts are mental energy; they're the currency that you have to attract what you desire. You must learn to stop spending that currency on thoughts you don't want." (Wayne Dyer, "Being in Balance: 9 Principles for Creating Habits to Match Your Desires", 2006)

"While the world of reality has its limits, the world of your imagination is without boundaries." (Wayne Dyer, "Being in Balance: 9 Principles for Creating Habits to Match Your Desires", 2006)

"Most people are searching for happiness. They're looking for it. They're trying to find it in someone or something outside of themselves. That's a fundamental mistake. Happiness is something that you are, and it comes from the way you think." (Wayne Dyer, "Staying on the Path: Easyread Super Large 24pt Edition", 2009)

"Our most important problems cannot be solved; they must be outgrown." (Wayne Dyer, "Excuses Begone!: How to Change Lifelong, Self-Defeating Thinking Habits", 2009)

"The use of mental imagery is one of the strongest and most effective strategies for making something happen for you." (Wayne Dyer, "Staying on the Path: Easyread Super Large 18pt Edition", 2009)

"With everything that has happened to you, you can either feel sorry for yourself or treat what has happened as a gift. Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose." (Wayne Dyer, "Staying on the Path: Easyread Super Large 18pt Edition", 2009)

"This is called synchronicity - a state in which you almost feel as if you are in a collaborative arrangement with fate." (Wayne Dyer, "I Can See Clearly Now", 2014)

Week 2022-49: Sri Aurobindo - Collected Quotes

"Our actual enemy is not any force exterior to ourselves, but our own crying weaknesses, our cowardice, our selfishness, our hypocrisy, our purblind sentimentalism." (Sri Aurobindo, "New Lamps for Old", 1893)

"The deeper we look, the more we shall be convinced that the one thing wanting, which we must strive to acquire before all others, is strength — strength physical, strength mental, strength moral, but above all strength spiritual which is the one inexhaustible and imperishable source of all the others. If we have strength everything else will be added to us easily and naturally." (Sri Aurobindo, "India's Rebirth", 1905)

"A thought is an arrow shot at the truth; it can hit a point, but not cover the whole target. But the archer is too well satisfied with his success to ask anything farther."  (Sri Aurobindo, "Thoughts and Aphorisms", 1913)

"Inspiration is a slender river of brightness leaping from a vast and eternal knowledge, it exceeds reason more perfectly than reason exceeds the knowledge of the senses." (Sri Aurobindo, "Thoughts and Aphorisms", 1913)

"Mankind has used two powerful weapons to destroy its own powers and enjoyment, wrong indulgence and wrong abstinence." (Sri Aurobindo, "Thoughts and Aphorisms", 1913)

"Be conscious first of thyself within, then think and act. All living thought is a world in preparation; all real act is a thought manifested. The material world exists because an Idea began to play in divine self-consciousness." (Sri Aurobindo, "Thoughts and Glimpses", 1916-17)

"Nothing in the many processes of Nature, whether she deals with men or with things, comes by chance or accident or is really at the mercy of external causes."  (Sri Aurobindo, "The Renaissance in India", 1918)

"Suffering makes us capable of the full force of the Master of Delight; it makes us capable also to bear the utter play of the Master of Power. Pain is the key that opens the gates of strength; it is the high-road that leads to the city of beatitude." (Sri Aurobindo, "Thoughts and Aphorisms", 1913)

"The strangest of the soul's experiences is this, that it finds, when it ceases to care for the image and threat of troubles, then the troubles themselves are nowhere to be found in one's neighbourhood. It is then that we hear from behind those unreal clouds God laughing at us." (Sri Aurobindo, "Thoughts and Aphorisms", 1913)

"Transform effort into an easy and sovereign overflowing of the soul-strength; let all thyself be conscious force. This is thy goal." (Sri Aurobindo, "Thoughts and Glimpses", 1916-17)

"Spirituality is not necessarily exclusive; it can be and in its fullness must be all-inclusive." (Sri Aurobindo, "The Renaissance in India", 1918)

"The supreme truths are neither the rigid conclusions of logical reasoning nor the affirmations of credal statement, but fruits of the soul's inner experience." (Sri Aurobindo, "Indian Spirituality and Life", 1919)

"All religions have some truth in them, but none has the whole truth; all are created in time and finally decline and perish."  (Sri Aurobindo, [letter] 1929)

"The way of yoga followed here has a different purpose from others, - for its aim is not only to rise out of the ordinary ignorant world-consciousness into the divine consciousness, but to bring the supramental power of that divine consciousness down into the ignorance of mind, life and body, to transform them, to manifest the Divine here and create a divine life in Matter." (Sri Aurobindo, "Lights on Yoga", 1935)

"Nothing to the supramental sense is really finite; it is founded on a feeling of all in each and of each in all." (Sri Aurobindo, "The Synthesis of Yoga", 1948)

"The material object becomes [...] something different from what we now see, not a separate object on the background or in the environment of the rest of nature but an indivisible part and even in a subtle way an expression of the unity of all that we see." (Sri Aurobindo, "The Synthesis of Yoga", 1948)

 "When mind is still, then truth gets her chance to be heard in the purity of the silence." (Sri Aurobindo)

Week 2022-48: Carlos Castañeda - Collected Quotes

"A man goes to knowledge as he goes to war: wide-awake, with fear, with respect, and with absolute assurance. Going to knowledge or going to war in any other manner is a mistake, and whoever makes it might never live to regret it." (Carlos Castaneda, "The Teachings of Don Juan", 1968)

"Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself, and yourself alone, one question... Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't, it is of no use." (Carlos Castaneda, "The Teachings of Don Juan", 1968)

"Only as a warrior can one withstand the path of knowledge. A warrior cannot complain or regret anything. His life is an endless challenge, and challenges cannot possibly be good or bad. Challenges are simply challenges." (Carlos Castaneda, "The Teachings of Don Juan", 1968)

"The most effective way to live is as a warrior. A warrior may worry and think before making any decision, but once he makes it, he goes his way, free from worries or thoughts; there will be a million other decisions still awaiting him. That's the warrior's way." (Carlos Castañeda, "A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan", 1971)

"Things don't change. You change your way of looking, that's all." (Carlos Castañeda, "A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan", 1971)

"It doesn't matter what one reveals or what one keeps to oneself. Everything we do, everything we are, rests on our personal power. If we don't have enough personal power the most magnificent piece of wisdom can be revealed to us and it won't make a damn bit of difference." (Carlos Castaneda, "Tales of Power", 1974)

"The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse." (Carlos Castaneda, "Tales of Power", 1974)

"The world doesn't yield to us directly, the description of the world stands in between. So, properly speaking, we are always one step removed and our experiences of the world is always a recollection of the experience. We are perennially recollecting the instant that has just happened, just passed. Re recollect, recollect, recollect." (Carlos Castaneda, "Tales of Power", 1974)

"The daily world exists because we know how to hold its images; consequently, if one drops the attention needed to maintain those images, the world collapses." (Carlos Castaneda, "Second Ring of Power", 1977)

"To tune the spirit when someone is trampling on you is called control." (Carlos Castaneda, "The Fire from Within", 1984)

"The third point of reference is freedom of perception; it is intent; it is spirit; the somersault of thought into the miraculous; the act of reaching beyond our boundaries and touching the inconceivable." (Carlos Castaneda, "Power of Silence", 1987) 

"Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore, a warrior must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if he feels that he should not follow it, he must not stay with it under any conditions. His decision to keep on that path or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition. He must look at every path closely and deliberately. There is a question that a warrior has to ask, mandatorily: 'Does this path have a heart?'" (Carlos Castaneda, "The Wheel of Time: The Shamans of Mexico Their Thoughts About Life", 1998)

"The internal dialogue is what grounds people in the daily world. The world is such and such or so and so, only because we talk to ourselves about its being such and such and so and so. The passageway into the world of shamans opens up after the warrior has learned to shut off his internal dialogue." (Carlos Castaneda, "The Wheel of Time: The Shamans of Mexico Their Thoughts About Life", 1998)

Week 2022-47: Kyuzo Mifune - Collected Quotes

"A chance to try your technique is in one instant never to be regained, so try it without hesitation." (Kyuzo Mifune, "Canon of Judo: Principle and Technique", 1956)

"Action of a man, for instance, done without the unity of mind and body. may be indecent and cause harm to the people around him. This unity of mind and body creates reason in external presentation." (Kyuzo Mifune, "Canon of Judo: Principle and Technique", 1956)

"Be swift. The center of gravity follows the movement of body; as the center of gravity is the most important center of keeping stability, so if the center of gravity is lost. the body is naturally unbalanced. So always fix your mind and keep your body lightly, and move quickly when needed. fixing the center of gravity so instantly as to admit of no chance to the opponent." (Kyuzo Mifune, "Canon of Judo: Principle and Technique", 1956)

"In explaining Judo, often we say 'Gentleness often controls sturdness' (as 'Ju' or Yawara implies tenderness) : Judo shows free mental-attitude created by gentle and elastic capability, physical and mental, which enables a player in face of emergency to change his position and act or avert a danger in accordance with the requirement of time and place given." (Kyuzo Mifune, "Canon of Judo: Principle and Technique", 1956)

"Judo objective is found in infinite sincerity naturally shown, and is in common with truth. mind and body. And this is universal life of nature. Everything in nature keeps or endeavors to keep stability in motion, and the human beings as one of them are not against reason. But man, having ability to think. judge. select and act. seeks to obtain stability in psychology and the law of nature." (Kyuzo Mifune, "Canon of Judo: Principle and Technique", 1956)

"The revolution of heavens and earth is carried on according to the laws of universe, and such laws correspond to nature. Nature exists without will; consistent with existence. nature is not against fidelity." (Kyuzo Mifune, "Canon of Judo: Principle and Technique", 1956)

"A sphere never loses its center, it moves swiftly without strain, and it does not resist force." (Kyuzo Mifune)

"Do not place hope in finding a secret technique. Polish the mind through ceaseless training; that is the key to effective techniques." (Kyuzo Mifune)

"The mind, if slackened even a little, will cause defeat, the same as fearing the opponent will make you unable to use full strength." (Kyuzo Mifune)

Week 2022-46: Lin Yutang - Collected Quotes

"A good traveler is one who does not know where he is going to, and a perfect traveler does not know where he came from."  (Lin Yutang, "The Importance of Living", 1937)

"After all, only he who handles his ideas lightly is master of his ideas, and only he who is master of his ideas is not enslaved by them. Seriousness, after all, is only a sign of effort, and effort is a sign of imperfect mastery." (Lin Yutang, "The Importance of Living", 1937)

"Now it must be taken for granted that simplicity of life and thought is the highest and sanest ideal for civilization and culture, that when a civilization loses simplicity and the sophisticated do not return to unsophistication, civilization becomes increasingly full of troubles and degenerates. Man then becomes the slave of the ideas, thoughts, ambitions and social systems that are his own product." (Lin Yutang, "The Importance of Living", 1937)

"Peace of mind is that mental condition in which you have accepted the worst." (Lin Yutang, "The Importance of Living", 1937)

"Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials." (Lin Yutang)

"Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence." (Lin Yutang)

"No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow." (Lin Yutang)

"Sometimes it is more important to discover what one cannot do, than what one can do." (Lin Yutang)

"This I conceive to be the chemical function of humor: to change the character of our thought." (Lin Yutang)

Week 2022-45: Ken Wilber - Collected Quotes

"The ultimate metaphysical secret, if we dare state it so simply, is that there are no boundaries in the universe. Boundaries are illusions, products not of reality but of the way we map and edit reality. And while it is fine to map out the territory, it is fatal to confuse the two." (Ken Wilber, "No Boundary: Eastern and Western Approaches to Personal Growth", 1979)

"Physics is the most fundamental, and least significant, of the sciences." (Ken Wilber, "Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution", 1995)

"Anybody can they say they are being "spiritual" — and they are, because everybody has some type and level of concern. Let us therefore see their actual conception, in thought and action, and see how many perspectives it is in fact concerned with, and how many perspectives it actually takes into account, and how many perspectives it attempts to integrate, and thus let us see how deep and how wide runs that bodhisattva vow to refuse rest until all perspectives whatsoever are liberated into their own primordial nature." (Ken Wilber, "The Eye of Spirit: An Integral Vision for a World Gone Slightly Mad", 1997)

"Spirit slumbers in nature, awakens in mind, and finally recognizes itself as Spirit in the transpersonal domains."  (Ken Wilber, "A Brief History of Everything", 1998)

"Truth, in the broadest sense, means being attuned with the real. To be authentically in touch with the true, and the good and the beautiful." (Ken Wilber, "A Brief History of Everything", 1998)

"These similarities would seem to suggest, among other things, that there are spiritual patterns at work in the universe, at least as far as we can tell, and these spiritual patterns announce themselves with impressive regularity wherever human hearts and minds attempt to attune themselves to the cosmos in all its radiant dimensions." (Ken Wilber, "An Integral Spirituality: A Startling New Role for Religion in the Modern and Postmodern World", 2007)

"Reality is a rich tapestry of interwoven levels, reaching from matter to body to mind to soul to spirit." (Ken Wilber)

"The modern West, after the enlightenment, became the first major civilization in the history of humanity to deny almost entirely the existence of the Great Nest (or chain) of Being. In its place was a 'flatland' conception of the universe as composed basically of matter (or matter/energy) and this material universe [...] could be studied by science and science alone." (Ken Wilber)

Week 2022-44: Frank Herbert - Collected Quotes

"A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process, must join it and flow with it." (Frank Herbert, "Dune", 1965)

"A system has order, flowing from point to point. If something dams that flow, order collapses. The untrained might miss that collapse until it was too late. That's why the highest function of ecology is the understanding of consequences." (Frank Herbert, "Dune", 1965)

"Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans as it is of gas molecules in a sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who do survive." (Frank Herbert, "Dune", 1965)

"Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic." (Frank Herbert, "Dune: The Prophet", 1965)

"Growth is limited by that necessity which is present in the least amount. And, naturally, the least favorable condition controls the growth rate." (Frank Herbert, "Dune", 1965)

"Proper teaching is recognized with ease. You can know it without fail because it awakens within you that sensation which tells you this is something you have always known." (Frank Herbert, "Dune", 1965)

"Scientists seek the lawfulness of events. It is the task of Religion to fit man into this lawfulness." (Frank Herbert, "Dune", 1965)

"The mind can go either direction under stress - toward positive or toward negative: on or off. Think of it as a spectrum whose extremes are unconsciousness at the negative end and hyperconsciousness at the positive end. The way the mind will lean under stress is strongly influenced by training." (Frank Herbert, "Dune", 1965)

"The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience." (Frank Herbert, "Dune", 1965)

"Learning a language represents training in the delusions of that language." (Frank Herbert, "The Bureau of Sabotage: Whipping Star", 1969)

"There are problems in this universe for which there are no answers." (Frank Herbert, "Dune Messiah", 1969)

"Whether a thought is spoken or not it is a real thing and has powers of reality." (Frank Herbert, "Dune Messiah", 1969)

"Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." (Frank Herbert, "Children of Dune", 1976)

"All proofs inevitably lead to propositions which have no proof! All things are known because we want to believe in them." (Frank Herbert, "Children of Dune", 1976)

"It must certainly be more dangerous to live in ignorance than to live with knowledge." (Frank Herbert, "The White Plague", 1982)

"Memory never recaptures reality. Memory reconstructs. All reconstructions change the original, becoming external frames of reference that inevitably fall short." (Frank Herbert, "Heretics of Dune", 1983)

"Technology is both a tool for helping humans and for destroying them. This is the paradox of our times which we're compelled to face." (Frank Herbert, [interview with Tim O'Reilly], 1983)

"We never completely escape the teachers of our childhood nor any of the patterns that formed us." (Frank Herbert, "Heretics of Dune", 1983)

"Dangers lurk in all systems. Systems incorporate the unexamined beliefs of their creators. Adopt a system, accept its beliefs, and you help strengthen the resistance to change." (Frank Herbert, "God Emperor of Dune", 1984)

"History is a constant race between invention and catastrophe." (Frank Herbert, "God Emperor of Dune", 1984)

"The truth always carries the ambiguity of the words used to express it." (Frank Herbert, "God Emperor of Dune", 1984)

"What do such machines really do? They increase the number of things we can do without thinking. Things we do without thinking - there's the real danger." (Frank Herbert, "God Emperor of Dune", 1984)

"Clinging to any form of conservatism can be dangerous. Become too conservative and you are unprepared for surprises. You cannot depend on luck. Logic is blind and often knows only its own past. Logic is good for playing chess but is often too slow for the needs of survival." (Frank Herbert, "Chapterhouse: Dune", 1985)

"Intelligence takes chances with limited data in an arena where mistakes are not only possible but also necessary." (Frank Herbert, "Chapterhouse: Dune", 1985)

"Order generally was a product of human activity. Chaos existed as a raw material from which to create order." (Frank Herbert, "Chapterhouse: Dune", 1985)

"Education is no substitute for intelligence. That elusive quality is defined only in part by puzzle-solving ability. It is in the creation of new puzzles reflecting what your senses report that you round out the definitions." (Frank Herbert, "Chapterhouse: Dune", 1985)

"The thing the ecologically illiterate don't realize about an ecosystem is that it's a system. A system! A system maintains a certain fluid stability that can be destroyed by a misstep in just one niche." (Frank Herbert, "Dune: House Atreides", 1999)

"Life - all life - is in the service of life. Necessary nutrients are made available to life by life in greater and greater richness as the diversity of life increases. The entire landscape comes alive, filled with relationships and relationships within relationships." (Frank Herbert, "Dune: House Corrino", 2001)

Week 2022-43: Blaise Pascal - Collected Quotes

"Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth." (Blaise Pascal, "Pensées", 1670)

"Education produces natural intuitions, and natural intuitions are erased by education." (Blaise Pascal, "Pensées", 1670)

"Man is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges and the infinity in which he is engulfed." (Blaise Pascal, "Pensées", 1670)

"Nature is an infinite sphere of which the center is everywhere and the circumference nowhere." (Blaise Pascal, "Pensées", 1670)

"Symmetry is what we see at a glance; based on the fact that there is no reason for any difference, and based also on the face of man; whence it happens that symmetry is only wanted in breadth, not in height or depth." (Blaise Pascal, "Pensées", 1670)

"Take away probability, and you can no longer please the world; give probability, and you can no longer displease it." (Blaise Pascal, "Thoughts", 1670)

"We know that there is an infinite, and we know not its nature. As we know it to be false that numbers are finite, it is therefore true that there is a numerical infinity. But we know not of what kind; it is untrue that it is even, untrue that it is odd; for the addition of a unit does not change its nature; yet it is a number, and every number is odd or even (this certainly holds of every finite number). Thus, we may quite well know that there is a God without knowing what He is." (Blaise Pascal, "Pensées", 1670)

"We see neither justice nor injustice which does not change its nature with change in climate. Three degrees of latitude reverse all jurisprudence: a meridian decides the truth." (Blaise Pascal, "Pensées", 1670)

"What is man in nature? A Nothing in comparison with the Infinite, an All in comparison with the Nothing, a mean between nothing and everything. Since he is infinitely removed from comprehending the extremes, the end of things and their beginning are hopelessly hidden from him in an impenetrable secret; he is equally incapable of seeing the Nothing from which he was made, and the Infinite in which he is swallowed up." (Blaise Pascal, "Pensées", 1670) 

"The eternal silence of these infinite spaces terrifies me." (Blaise Pascal)

"We are generally more effectually persuaded by reasons we have ourselves discovered than by those which have occurred to others." (Blaise Pascal)

Week 2022-42: Immanuel Kant - Collected Quotes

"God put a secret art into the forces of Nature so as to enable it to fashion itself out of chaos into a perfect world system." (Immanuel Kant, "Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens", 1755)

"It is presumed that there exists a great unity in nature, in respect of the adequacy of a single cause to account for many different kinds of consequences." (Immanuel Kant, "Theoretical Philosophy", 1755-1770)

"The sublime must always be great; the beautiful can also be small. The sublime must be simple; the beautiful can be adorned or ornamented. A great height is just as sublime as a great depth, except that the latter is accompanied with the sensation of shuddering, the former with one of wonder. Hence the latter feeling can be the terrifying sublime, and the former the noble." (Immanuel Kant, "Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime", 1764)

"All thought must, directly or indirectly, by way of certain characters, relate ultimately to intuitions, and therefore, with us, to sensibility, because in no other way can an object be given to us." (Immanuel Kant, "Critique of Pure Reason", 1781)

"Our knowledge springs from two fundamental sources of the mind; the first is the capacity of receiving representations (receptivity for impressions), the second is the power of knowing an object through these representations (spontaneity [in the production] of concepts)." (Immanuel Kant, "Critique of Pure Reason", 1781)

"There can be no doubt that all our knowledge begins with experience." (Immanuel Kant, "Critique of Pure Reason", 1781)

"Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind. The understanding can intuit nothing, the senses can think nothing. Only through their unison can knowledge arise." (Immanuel Kant, "Critique of Pure Reason", 1781)

"Happiness is not an ideal of reason but of imagination." (Immanuel Kant, "Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Ethics", 1785)

"Each according to his own way of seeing things, seek one goal, that is gratification." (Immanuel Kant, "Critique of Judgment", 1790)

"We assume a common sense as the necessary condition of the universal communicability of our knowledge, which is presupposed in every logic and every principle of knowledge that is not one of skepticism." (Immanuel Kant, "Critique of Judgment", 1790)

"One says of a person who has travelled much, that he has seen the world. to the knowledge of the world than just seeing it. Whoever wants to must draw up a plan beforehand and must not just regard the world senses." (Immanuel Kant, "Physische Geographie" [Physical Geography], 1802)

"[…] there is a God precisely because Nature itself, even in chaos, cannot proceed except in an orderly and regular manner." (Immanuel Kant)

Week 2022-41: Edgar Cayce - Collected Quotes

"Actually, we have no problems - we have opportunities for which we should give thanks [...] An error we refuse to correct has many lives. It takes courage to face one's own shortcomings and wisdom to do something about them." (Edgar Cayce)

"Healing of the physical without the change in the mental and spiritual aspects brings little real help to the individual in the end. How true, because the mind and the body imprint and imitate each other. What we think, we become. What we become, we think. It's an insidious process that can predispose us to illness or it can lead us to health." (Edgar Cayce)

"Individuals do not meet by chance. They are necessary in the experiences of others, though they may not always use their opportunities in a spiritual way or manner." (Edgar Cayce)

"It is the rhythmic form in which the mind tends to perceive monotonously repeated stimulation. That's why we pray and why we should also pray audibly, because the sound stimulates the ability to awaken our senses, in order to arouse the forces which will strengthen the psychic abilities within." (Edgar Cayce)

"Mind is indeed the Builder [...] what is held in the act of mental vision becomes a reality in the material experience. We are gradually builded to that image created within our own mental being." (Edgar Cayce)

"Since karma is meeting self, we acquire karma as we meet self in our many attitudes and emotions; when we serve in loving kindness and patience or hold resentful malicious thoughts What we do to our fellow man we do to our Maker our karma or problem is within self." (Edgar Cayce)

"The purpose of the heart is to know yourself, to be yourself, and yet one with God." (Edgar Cayce)

"What Is Meditation? It is not musing, not daydreaming; but as ye find you bodies made up of the physical, mental and spiritual, it is the attuning of the mental body and the physical body to its spiritual source." (Edgar Cayce)