Everyone post some favorite quotes!

[fatherpaul]

Timothy Wilken (Uncommon Science)

 

"Universe is not composed of "wholes", our Universe is not composed of "parts'.

 

Universe is composed of 'wholes-parts".' Wholes' and 'parts' are compliments. They compliment each other.

together they form a unity.

 

Universe wears the faces of Process, Action, Choice, Restraint, Hierarchy, Purpose, and Inclusion. All 'wholes-parts'. in 'space-time' have substance and form. The substance is 'matter-energy', and the form is order. Order is the struture, organization, and pattern of that matter-energy.

 

'Order' is as fundamental as 'space-time'--as fundamental as 'matter-enegry'. And,

order is the third fundamental of Nature"

 

Oh, BTW, when I looked up this quote on line to make sure I remembered it correctly, it was 3:33.

[Aunt Clair]

From Siddhartha ~ Herman Hesse ;

* Within you there is a sanctuary to which you can retreat ,at any time , and be yourself.

 

* Life is like the River , everything changes nothing remains the same , everything returns.

 

From Christ

* Happy are those who are called to this supper .

* Love one another as I have loved you .

 

From Buddha

* You are both a student and a teacher of all whom you meet upon your path

Edited April 23, 2007 by Aunt Clair

[Flynn]

"A war is not won if the defeated enemy has not been turned into a friend." - Erric Hoffer

 

"Justice will only exist where those not affected by injustice are filled with the same amount of indignation as those offended." - Plato

 

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." - Winston Churchill

 

"It is horrifying to think that we have to fight our own government to save the environment." - Ansel Adams

 

"What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut ditch of a free, meandering brook." - Henry David Thoreau

[Barry]

"(Meditation) supports are often likened to a raft. You need the raft to cross the river, to get to the other side; when you get over there you leave the raft behind. That is an interesting image, but in experience its more like the raft gives out on you in the middle of the river and you never really get to solid ground."

 

 

Pema Chodron

[myheadisbrokenwideopen]

"the stupidity of moral indignation is the unfailing sign in a philosopher that his philosophical sense of humor has left him." -nietzsche

 

"what appears to be the established order of present day civilization is actually only the inert but spectacular momentum of a high velocity vehicle whose engine has already stpped functioning." -arguelles

[beancurdturtle]

Well, it's not Eastern - but the following (one of my favorites) feels pretty "Dao" to me.

 

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

[fatherpaul]

"its easier to keep up than catch up"

anon.

[sean]

 

Golden rod and the 4-H stone

The things I brought you

When I found out you had cancer of the bone

 

Your father cried on the telephone

And he drove his car to the Navy yard

Just to prove that he was sorry

 

In the morning through the window shade

When the light pressed up against your shoulder blade

I could see what you were reading

 

Oh the glory that the lord has made

And the complications you could do without

When I kissed you on the mouth

 

Tuesday night at the bible study

We lift our hands and pray over your body

But nothing ever happens

 

I remember at Michael's house

In the living room when you kissed my neck

And I almost touched your blouse

 

In the morning at the top of the stairs

When your father found out what we did that night

And you told me you were scared

 

Oh the glory when you ran outside

With your shirt tucked in and your shoes untied

And you told me not to follow you

 

Sunday night when I cleaned the house

I find the card where you wrote it out

With the pictures of your mother

 

On the floor at the great divide

With my shirt tucked in and my shoes untied

I am crying in the bathroom

 

In the morning when you finally go

And the nurse runs in with her head hung low

And the cardinal hits the window

 

In the morning in the winter shade

On the first of March on the holiday

I thought I saw you breathing

 

Oh the glory that the lord has made

And the complications when I see his face

In the morning in the window

 

Oh the glory when he took our place

But he took my shoulders and he shook my face

And he takes and he takes and he takes

 

--- Sufjan Stevens

[pandit]

Trust to waht your heart will tell you, Far from heaven no sign comes

[林愛偉]

"Be the change you wish to see in the world."

 

--- Mahatma Ghandi

[iadnon]

In order to transcend the limitations of this world, you need to stop hating, stop willing, stop desiring. To conquer others is to have power, to conquer yourself is to know the way.

 

By Lao Ma, Xena's teacher and healer (in Xena, The Warrior Princess TV show)

 

I am who I shall be.

 

The Flaming Bush (Old Testament)

[zenbrook]

'Have you found the beginning, then, that you are looking for the end? You see, the end will be where the beginning is. Congratulations to the one who stands at the beginning: that one will know the end and will not taste death.'

 

Gospel of Thomas v.18

[buddabubba]

ok, here's where they go...

 

 

Very few beings really seek knowledge in this world. Few really ask. On the contrary, they try to wring from the unknown the answers they have already shaped in their own minds - justifications, confirmations, forms of consolation without which they cannot go on. To really ask is to open the door to the whirlwind.

 

- Rice

 

"Man is made or unmade by himself. In the armory of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself. He also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace."

 

~William James

 

Science is answers that must always be questioned.

 

Philosophy is questions that may never be answered.

 

Religion is answers that must never be questioned.

 

Politics is answers that lobbyists pay for.

 

- unknown

 

Knowledge is knowing the candle flame is hot.

 

Wisdom is knowing not to stick your finger in it...

 

- Chief Wannadubie

 

It is better to keep one's mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to open it and resolve all doubt.

 

- Abe Lincoln

 

It is a great misfortune to have neither the wit to speak well, nor the judgement to remain silent.

 

- La Bruyere

 

The empty vessel makes the greatest sound.

 

- Shakespeare

 

Men often make in wrath what they lack in reason.

 

- Alger

 

Strong and bitter words indicate a weak cause.

 

- V. Hugo

 

I am bound to furnish my antagonists with arguments, but not with comprehension.

 

- Disraeli

 

He who believes in nobody knows that he himself is not to be trusted.

 

- Averbach

 

I don't know the secret to success, but the key to failure is to try and please everyone.

 

- Bill Cosby

 

By your own thoughts you make or mar your life, your world your universe.

 

- Allen

 

For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

 

- Proverbs 23:7

 

A man is tommorow what he thinks today.

 

-Emerson

 

You will find either your best friend or your worst enemy in yourself.

 

- Unknown

 

Most of us can, if we choose, make this world either a palace or a prison.

 

- Lord Averbury

 

When we have learned to control our thoughts, our sympathies and our emotions, it will be an easy matter to control our circumstances.

 

- unknown

 

Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you are right.

 

- Henry Ford

 

Sow a thought and you reap an act.

Sow an act and you reap a habit.

Sow a habit and you reap a character.

Sow a character and you reap a destiny.

 

- unknown

 

We see with our mind

not with our eye

 

So many crawl

so few fly

 

Because they fail to See

and so fail to see

 

All that they are

and all they could be

 

Understanding everything

realizing nothing

 

Can you see past duality

and reach for totality?

 

Realizing Nothing

understanding Everything.

 

- buddabubba

 

The wind at midnight

Blowing faintly in the tree

Echoes in my mind.

 

-buddabubba

 

Iron rusts from disuse.

Stagnant water loses it purity.

Even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.

 

- Da Vinci

 

Success or failure

Triumph or defeat

are not 'out there'

They are right between you ears.

 

- Zig Ziglar

 

Absorb what is useful

Reject what is useless

Add what is essentially your own.

 

- Bruce Lee

 

To think you know something is a perfect barrier to learning.

 

-unknown

 

Believe those who are seeking the Truth.

Doubt those who find it.

 

- Andre Gide

 

The master said: "In vain I have looked for a single person capable of seeing his own faults and bringing the charge home against himself"

-unknown

 

Who does evil and is afraid of letting it be known has still a seed of good in his evil.

 

Who does good and is anxious for it to be known has still a seed of evil in his good.

- unknown

 

The more we study, the more we discover our ignorance.

 

- Shelly

 

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

 

- Albert Einstein

 

Let he that would move the World,

first move himself.

 

- Socrates

 

Everyone thinks of changing humanity

and no one thinks of changing himself.

 

- Leo Tolstoy

 

I beg you, do not be unchangable.

Do not believe that you alone can be right.

The man who thinks that,

The man who maintains that only he

has the power to reason correctly,

the gift to speak, the soul,

a man like that, when you know him,

turns out empty.

 

- Sophocles

 

Success in life is a matter not so much of talent or opportunity as of perseverance.

 

- C.W. Windle

 

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistance.

Talent will not, nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.

Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.

Education will not. The world is full of educated derilicts.

Persistance and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.

 

- Coolidge

 

He who is firm in will molds the world to himself.

 

- Goethe

 

In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins. Not through strength, but perseverance.

 

- unknown

 

Theres a difference between interest and commitment.

When you are interested in something, you do it only when circumstance permit. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.

 

- Art Turock

 

It is only through labor and prayerful efforts, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things.

 

- Roosevelt

 

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

 

- unknown

 

There have always been hard times. There have always been wars and troubles - famine, disease and such, and some are born with money, some with none. In the end, it is up to the man what he becomes, and none of those other things matter.

It is character that counts.

 

- Louis L'amour

 

If you stand up and are counted, you may get yourself knocked down. But remember this - a man flattened by an opponent can get up again. A man flattened by conformity stays down for good.

 

- T.J. Watson

 

I do the very best I know how, the very best I can, and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won't amount to anything.

 

- Lincoln

 

The span of a mans life, that is nothing.

But what a man makes of that span, that is something.

A man must make his own meaning for life, meaning is not automatically given to life.

 

- Chaim Potock

 

As I grow older, I pay less attention to what people say.

I just watch what they do...

 

- Andrew Carnegie

 

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.

 

- Lincoln

 

I do not know anyone who has gotten to the top without hard work. That is thge recipe.

 

-Margeret Thatcher

 

The difference between a truly successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.

 

- Vince Lombardi

 

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

 

- Helen Keller

 

Persistence overcomes resistance.

 

- unknown

A vast number of clergymen and laymen are perfectly satisfied. They have no doubts. They believe as their fathers and mothers did. The "scheme of salvation" suits them

because they are satisfied that they are embraced within its terms. They give themselves no trouble. They believe because they do not understand. They have no doubts because they do not think. They regard doubt as a thorn in the pillow of orthodox slumber.Their souls are asleep, and they hate only those who disturb their dreams.

 

- unknown

 

I do not feel obliged to believe that same God who endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect had intended for us to forego their use.

 

-Galileo

 

I find every sect, as far as reason will help them, make use of it gladly; and where it fails them, they cry out, it is a matter of faith, and above reason.

 

-John Locke

 

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do.

 

- Bertrand Russell

 

I believe I found the missing link between animal and civilized man. It is us.

 

- Konrad Lorenz

 

The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason. I have never used any other, and I trust I never shall.

 

- Thomas Paine

 

To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature,and it remains premature today.

 

- Isaac Asimov

 

Once there was a time when all people believed in God and the church ruled. This time is called the Dark Ages.

 

- Richard Lederer

 

To recognize that nature has neither a preference for our species nor a bias against it takes only a little courage

 

- James Randi

 

In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments - there are consequences.

 

- Robert G. Ingersoll

 

Those who invalidate reason ought seriously to consider whether they argue with reason or withour reason. If they argue with reason, then they establish the very principle they are laboring to dethrone. But if they argue without reason (which, in order to be consistent with themselves they must do), then they are out of reach of rational conviction, nor do they deserve a rational argument.

 

- Ethan Allen

 

If a man is to be called as a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted or Beethoven composed music. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say "Here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well".

 

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Few things are impossible to diligence and skill.

 

- S. Johnson

 

Impossible is a word only to be found in the dictionary of fools.

 

- Napolean

 

With most people, doubt about one thing is simply blind belief in another.

 

- G.C. Lichtenburg

 

We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it, and stop there, lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove lid again, and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore...

 

- Mark Twain

[Celtic Dragon]

Love conquers all things; let us too surrender to Love.

~ Virgil

 

The man/woman who has begun to live more seriously within begins to live more simply without.

~ Ernest Hemingway

 

Life must be understood backward. But it must be lived forward.

~ Soren Kierkegaard

 

The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man/woman.

~ Euripides

Edited July 1, 2007 by Celtic Dragon

[Mike Rambling]

Post #3 in this lengthy topic included a version of this lovely (but depressing) saying:

 

Only after the last tree has been cut down

Only after the last river has been poisoned

Only after the last fish has been caught

Then will you find that money cannot be eaten.

 

Inspired by it, I did a little digging and found that it's called the "Cree Prophecy". I've linked to Wikipedia's discussion of the subject.

[OnlyNow]

when the pupil is ready the master appears........... 'sri madhava, son of man'

 

truth repeated is no longer truth; it becomes truth again only when it has been realized by the speaker as an immediate experience........... 'aldous huxley'

 

we shall never be more in eternity than we are now 'christmas humphreys'

 

there is only now.....'onlynow'

 

foolish are they who turn their backs to the light and argue about the nature of the shadow in front .....'d t suzuki'

 

the shortest path to enlightenment is to stop thinking...............'onlynow'

 

there is no point in work

unless it absorbs you

like an absorbing game.

if it doesn't absorb you

if its never any fun, dont do it...............'d h lawrence'

 

dont take your thoughts too seriously ........... 'eckhart tolle'

[doc benway]

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children....

Native American

 

I can think, I can wait, I can fast.

Hesse; Siddhartha

 

Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn't anyone who doesn't appreciate kindness and compassion.

The Dalai lama

 

Steve

[mwight]

Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves.

Bill Hicks

 

1961-1994

_____________________________________________________________________________

"A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."

 

Albert Einstein

_____________________________________________________________________________

It is said that soon after his enlightenment the Buddha passed a man on the road who was struck by the Buddha's extraordinary radiance and peaceful presence. The man stopped and asked, "My friend, what are you? Are you a celestial being or a god?"

 

"No," said the Buddha.

 

"Well, then, are you some kind of magician or wizard?"

 

Again the Buddha answered, "No."

 

"Are you a man?"

 

"No."

 

"Well, my friend, then what are you?"

 

The Buddha replied, "I am awake."

Edited August 7, 2007 by mwight

[tripcomputer]

There is always the Master Executioner who kills.

To substitute for the Master Executioner in killing

Is like substituting for the Master Carpenter who carves.

Whoever substitutes for the Master Carpenter in carving,

Rarely escapes injury to his hands.

 

Ch. 74 - Tao Te Ching

 

"Lao Tzu's analogy in this passage...encompasses the damage that leaders will suffer when they exercise authority that does not reside either in themselves or in the organization. Any laws, restrictions, or punishments that inhibit the natural growth and independent development of the human mind will destroy both the organization and its leaders."

 

Commentary and Translation by R.L. Wing - The Tao of Power

 

[LDiR]

"The size of the man can best be determined by the size of what makes him angry."

 

 

and

 

 

"Pigs don't know pigs stink."

 

 

 

Attribution won't be necessary here as both of them are fairly frequently spoken in my household, I've always found their plain, but deep meanings to be particularly wonderful.

 

-LDiR

[ParkouRob]

From Dan Millman - Way of the Peaceful Warrior. (Also present in Anthony Robbins - Notes from a Friend)

 

An old man and his son worked a small farm, with only one horse to pull the plough. One day the horse ran away.

 

"How terrible," sympathised the neighbours. "What bad luck".

 

"Maybe", the farmer replied.

 

A week later, the horse returned from the mountains, leading five wild mares into the barn.

 

"What wonderful luck!" said the neighbours.

 

"Maybe", answered the old man.

 

The next day, the son, trying to tame one of the horses, fell and broke his leg.

 

"How terrible, what bad luck!" said the neighbours.

 

"Maybe", answered the old man.

 

The local warlord sent the army to all the farms to conscript all able bodied young men for war. The farmer's son was of no use to them, so he was spared.

 

"What wonderful luck!" said the neighbours.

 

"Maybe", answered the old man.

 

...

 

Just goes to show that what you originally perceive as a tragedy may end up being a blessing

[Procurator]

人人惑于妖妄邪淫

个个不知仙道正门

Edited November 12, 2007 by Procurator

[butterfly_dreamer]

"If you are going through HELL, keep going!"

- Sir Winston Churchill

 

While Daoist says,

 

"If you are going through HELL, where is HELL?"

[gendao]

The pleasure we obtain from music comes from counting, but counting unconsciously. Music is nothing but unconscious arithmetic. - Gottfried Leibniz

 

And this is because creation is composed of holy numbers and mathematical equations...

[EQi]

Let go of what may come

Let go of what is happening now

Don't try to figure anything out

Don't try to make anything happen

Relax, right now, and rest

 

Tilopa (988-1069)