"If you go home with somebody, and they don't have books, don't fuck 'em!"
— John Waters

"I've had it with being nice, understanding, fair and hopeful. I feel like being negative all day. The chip on my shoulder could sink the QE2. I've got an attitude problem and nobody better get in my way...I'm in a bad mood and the whole stupid little world is gonna pay!"
— John Waters

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day
listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across
the sky, is hardly a waste of time.
"
— Sir John Lubbock

"If you go home with someone and they don't have books, don't fuck them."
— John Waters

"To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter... to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring - these are some of the rewards of the simple life. "
— John Burroughs

"Eventually the Woodsman spoke. ‘We all have our routines,’ he said softly. ‘But they must have a purpose and provide an outcome that we can see and take some comfort from, or else they have no use at all. Without that, they are like the endless pacings of a caged animal. If they are not madness itself, then they are a prelude to it.’

The Woodsman stood and showed David his axe.

‘See here,’ he said, pointing with his finger at the blade. Every morning, I make certain that me axe is clean and keen. I look to my house and check that its windows and doors remain secure. I tend to my land, disposing of weeds and ensuring that the soil is watered. I walk through the forest, clearing those paths that need to be kept open. Where trees have been damaged, I do my best to repair what has been harmed. these are my routines and I enjoy doing them well.’

He laid a hand gently on David’s shoulder, and David saw understanding in his face. ‘Rules and routines are good, but they must give you satisfaction. Can you truly say you gain that from touching and counting?’

David shook his head. ‘No,’ he said, ‘but I get scared when I don’t do them. I’m afraid of what might happen.’

‘Then find routines that allow you to feel secure when they are done. You told me that you have a new brother: look to him each morning. Look to your father, and your stepmother. Tend to the flowers in the garden, or in the pots upon the window sill. Seek others who are weaker than you are, and try to give them comfort where you can. Let these be your routines, and the rules that govern your life."
— John Connolly (The Book of Lost Things)

"Sometimes I wish I was a woman, just so I could have an abortion.
John Waters"
— John Waters

"[According to 1348 theorists, poisoning of Christian water by Jews was the cause of Black Death.]

Even the poison used to contaminate the Christian water supply was described in meticulous detail. It was "about the size of an egg," except when it was the "size of a nut" or a "large nut," "a fist" or "two fists"- and it came packaged in "a leather pouch," except when it was packaged in "linen cloth," "a rag," or a "paper coronet"; and the poison was variously made from lizards, frogs, and spiders- when it was not made from the hearts of Christians and from Holy Communion wafers."
— John Kelly (The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time)

"See, The streams of living waters,
Springing from eternal love,
Well supply thy sons and daughters
And all fear of want remove,
Who can faint, while such a river
Ever flows their thirst t' assuage?-
Grace, which like the Lord, the giver,
never fails from age to age."
— John Newton from his hymn "Glorious things of thee are Spoken

"Water is also one of the four elements, the most beautiful of God's creations. It is both wet and cold, heavy, and with a tendency to descend, and flows with great readiness. It is this the Holy Scripture has in view when it says, "And the darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." Water, then, is the most beautiful element and rich in usefulness, and purifies from all filth, and not only from the filth of the body but from that of the soul, if it should have received the grace of the Spirit."
— John of Damascus

""You can't commit a crime while you are reading a book""
— John Waters

"We need to make books cool again. If you go home with somebody and they don’t have books, don’t fuck them."
— John Waters

"Dr. Syngmann: I am talking about the only quality that was worth creating the world for, the only power that is worth controlling.

Pastor Jon: Ua?

Dr. Syngmann in a tired, gravelly bass: I hear you mention once more that name which is no name. I know you blame me; I blame myself. Ua was simply Ua. There was nothing I could do about it. I know you have never recovered from it, John. Neither have I.

Pastor Jon: That word could mean everything and nothing, and when it ceased to sound, it was as if all other words had lost their meaning. But it did not matter. It gradually came back.

Dr. Syngmann: Gradually came back? What did?

Pastor Jon: Some years ago, a horse was swept over the falls to Godafoss. He was washed ashore, alive, onto the rocks below. The beast stood there motionless, hanging his head, for more than twenty-four hours below this awful cascade of water that had swept him down. Perhaps he was trying to remember what life was called. Or he was wondering why the world had been created. He showed no signs of ever wanting to graze again. In the end, however, he heaved himself onto the riverbank and started to nibble.

Dr. Syngmann: Only one thing matters, John: do you accept it?

Pastor Jon: The flower of the field is with me, as the psalmist said. It isn't mine, to be sure, but it lives here; during the winter it lives in my mind until it resurrects again.

Dr. Syngmann: I don't accept it, John! There are limits to the Creator's importunacy. I refuse to carry this universe on my back any longer, as if it were my fault that it exists.

Pastor Jon: Quite so. On the other hand, I am like that horse that was dumbfounded for twenty-four hours. For a long time I thought I could never endure having survived. Then I went back to the pasture. "
— Halldór Kiljan Laxness (Under the Glacier)

"For Equilibrium, a Blessing:
Like the joy of the sea coming home to shore,
May the relief of laughter rinse through your soul.

As the wind loves to call things to dance,
May your gravity by lightened by grace.

Like the dignity of moonlight restoring the earth,
May your thoughts incline with reverence and respect.

As water takes whatever shape it is in,
So free may you be about who you become.

As silence smiles on the other side of what's said,
May your sense of irony bring perspective.

As time remains free of all that it frames,
May your mind stay clear of all it names.

May your prayer of listening deepen enough
to hear in the depths the laughter of god."
— John O'Donohue (To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Invocations and Blessings)

"If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher."
— Pema Chödrön

"People get into a heavy-duty sin and guilt trip, feeling that if things are going wrong, that means that they did something bad and they are being punished. That's not the idea at all. The idea of karma is that you continually get the teachings that you need to open your heart. To the degree that you didn't understand in the past how to stop protecting your soft spot, how to stop armoring your heart, you're given this gift of teachings in the form of your life, to give you everything you need to open further."
— Pema Chödrön

"Buddhism holds that everything is in constant flux. Thus the question is whether we are to accept change passively and be swept away by it or whether we are to take the lead and create positive changes on our own initiative. While conservatism and self-protection might be likened to winter, night, and death, the spirit of pioneering and attempting to realize ideals evokes images of spring, morning, and birth."
— Daisaku Ikeda

""Without inner peace, outer peace is impossible. We all wish for world peace, but world peace will never be acheived unless we first establish peace within our own minds. We can send so-called 'peacekeeping forces' into areas of conflict, but peace cannot be oppossed from the outside with guns. Only by creating peace within our own mind and helping others to do the same can we hope to achieve peace in this world.""
— Geshe Kelsang Gyatso (Transform Your Life: A Blissful Journey)

"***

here's an example: someone says, "master, please hand me the knife," and he hands them the knife, blade first. "please give me the other end," he says. and the master replies, "what would you do with the other end?" this is answering an everyday matter in terms of the metaphysical.

when the question is, "master, what is the fundamental principle of buddhism?" then he replies, "there is enough breeze in this fan to keep me cool." that is answering the metaphysical in terms of the everyday, and that is, more or less, the principle zen works on. the mundane and the sacred are one and the same."
— Alan Wilson Watts (What Is Zen?)

"If while on your way you meet no one your equal or better, steadily continue on your way alone. There is no fellowship with fools."
— Dhammapada, v. 61

"A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but if he is peaceful, loving and fearless then he is in truth called wise."
— Siddhārtha Gautama (The Dhammapada: The Sayings of the Buddha)

"I'd like to divide
myself in order to see,
among these mountains,
each and every flower
of every cherry tree."
— Saigyo

"We live thinking I am right, I am wise. Herein lies the cause of human delusion."
— Ko Kamei

"Now seen...now gone,
The butterfly flits in and out
Through fence-hung flowers;
But a life lived so close to them
I envy...though it's here and gone."
— Saigyo (Mirror for the Moon)

"'Emotional states are fairly quick bursts of neuronal gossip. Traits, on the other hand, are more like the neuronal equivalent of committed relationships.'"
— Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

"In the end
these things matter most:
How well did you love?
How fully did you live?
How deeply did you let go?"
— Siddhārtha Gautama

"Christianity and Buddhism are a lot alike, especially Buddhism."
— C.S. Lewis

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him."
— Siddhārtha Gautama