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‘This elephant is too . . . sentimental. He does not want to be born. Comfort him. Tell him it’ll be all right; this world is not such a bad place.
instead of believing that the worst in humans can be found in God, believe that the best in God can be found in humans.’
‘When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.’
For now, grief was pickled and preserved, kept next to the salted meat and dried peppers in the cellars, to be partaken of in better times.
Those who surround themselves with grovellers who praise everything they do will not forgive the honest man who tells the truth.’
‘If you wish to excel at your craft, you have to convince the universe why it should be you rather than someone else.’
Masters are great but books are better. He who has a library has a thousand teachers.
Ignorant men think we are here to fight and make wars and to couple and have children. Nay, our job is to expand our knowledge. That’s why we’re here.’
‘You seem like a kind soul but your mind is confused. You are like a boat with two oarsmen rowing in separate directions. That means you have not found the centre of your heart yet.’
‘Stones stay still. A learner, never.’
there were three fountains of wisdom from which every artisan should drink abundantly: books, work and roads. Reading, practising and travelling.
We’re mortals. Decisions are sheep; habits, the shepherd.’
‘Greed puts gratitude to sleep.’
When anything blocked his course, he would flow under, around, above it, however he could; he found his way through the cracks, and kept flowing forward.
What difference did it make whether they were hurt or happy, right or wrong, when the sun rose and the moon waned just the same, with or without them?
Next to the vastness of the universe his heartbeat was inaudible.
‘Wisdom does not rain from the sky, it springs from the earth, from hard work,’
life was the sum of the choices one did not make; the paths yearned for but not taken.
In that moment a strange calmness came over him. He was, for the first time, at peace with himself. He was part of everything and everything was part of him. So this was it, he thought. Centre of the universe was neither in the East nor in the West. It was where one surrendered to love.
it wasn’t only happiness that he sought in life. He also yearned for the truth.
Having neither secrets nor expectations, he could stop railing at himself and be simply an observer, calm and unruffled – and free.
if human beings could only live more like animals, without a thought to the past or the future, and without rounds of lies and deceit, this world would be a more peaceful place, and perhaps a happier one.
