Rigidity Quotes

“If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Moving, be like water. Still, be like a mirror. Respond like an echo.”
― Bruce Lee, Tao of Jeet Kune Do

“Disorder is inherent in stability. Civilized man doesn't understand stability. He's confused it with rigidity. Our political and economic and social leaders drool about stability constantly. It's their favorite word, next to 'power.'

'Gotta stabilize the political situation in Southeast Asia, gotta stabilize oil production and consumption, gotta stabilize student opposition to the government' and so forth.

Stabilization to them means order, uniformity, control. And that's a half-witted and potentially genocidal misconception. No matter how thoroughly they control a system, disorder invariably leaks into it. Then the managers panic, rush to plug the leak and endeavor to tighten the controls. Therefore, totalitarianism grows in viciousness and scope. And the blind pity is, rigidity isn't the same as stability at all.

True stability results when presumed order and presumed disorder are balanced. A truly stable system expects the unexpected, is prepared to be disrupted, waits to be transformed.”
― Tom Robbins, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

“Obviously, a rigid, blinkered, absolutist world view is the easiest to keep hold of, whereas the fluid, uncertain, metamorphic picture I've always carried about is rather more vulnerable. Yet I must cling with all my might to … my own soul; must hold on to its mischievous, iconoclastic, out-of-step clown-instincts, no matter how great the storm. And if that plunges me into contradiction and paradox, so be it; I've lived in that messy ocean all my life. I've fished in it for my art. This turbulent sea was the sea outside my bedroom window in Bombay. It is the sea by which I was born, and which I carry within me wherever I go.”
― Salman Rushdie

“I lose faith in mathematics, logical and rigid. What with those that even zero doesn’t accept?”
― Dejan Stojanovic, The Shape

“Sonnet 1480

If you can't say anything but
my religion says this,
my religion says that,
I got no interest in hearing you.

If you can't say anything but
science says this,
science says that,
I got no interest in hearing you.

If you can't say anything but
philosophy says this,
philosophy says that,
I got no interest in hearing you.

If you can't say anything but
psychology says this,
psychology says that,
I got no interest in hearing you.

If you can't utter a single word
without parroting second-hand thought,
my phone deserves more attention than you.
But grow up and muster one original idea,
I'll put aside my writing to listen to you.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Dervis Vadisi: 100 Promissory Sonnets

“Dead Men's Tale (The Sonnet)

They say, time and tide wait for none,
Lest the bird learns it can fly.
The best way to control apes is,
To make them feel guilty for their light.

They say, dead men tell no tale, and yet,
We live our lives based on dead men's tale.
It is okay to tell tales if it enhances sight,
But not the kind that produces a walking hell.

There is no divide when we are alive,
Divisions exist only in kingdom of the dead.
We are divided because we are dead,
Come to life, and all divides will be deleted.

Let us write a new tale with the spirit of life.
Instead of celebrating death,
let's celebrate each other's light.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“Consciousness not Compost (The Sonnet)

Owning brand new devices counts for nothing,
if your mind belongs brutally to the stoneage.
It's okay to carry trinkets as heirloom,
but consciousness is no object of heritage.

To make heritage out of consciousness
is to make garbage out of consciousness.
To make tradition out of stagnation
is to make fertilizer out of living veins.

What's in your head, fervor or fertilizer!
What are you, consciousness or compost!
Buy some flowers for your ancestral graves,
but never become compost to get their praise!”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Divine Refugee

“In a world of flexible spine and rigid mind, muster an unbending spine with expanding mind.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Neurosonnets: The Naskar Art of Neuroscience

“Let them hate their head off,
seeds of heart are already planted.
Apes throw tantrum when they are insecure,
pursuit of delusion soothes the vegetated.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Kral Fakir: When Calls The Kainat

“Rigidity can lead to vulnerability, flexibility allows for adaption to life changing circumstances.”
― Aloo Denish Obiero

“Defend principle, not prejudice.
Support reformation, not rigidity.
Be responsible, not reckless.
Support correction, not conformity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yüz Şiirlerin Yüzüğü (Ring of 100 Poems, Bilingual Edition): 100 Turkish Poems with Translations

“Know your roots, know your nature,
Step out of your tribal stretcher.
You got a mind full of atomic light,
Where did you lose your himalayan vigor!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tum Dunya Tek Millet: Greatest Country on Earth is Earth

“We look for roots in dead men's custom, while we should be looking among the living.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“They say, dead men tell no tale, and yet, we live our lives based on dead men's tale.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“To learn from yesterday is growth,
To be stuck in yesterday is decay.
To look for a better future is vision,
To be stuck there only causes dismay.

Glance at the past, aim for the future,
But keep your feet grounded in present.
Learn from history, envision the destiny,
‘N dive in today with your sweat valiant.

Memory is meant to give you ground,
Not to impede in your prosperity.
Vision is to embolden your footsteps,
Not to disconnect you from reality.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Honor He Wrote: 100 Sonnets For Humans Not Vegetables

“To make heritage out of consciousness
is to make garbage out of consciousness.
To make tradition out of stagnation
is to make fertilizer out of living veins.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Divine Refugee

“What's in your head, fervor or fertilizer!
What are you, consciousness or compost!
Buy some flowers for your ancestral graves,
but never become compost to get their praise!”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Divine Refugee

“To make tradition out of stagnation is to make fertilizer out of living veins.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Divine Refugee

“To make heritage out of consciousness
is to make garbage out of consciousness.
To make tradition out of stagnation
is to make fertilizer out of living veins.

What's in your head, fervor or fertilizer!
What are you, consciousness or compost!
Buy some flowers for your ancestral graves,
but never become compost to get their praise!”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Divine Refugee

“Resisting change is like holding your breath; eventually, you must let go to survive.”
― Aloo Denish Obiero

“Brain is there to think first, then take a side, but society teaches you to pick a side first, then think alike. In a world of flexible spine and rigid mind, muster an unbending spine with expanding mind.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Neurosonnets: The Naskar Art of Neuroscience

“Apes throw tantrum when they are insecure, pursuit of delusion soothes the vegetated.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Kral Fakir: When Calls The Kainat

“Blindness is boon to the savages.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The God Sonnets: Naskar Art of Theology

“I feel as though my brain is a room that I have decorated and furnished in preparation for a very specific event, and the change of plans is like someone breezing in and declaring that "actually it's not a Halloween party, it's a baby shower", and leaving me to readjust everything on my own.”
― Pierre Novellie, Why Can't I Just Enjoy Things?: A Comedian's Guide to Autism

“I try to remember:
rigid statements
tend to bring dichotomy,
while caring questions
are more likely
to bring unity”
― Emilyann Allen

“If left to tradition, every mind
is a septic tank of superstition.
But nourish it with heart and reason,
and mind is sanctuary of illumination.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Neurosonnets: The Naskar Art of Neuroscience

“Never apologize for standing tall, their rigidity doesn't make you wrong. Double down on your voice of existence, in ominous adversity be unleashed as dawn.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The God Sonnets: Naskar Art of Theology

“Reverence without revision isn't sanctity, it's stagnation.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“Master Corin had taught him that a good box should feel inevitable: as if the wood had always wanted to be exactly this shape.”
― Ronen Dancziger, The Boxmaker’s Apprentice

“We all have our lines that we are willing to cross. We get into a problem when we're unforgiving in any way. We offer no grace. That doesn't mean that I don't have lines that I draw, that if people cross it, I won't do. I do try to not be so rigid in the way that I think society has become.”
― Jon Stewart