We’re all fools; it’s just that a few people know it; others don’t.
The world is a school. Life is the only teacher. It offers many experiences, however experiences don’t alone bring wisdom and fulfillment. If they did, elderly people would all be happy, enlightened masters. The lessons of experience are hidden.
Everything you’ll ever need to know is within you. The secrets of the universe are in your biology.
You can understand many things, but have realized practically nothing.
Realization is three-dimensional. A comprehension of head, heart, and instinct. It comes only from direct experience
You have no knowledge of where anything is, or of what anything is, or how it can be. Life is a mystery. My ignorance is based on this understanding. That’s why I am a humorous fool.
Knowledge alone does not suffice; it has no heart. No amount of knowledge will nourish or sustain your spirit; it can never bring you happiness or peace. Life requires more than knowledge; it requires intense feeling and constant energy. Life demands right action if knowledge is to come alive.
The warrior acts. The fool only reacts.
You have even less time than you might imagine
The world is peopled with minds, searching for distraction and escape from the predicament of change, the dilemma of life and death. Minds seek purpose, security, and enjoyment trying to make sense of the mystery of life. Everyone lives a confused, bitter search. Reality never matches dreams; happiness is just around the corner – a corner never turned. The source of all of it is the human mind.
Mind is a slippery term like love. The proper definition depends on the state of your consciousness.
If you persist, you’ll remain yourself, and I can’t imagine a worse fate.
Words mean little unless you realize the truth of them yourself. And when you do, you’ll be free at last.
A warrior doesn’t seek pain, but if pain comes, he uses it.
Stop being so proud of mediocrity; show some spirit!
Nothing wrong with anger or any other emotion. Just pay attention to how you behave.
Anger is a powerful tool to transform old habits and replace them with new ones.
To rid yourself of old patterns, focus all your energy not on struggling with the old, but on building the new.
You don’t need to control emotion. Emotions are natural, like passing weather. Sometimes it’s fear, sometimes sorrow, or anger. Emotions are not the problem. The key is to transform the energy of emotion into constructive action.
It’s not your bad habits that count, but your good ones. That means your good habits must become so strong that they dissolve those which are not useful.
Proper posture is a way of blending with gravity. Proper attitude is a way of blending with life.
Neither resolutions nor understanding will ever make you strong. Resolutions have sincerity, logic has clarity; but neither has the energy you will need. Let anger and sadness strengthen your resolve.
There’s no praise and no blame on the path you’ve chosen. It’s time you blew into your own sails.
There can be kindness in criticisms, but you may miss them.
When you sit, sit. When you stand, stand. Whatever you do, don’t wobble.
Responsibility means recognizing both pleasure and price, action and consequence, then making a choice.
Just think of death as a transformation - a bit more radical than puberty, but nothing to get particularly upset about. It’s just one of the body’s changes. When it happens, it happens. The warrior neither seeks death nor flees from it.
Death is not sad; the sad thing is that most people don’t really live it all.
There are no ordinary moments.
An expert dedicates his life to his training with the purpose of winning competitions. Someday you may become a master. The master dedicates his training to life.
The peaceful warrior’s way is not about invulnerability, but absolute vulnerability - to the world, to life, and to the presence that you feel. A warrior’s life is not about imagined perfection or victory; it is about love. Love is the warrior’s sword; wherever it cuts, it gives life, not death.
Yes – laughter is good enough.
A warrior is not something you become. It is something you either are, in this moment, or something you are not. The way itself creates the warrior.
Consider your fleeting years. One day, you’ll discover that death is not what you might imagine; but then, neither is life. Either may be wondrous, filled with change; or, if you do not awaken, both may turn out to be a considerable disappointment.
Better never begin; once begun, better finish.
Your heart has been broken, broken open to reveal the gate, shining within. It’s the only place you haven’t looked. Open your eyes, you’ve almost arrived!
Everytime you look around – at the earth, the sky, the sun, the trees, the lakes, the streams – realize that it’s all you – no separation exists at all.