“A man does not really begin to be alive until he has lost himself, until he has released the anxious grasp which he normally holds upon his life, his property, his reputation and position.”
Existentialism · Letting-go · Self-discovery
“Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.”
Existentialism · Perspective · Philosophy · Suffering
“We seldom realize, for example that our most private thoughts and emotions are not actually our own. For we think in terms of languages and images which we did not invent, but which were given to us by our society.”
Cultural-influence · Identity · Mindfulness · Self-awareness
“The art of living... is neither careless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past on the other. It consists in being sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind open and wholly receptive.”
Mindfulness · Personal-growth · Wisdom
“Peace can be made only by those who are peaceful, and love can be shown only by those who love. No work of love will flourish out of guilt, fear, or hollowness of heart, just as no valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.”
Love · Peace · Personal-growth · Self-acceptance · Wisdom
“Real travel requires a maximum of unscheduled wandering, for there is no other way of discovering surprises and marvels, which, as I see it, is the only good reason for not staying at home.”
Adventure · Personal-growth · Travel · Wisdom
“Zen is a liberation from time. For if we open our eyes and see clearly, it becomes obvious that there is no other time than this instant, and that the past and the future are abstractions without any concrete reality.”
Mindfulness · Personal-growth · Philosophy · Wisdom · Zen
“The more a thing tends to be permanent, the more it tends to be lifeless.”
Personal-growth · Philosophy · Wisdom
“Problems that remain persistently insoluble should always be suspected as questions asked in the wrong way.”
Personal-growth · Problem-solving · Wisdom
“To look at life without words is not to lose the ability to form words - to think, remember, and plan. To be silent is not to lose your tongue. On the contrary, it is only through silence that one can discover something new to talk about. One who talked incessantly, without stopping to look and listen, would repeat himself ad nzauseam. It is the same with thinking, which is really silent talking. It is not, by itself, open to the discovery of anything new, for its only novelties are simply arrangements of old words and ideas.”
Mindfulness · Personal-growth · Self-acceptance · Wisdom
“For unless one is able to live fully in the present, the future is a hoax. There is no point whatever in making plans for a future which you will never be able to enjoy. When your plans mature, you will still be living for some other future beyond. You will never, never be able to sit back with full contentment and say, 'Now, I've arrived!' Your entire education has deprived you of this capacity because it was preparing you for the future, instead of showing you how to be alive now.”
Mindfulness · Personal-growth · Self-acceptance · Wisdom
“But you cannot understand life and its mysteries as long as you try to grasp it. Indeed, you cannot grasp it, just as you cannot walk off with a river in a bucket. If you try to capture running water in a bucket, it is clear that you do not understand it and that you will always be disappointed, for in the bucket the water does not run. To "have" running water you must let go of it and let it run.”
Personal-growth · Self-acceptance · Spirituality · Wisdom
“Don't be afraid. You're going to make it, but it's always going to feel as if you're not. That's the fun, you see!”
Motivation · Personal-growth · Wisdom
“The meaning of life is just to be alive.
It is so plain and so obvious and so simple.
And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic
as if it were necessary to achieve
something beyond themselves.”
Personal-growth · Self-acceptance · Wisdom
“No one is more dangerously insane than one who is sane all the time: he is like a steel bridge without flexibility, and the order of his life is rigid and brittle.”
Personal-growth · Self-acceptance · Wisdom
“No amount of anxiety makes any difference to anything that is going to happen.”
Personal-growth · Self-acceptance · Wisdom
