They say to me in their awakening, "You and the world you live in
are but a grain of sand upon the infinite shore of an infinite sea."
And in my dream I say to them, "I am the infinite sea, and all worlds
are but grains of sand upon my shore."
The Sphinx spoke only once, and the Sphinx said, "A grain of sand
is a desert, and a desert is a grain of sand; and now let us all
be silent again."
I heard the Sphinx, but I did not understand.
Give me silence and I will outdare the night.
How can I lose faith in the justice of life, when the dreams of
those who sleep upon feathers are not more beautiful than the
dreams of those who sleep upon the earth?
Paradise is there, behind that door, in the next room; but I have
lost the key.
Perhaps I have only mislaid it.
The reality of the other person is not in what he reveals to you,
but in what he cannot reveal to you.
Therefore, if you would understand him, listen not to what he says
but rather to what he does not say.
My loneliness was born when men praised my talkative faults and
blamed my silent virtues.
If winter should say, "Spring is in my heart," who would believe winter?
Every dragon gives birth to a St. George who slays it.
Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky. We fell them down
and turn them into paper that we may record our emptiness.
We often sing lullabyes to our children that we ourselves may sleep.
Love that does not renew itself every day becomes a habit and
in turn a slavery.
Generosity is not in giving me that which I need more than you do,
but it is in giving me that which you need more than I do.
Those who give you a serpent when you ask for a fish, may have
nothing but serpents to give. It is then generosity on their part.
A strange form of self-indulgence! There are times when I would be
wronged and cheated, that I may laugh at the expense of those who
think I do not know I am being wronged and cheated.
How often have I attributed to myself crimes I have never committed,
so that the other person may feel comfortable in my presence.
Perhaps a man may commit suicide in self-defense.
Oftentimes I have hated in self-defense; but if I were stronger I
would not have used such a weapon.
Strange that we all defend our wrongs with more vigor than we do
our rights.
They deem me mad because I will not sell my days for gold;
And I deem them mad because they think my days have a price.
How narrow is the vision that exalts the busyness of the ant
above the singing of the grasshopper.
A disagreement may be the shortest cut between two minds.
An exaggeration is a truth that has lost its temper.
Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking
less than you need.
Beauty shines brighter in the heart of him who longs for it
than in the eyes of him who sees it.
Said a skunk to a tube-rose, "See how swiftly I run, while you
cannot walk nor even creep."
Said the tube-rose to the skunk, "Oh, most noble swift runner,
please run swiftly!"
It is indeed misery if I stretch an empty hand to men and receive
nothing; but it is hopelessness if I stretch a full hand and find
none to receive.
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