Quotes from Veronique Vienne

Cats know everything there is to know about meditation.

The only difference between an extraordinary life and an ordinary one is the extraordinary pleasures you find in ordinary things.

To be enlightened is to know oneself and not run away.

Book your life choices in advance the same way you would book flights, car rentals, hotels, and excursions. Figure out early on in your career whether you intend to be financially independent or marry a rich man, join the ranks of the professional elite or be the stay-at- home type, postpone having children or find part-time employment. Then fasten your seat belt and sit tight as you watch your trajectory veer off course.

In America, we believe that our happiness depends on getting breaks, even though being American is already the biggest break we will ever get.

The secret of surviving housework is simply to do it. Pull the plug on the part of your brain that always wants to negotiate everything. You need to change a diaper, rinse a bottle, clean a spill, fluff a pillow? Consider it done. It's a no-brainer. End of conversation. End of story. Not postponing chores-and not spending any mental energy equivocating, temporizing, or stalling-is actually a lot more restful than worrying about what needs to be done.

Are we alone? Over time, you will come up with various answers to that same nagging question. Eventually one day it will occur to you that this endless asking is the answer you have been looking for. The fact that we have an ongoing dialogue with the universe is proof enough that there is "something" out there.

To be enlightened is to know oneself and not run away.

The siren that is this city speaks to us insistently even after we've moved away. She belongs to us, truly, and to each in a different way. Paris nous appartient.

Living in Paris is "priceless," but it will cost you. It ain't cheap, yet it is one of the greatest bargains on earth. In our day and age, there are only two ways to get free of money worries: either accumulate wealth, lots of it, or move to Paris.

Military parades roll down the Champs-Elysees, but pedestrians stroll up ["East Meets West on the Champs-Elysees," Metropolis , March 2006, p73]

The things one wants the most are not things after all.

The only difference between an extraordinary life and an ordinary one is the extraordinary pleasures you find in ordinary things.

How come no one ever warned you that life would be fraught with mixed messages? That success, for example, is just another word for a lot more work? That what's called freedom is only the right to do what's allowed? And you'd derive a lot more pride from your friend's achievements than from your own?

Don't hold your breath any longer: Perfect moments happen every day

The magic wand that can spread fairy dust on everything you hear, touch, and see is called attention.