Quotes About Contemplation

Look for a long time at what pleases you, and a longer time at what pains you.

While it can be pleasurable to move speedily through a work of fiction, there's a different sort of pleasure to be had in lingering, backtracking, rereading the same page.

There are plenty of movies that you need to chew on a bit. Movies that you return to and see something different in the second time around.

I kind of love walking around with something nobody else knows about in my back pocket.

What is the poem, after it is written? That is the question. Not where it came from or why.

Poems are not read: they are reread. Reread the poem, then read between the lines, then look at it, then watch it, then peek at it: handle it like an object. Contemplate its shadows, angles and dimensions.

Poems are perfect for something to listen to while you're walking around because they don't take very long.

I read Rumi, the 13th-century Persian poet, every day.

In a way you can feel that the poet actually is looking over your shoulder, and you say to yourself, now, how would this go for him? Would this do or not?

All poets are idlers, even if all idlers are not poets.

Meditation is about breathing, it's about clarity, taking your time and not rushing through your thinking.

I realized, at a certain point, all my big people were dying. I couldn't see a clearer picture: what's the difference between me and him, of me being in a casket?

That's what my music is good for - clearing out the house and being alone.

I'm off to sit on a cliff.

I think most of us who live into our 50s have had a few experiences with death. You know, we see people we know start to die. We realize it's getting closer and closer for us.

I want to be lazier. This is the luxurious dream I have: Doing nothing all day, just watching the clouds and DVDs.

I've talked to my coaches, and I don't even know if I would go to 165. I might go to 175.

I'm quite sure there are other things that I could have done in life whether it's working for Humana, teaching in college, high school teacher. Coaching stuck.

When I started with 'Cocktail,' I was trying to figure out if this was something I wanted to do.

Once in a while, when I'm alone, I think about my age. I think, 'How many more years do I have on this earth?' But I can't really conceive of dying.

Before a match, I need to be alone. I need to reach concentration and focus on the game ahead of me.

Conscious thought is the tidying up at the end.

Everything we do is for the purpose of altering consciousness.

I relax by looking at things and reading about things. Even the simplest thing can reveal a great deal about the world around us. It relaxes me greatly to sit back with my feet up and look around my study at the everyday things that surround me.