Quotes About Wisdom

Don't try to make them happy, you'll only get in trouble. Don't try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it irritates the pig.

Sinners often speak the truth. And saints have led people astray. Examine what is said, not the one who says it.

What is love?"; "The total absence of fear," said the Master; "What is it we fear?"; "Love," said the Master.

A story is the shortest distance between a human being and truth.

Do not speak unless you can improve on the silence.

People don't really want to grow up, people don't really want to change, people don't really want to be happy. As someone so wisely said to me, "Don't try to make them happy, you'll only get in trouble. Don't try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it irritates the pig.

I lack the Lord's own gentleness of heart, for I see deliberate malice where he sees ignorance and weakness.

How does one cope with evil? Not by fighting it but by understanding it. In understanding, it disappears. How does one cope with darkness? Not with one's fist. You don't chase darkness out of the room with a broom, you turn on a light. The more you fight darkness, the more real it becomes to you, and the more you exhaust yourself. But when you turn on the light of awareness, it melts.

To know reality you have to know beyond knowing.

The one thing you need most of all is the readiness to learn something new. The chances that you will wake up are in direct proportion to the amount of truth you can take without running away.

True tolerance only arises from a keen awareness of the abysmal ignorance of everyone as far as truth is concerned.

EAT YOUR OWN FRUIT A disciple once complained, "You tell us stories, but you never reveal their meaning to us." Said the master, "How would you like it if someone offered you fruit and masticated it before giving it to you?" No one can find your meaning for you. Not even the master.

Said a disciple, 'I don't trade my love for money.' Said the Master, 'isn't itas bad - or worse - that you trade it for love?

You want freedom? Here it is: Drop your false ideas. See through people. If you see through yourself, you will see through everyone. Then you will love them. Otherwise you spend the whole time grappling with your wrong notions of them, with your illusions that are constantly crashing against reality.

To fight evil with activity is like fighting darkness with one's hands. So what you need is light, not fit.

And how about you? Do you want to understand and play the game of life or fool around with miracles?

As the Japanese Zen masters say, "Don't seek the truth; just drop your opinions.

Because agreement and disagreement have to do with words and concepts and theories. They don't have anything to do with truth. Truth is never expressed in words. Truth is sighted suddenly, as a result of a certain attitude.

Recall those lovely words of Buddha when he said, "Monks and scholars must not accept my words out of respect, but must analyze them the way a goldsmith analyzes gold—by cutting, scraping, rubbing, melting.

Let the story do its work in you, and when it is done then you won't need the story anymore.

Is there anything I can do to make myself enlightened? As little as you can do to make the sun rise in the morning. Then of what use are the spiritual exercises you prescribe? To make sure you are not asleep when the sun begins to rise.

A story is the shortest distance between a human being and the truth.

That's what spirituality is all about, you know: unlearning. Unlearning all the rubbish they taught you.

As one man said, "I got a pretty good education. It took me years to get over it.