Quotes About Impermanence

He thought to himself, I'll never be this perfect again, an idea that made him sad.

Within an atom there can be a billion kingdoms, endless. But all of them are bound by the cycle of birth and death. They all come into being for a while and then vanish.

For everything exists and not one sigh nor smile nor tear, one hair nor particle of dust, not one can pass away.

Nevertheless, 'stick lightly' they must, as 'possessions, situations and people' will keep slipping away and vanishing at a breathtaking speed whatever they do; whether they try to slow them down or not is neither here nor there. 'Let them go' they must (though, unlike Bill Gates, with hardly any pleasure), but whether they do it graciously or with a lot of wailing and teethgnashing is beside the point.

vivimos en una época de re-ciclaje en la que nada parece morir del todo, de la misma forma que nada, ni siquiera la vida eterna, parece destinado a durar para siempre.

Il tempo è ciò in grazia del quale ogni cosa, in ogni momento, diventa nulla nelle nostre mani.

have not got to where I vow to remember this. But we don't get to choose what sticks. How many times I have run my fingers along a picket fence and thought, "This! I will remember this moment always!" and all that remains is the memory of a desire to hold on to a memory. My uncle told me that every fall the dragonflies in Brazil return to the lake where they were born to touch down once more before dying. I have taken it on myself to remember this for him.

It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words, And this too, shall pass away. How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!

And this, too, shall pass away.

this too shall pass

With mindfulness you can see the real owner of things. Do you think this is your world, your body? It is the world's world, the body's body. If you tell it, Don't get old, does the body listen? Does your stomach ask permission to get sick? We only rent this house; why not find out who really owns it?

I know this glass is already broken, so I enjoy it incredibly.

For them, and for Homer, impermanence is life's central sorrow and the source of its most lasting pain.

But when I know that the glass is already broken, every minute with it is precious.

If we see everything as uncertain, then their I value fades away.

The Buddha told his disciple Ananda to see impermanence, to see death with every breath. We must know death; we must die in order to live. What does that mean? To die is to come to the end of our doubts, all our questions, and just be here with the present reality. You can never die tomorrow; you must die now. Can you do it? If you can do it, you will know the peace of no more questions.

Let death find us as we are building up our matchstick protests against its waves.

Our bodies smell, ache, sag, pulse, throb and age. They force us to fart and burp, and to abandon sensible plans in order to lie in bed with people, sweating and letting out intense sounds reminiscent of coyotes calling out to one another across the barren wastes of the American deserts. Our bodies hold our minds hostage to their whims and rhythms.

Considero la literatura (...) como un vasto país hacia las fronteras del cual viajo, pero a las que nunca llegaré. Y he empezado demasiado tarde. Nunca me podré poner al día.

The catchers delight in the moment so frozen but soon discover that the nightingale expires, its clear flutelike song diminishes to silence, the trapped moment grows withered and without life.

In our churches and synagogues and mosques, we pray to the everlasting and eternal. Yet, in every nook and cranny, nature screams at the top of her lungs that nothing lasts, that it is all passing away.

By connecting to nowhere you must in turn connect to everywhere, in the course of which becoming wise.  Nothing is permanent, but anything is possible.  Everything dies, yet beauty and joy endure. We are incredibly powerful and infinitely weak. Again and again these paradoxes repeat, like colors of yarn in an elaborate woven rug. There

What we possess is temporary, but what we become is permanent.

Draupadi learns that both vengeance and justice come at a price. Krishna asks her to forgive and let go. It is difficult. He holds her in his arms and gives her strength. Life is difficult and people are imperfect. Unable to cope with the vagaries of this world, everyone makes mistakes. True love is the ability to love people despite their mistakes.