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Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.
— Lao Tzu
Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.
We have the tendency to run away from suffering and to look for happiness. But, in fact, if you have not suffered, you have no chance to experience real happiness.
Happiness is just another of the tricks that our genetic system plays on us to carry out its only role, which is the survival of the species.
Remember that what pulls the strings is the force hidden within; there lies the power to persuade, there the life,—there, if one must speak out, the real man.
Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.
Even if loving meant leaving, or solitude, or sorrow, love was worth every penny of its price.
It would scarcely be acceptable, for example, to ask in the course of an ordinary conversation what our society holds to be the purpose of work.
No, I never saw an angel, but it is irrelevant whether I saw one or not. I feel their presence around me.
Tell me, he said, "What is this thing about time? Why is it better to be late than early? People are always saying, we must wait, we must wait. what are they waiting for?"
Do not try to explain feelings. Live everything intensely and treasure what you feel as a gift from God.
Love is much like a dam: if you allow a tiny crack to form through which only a trickle of water can pass, that trickle will quickly bring down the whole structure, and soon no one will be able to control the force of the current. For when those walls come down, then love takes over, and it no longer matters what is possible or impossible; it doesn't even matter whether we can keep the loved one at our side. To love is to lose control.
Fires can't be made with dead embers, nor can enthusiasm be stirred by spiritless men. Enthusiasm in our daily work lightens effort and turns even labor into pleasant tasks.
We have all had the experience of finding that our reactions and perhaps even our deeds have denied beliefs we thought were ours.
The two powers which in my opinion constitute a wise man are those of bearing and forbearing.
I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.
