Distrust in all whom the impulse to punish is powerful.

Our life is what our thoughts make it.

You were born an original. Don't die a copy.

To live happily is an inward power of the soul.

The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere.

He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.

Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies.

Love your enemies because they bring out the best in you.

A thought, even a possibility, can shatter and transform us.

Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil.

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.

Then what is freedom? It is the will to be responsible to ourselves.

There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy.

Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it.

To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.

How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.

What can everyone do? Praise and blame. This is human virtue, this is human madness.

Learn to... be what you are, and learn to resign with a good grace all that you are not.

How much time he saves who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks.

Character is determined more by the lack of certain experiences than by those one has had.

You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.

Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.

Everything that happens happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so.

We do not hate as long as we still attach a lesser value, but only when we attach an equal or a greater value.

Words are but symbols for the relations of things to one another and to us; nowhere do they touch upon absolute truth.

The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.

Great indebtedness does not make men grateful, but vengeful; and if a little charity is not forgotten, it turns into a gnawing worm.

Remorse.-- Never yield to remorse, but at once tell yourself: remorse would simply mean adding to the first act of stupidity a second.

We are too much accustomed to attribute to a single cause that which is the product of several, and the majority of our controversies come from that.

Here is the rule to remember in the future, When anything tempts you to be bitter: not, "This is a misfortune" but "To bear this worthily is good fortune."

Speaking generally, punishment hardens and numbs, it produces concentration, it sharpens the consciousness of alienation, it strengthens the power of resistance.

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.

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.


This city runs fast, no one has time to sit with themselves
No time to look into our pain or see the same despair in everyone else
its here, its there, its everywhere tears soak each card the dealers dealt
But time taught me how to see every second as heaven even though they're perfectly disguised as hell
And I refuse to let past bruises cover the light
it ain't all good, but its all good enough,
so I know I'm alright
agony is truth its our connection to the living I accept it as perfection and keep on existing in the now

...ear to ear as if that's all I'm here for
despite the wars founded by the rich, funded by the poor
kids barely 18 are dying so billionaires can make more
elsewhere hungry mothers watch their babies starve to death in a beat up shack on a dirt floor

Self proclaimed rebels say "We must oppose the system!"
"You gotta take a stand!" "If your not against them your with them!"
signs read "Support the troops bring em' home!" "No more innocent victims!"
but when a homeless veteran asks for spare change your to busy protesting to even listen
And I'm no different I live in conflict and contradiction but it can be so beautiful
when I don't reject what lies within
It's beautiful the way agony connects us to the living
I think of the world when I hurt, and keep on existing in the now...


Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.

Try to grasp the essence of what the great artists, the serious masters, say in their masterpieces, and you will again find God in them. One man has written or said it in a book, another in a painting.

Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.

Do you know what makes the prison disappear? Every deep, genuine affection. Being friends, being brothers, loving, that is what opens the prison, with supreme power, by some magic force. Without these one stays dead. But whenever affection is revived, there life revives.

When we are working at a difficult task and strive after a good thing, we are fighting a righteous battle, the direct reward of which is that we are kept from much evil. As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed.

The race of prophets is extinct. Europe is becoming set in its ways, slowly embalming itself beneath the wrappings of its borders, its factories, its law-courts and its universities. The frozen Mind cracks between the mineral staves which close upon it. The fault lies with your mouldy systems, your logic of 2 + 2 = 4. The fault lies with you, Chancellors, caught in the net of syllogisms. You manufacture engineers, magistrates, doctors, who know nothing of the true mysteries of the body or the cosmic laws of existence. False scholars blind outside this world, philosophers who pretend to reconstruct the mind. The least act of spontaneous creation is a more complex and revealing world than any metaphysics.

I think that everything that is really good and beautiful, the inner, moral, spiritual and sublime beauty in men and their works, comes from God, and everything that is bad and evil in the works of men and in men is not from God, and God does not approve of it. But I cannot help thinking that the best way of knowing God is to love many things. Love this friend, this person, this thing, whatever you like, and you will be on the right road to understanding Him better, that is what I keep telling myself. But you must love with a sublime, genuine, profound sympathy, with devotion, with intelligence, and you must try all the time to understand Him more, better and yet more. That will lead to God, that will lead to an unshakeable faith.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

The journey of one thousand miles begins with a single step.

If you see what is right and fail to act on it, you lack courage.

Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength.

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

When you see a good person, think of becoming like her/him. When you see someone not so good, reflect on your own weak points.

Because we all share this small planet earth, we have to learn to live in harmony and peace with each other and with nature. That is not just a dream, but a necessity.

Human happiness and human satisfaction must ultimately come from within oneself. It is wrong to expect some final satisfaction to come from money or from a computer.

When you meet someone better than yourself, turn your thoughts to becoming his equal. When you meet someone not as good as you are, look within and examine your own self.

It is very important to generate a good attitude, a good heart, as much as possible. From this, happiness in both the short term and the long term for both yourself and others will come.

Today we face many problems. Some are created essentially by ourselves based on divisions due to ideology, religion, race, economic status, or other factors. Therefore, the time has come for us to think on a deeper level, on the human level, and from that level we should appreciate and respect the sameness of others as human beings.

I feel that the essence of spiritual practice is your attitude toward others. When you have a pure, sincere motivation, then you have right attitude toward others based on kindness, compassion, love and respect. Practice brings the clear realisation of the oneness of all human beings and the importance of others benefiting by your actions.

Sincerity becomes apparent. From being apparent, it becomes manifest. From being manifest, it becomes brilliant. Brilliant, it affects others. Affecting others, they are changed by it. Changed by it, they are transformed. It is only he who is possessed of the most complete sincerity that can exist under heaven, who can transform.

Within the body there are billions of different particles. Similarly, there are many different thoughts and a variety of states of mind. It is wise to take a close look into the world of your mind and to make the distinction between beneficial and harmful states of mind. Once you can recognize the value of good states of mind, you can increase or foster them.

The way of peace is the way of truth. Truthfulness is even more important than peacefulness. Indeed, lying is the mother of violence. A truthful man cannot long remain violent. He will perceive in the course of his search that he has no need to be violent and he will further discover that so long as there is the slightest trace of violence in him, he will fail to find the truth he is searching.

In order to increase your control over your emotions, it is helpful to understand emotions from the viewpoint of a brain specialist. This will help you to understand the origins of our emotions and why we have them. The advantage of this is the same of any type of self-knowledge: the more you become aware of the mechanical or automatic aspects of yourself, the more you are able to increase your control over them.

Inner peace is the key: if you have inner peace, the external problems do not affect your deep sense of peace and tranquility. In that state of mind you can deal with situations with calmness and reason, while keeping your inner happiness. That is very important. Without this inner peace, no matter how comfortable your life is materially, you may still be worried, disturbed or unhappy because of circumstances.

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

Sincerity is the way of Heaven. The attainment of sincerity is the way of men. He who possesses sincerity is he who, without an effort, hits what is right, and apprehends, without the exercise of thought — he is the sage who naturally and easily embodies the right way. He who attains to sincerity is he who chooses what is good, and firmly holds it fast. To this attainment there are requisite the extensive study of what is good, accurate inquiry about it, careful reflection on it, the clear discrimination of it, and the earnest practice of it.

Revolution

It's kind of fun to do the impossible.

Art is either plagiarism or revolution.

Good artists copy, great artists steal.

Beauty inspires us towards greatness.

I am not afraid... I was born to do this.

Inspiration and genius--one and the same.

Revolution begins with the self, in the self.

Every man dies. Not every man really lives.

Luck is when preparation meets coincidence.

Discontent is the first necessity of progress.

The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.

Above all do not forget your duty to love yourself.

Apply yourself to the basics and progress will follow.

Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.

This is your life and its ending one moment at a time.

To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.

Every revolution was first a thought in one man's mind.

Behind every beautiful thing, there is some kind of pain.

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.

Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.

What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.

One must learn the art of turning disadvantage into advantage.

No man remains quite what he was when he recognizes himself.

You can always pick up your needle and move to another groove.

Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself.

Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.

Fulfillment is in achieving your desires. The thrill is in the getting there.

I admit that I'm human, but I've had the fortune of not being too human.

The true perfection of man lies not in what man has, but in what man is.

When I'm good, they never remember; When I'm bad, they never forget.

A true friend is someone who reaches for your hand & touches your heart.

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.

I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

Reading made Don Quixote a gentleman. Believing what he read made him mad.

Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I've ever known.

Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.

Society exists only as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals.

The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall.

Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens to you.

Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.

Life is not measured by the breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away.

I have said to you to speak the truth is a painful thing. To be forced to tell lies is much worse.

I'm known as a strange, aloof kind of man. But all I'm doing is trying to protect myself and my work.

Our real discoveries come from chaos, from going to the place that looks wrong and stupid and foolish.

Revolution is not a bed of roses. A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past.

The history of the human race always has been, and most likely always will be, that of evolution and revolution.

When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow.

Greatness of a certain person is not measured by his strength; it's how he stands tall every time he gets knocked down.

Don't do what you want. Do what you don't want. Do what you're trained not to want. Do the things that scare you the most.

The vast majority of mankind is trapped within perceptual prisons. We, as a species, must escape from our perceptual prisons.

Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.

Expecting life to treat you well because you are a good person is like expecting an angry bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian.

Life is short! Break the rules. Forgive quickly. Kiss slowly. Love truly. Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile!

Unless it’s mad, passionate, extraordinary love, it’s a waste of your time. there are too many mediocre things in life, love shouldn’t be one of them.

For years now, I've wanted to fall asleep. The sort of slipping off, the giving up, the falling part of sleep. Now sleeping is the last thing I want to do.

Who are you to judge the life I live? I know I'm not perfect and I don't want to be, but before you start pointing fingers make sure your hands are clean.

Revolution is not something fixed in ideology, nor is it something fashioned to a particular decade. It is a perpetual process embedded in the human spirit.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.

The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

The greatest mania of all is passion: and I am a natural slave to passion: the balance between my brain and my soul and my body is as wild and delicate as the skin of a Ming vase.

I'm a thief. I am the will of independence; I am the power of persona. I am the creation of my environment. I am the pursuit of more. I know this, because I thrive on intelligence.

There was an awful suspicion in my mind that I'd finally gone over the hump, and the worst thing about it was that I didn't feel tragic at all, but only weary, and sort of comfortably detached.

Those who see and feel beyond illusion have acquired a far greater gift than could ever be derived from studying scripture and philosophy books, for these were meant only to guide the blind.

No man is so foolish but he may sometimes give another good counsel, and no man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master.

Our souls may lose their peace and even disturb other people's, if we are always criticizing trivial actions - which often are not real defects at all, but we construe them wrongly through our ignorance of their motives.

There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. we are all meant to shine, as children do. we are born to make manifest the glory of God within us. it's not just in some of us, it's in everyone.

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!

One must act from inner necessity. Feel it from deep within, from the very core of your being, surging forth, empowering, invigorating, inexhaustible. Focus your attention on this feeling, on this raw energy, and feel it thereby increase manyfold in intensity and strength.

Some people will tell you that slow is good – but I’m here to tell you that fast is better. I’ve always believed this, in spite of the trouble it’s caused me. Being shot out of a cannon will always be better than being squeezed out of a tube. That is why God made fast motorcycles, Bubba…

Myths and legends die hard in America. We love them for the extra dimension they provide, the illusion of near-infinite possibility to erase the narrow confines of most men's reality. Weird heroes and mould-breaking champions exist as living proof to those who need it that the tyranny of 'the rat race' is not yet final.

So much for Objective Journalism. Don't bother to look for it here — not under any byline of mine; or anyone else I can think of. With the possible exception of things like box scores, race results, and stock market tabulations, there is no such thing as Objective Journalism. The phrase itself is a pompous contradiction in terms....

We are turning into a nation of whimpering slaves to Fear — fear of war, fear of poverty, fear of random terrorism, fear of getting down-sized or fired because of the plunging economy, fear of getting evicted for bad debts, or suddenly getting locked up in a military detention camp on vague charges of being a Terrorist sympathizer.

Music has always been a matter of Energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel. I have always needed Fuel. I am a serious consumer. On some nights I still believe that a car with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio.

We are all alone, born alone, die alone, and -- in spite of True Romance magazines -- we shall all someday look back on our lives and see that, in spite of our company, we were alone the whole way. I do not say lonely -- at least, not all the time -- but essentially, and finally, alone. This is what makes your self-respect so important, and I don't see how you can respect yourself if you must look in the hearts and minds of others for your happiness.

I returned to the Holiday Inn — where they have a swimming pool and air-conditioned rooms — to consider the paradox of a nation that has given so much to those who preach the glories of rugged individualism from the security of countless corporate sinecures, and so little to that diminishing band of yesterday's refugees who still practice it, day by day, in a tough, rootless and sometimes witless style that most of us have long since been weaned away from.

At night when the show is through and most people are asleep we travel the highways, usually I sleep too, but some nights I sit shotgun, rarely having the slightest idea where I am. You'd think by now I'd know the lay of this great land but I prefer the not knowing. It's like I'm constantly stealing away, leaving the past in some unknown city, leaning forward, hope stretching out on the dark horizon. Yes, you can get lost out here and sometimes I do. In all honesty, this life I've chosen has stranded me more times than I care to admit, but it's that push and pull; the moment where all is forgotten and a stage is pure music…that's why we do this. That's why my home is people not places and why I lean on the horizon like a dying man with one last thing to see. I am lucky. I did not choose this life it chose me.