Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you. And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
"Either this man is dead or my watch has stopped"
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself. Love possesses not nor would it be possessed. For love is sufficient unto love.
On children: You may give them your love but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls. For their souls live in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit...
But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure ... it is better for you that you pass out of love's threshing-floor. Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter ...
A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself.
Every day, the dog and I, we go for a tramp in the woods. And he loves it! Mind you, the tramp is getting a bit fed up!
If you're not confused, you're not paying attention.
The best number for a dinner party is two - myself and a damn good head waiter.
Saving is a very fine thing. Especially when your parents have done it for you.
Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to.
Social tact is making your company feel at home, even though you wish they were.
The only reason I would take up jogging is so that I can hear heavy breathing again.
Met a guy this morning with a glass eye. He didn't tell me - it just came out in the conversation.
That poor man. He's completely unspoiled by failure.
There is the greatest practical benefit in making a few failures early in life.
It is only people of small moral stature who have to stand on their dignity.
A diplomat is a man who thinks twice before he says nothing.
He's turned his life around. He used to be depressed and miserable. Now he's miserable and depressed.
Death is nature's way of telling you to slow down.
It's not that I'm afraid to die, I just don't want to be there when it happens.
I don't believe in an afterlife, although I am bringing a change of underwear.
To its accomplishments it lays no claim. It loves and nourishes all things, but does not lord it over them. The Tao, without doing anything, leaves nothing undone.
Wind subsiding, the flowers still fall; Bird crying, the mountain silence deepens.
The wild geese do not intend to cast their reflection; the water has no mind to receive their image.
Entering the forest he moves not the grass; Entering the water he makes not a ripple.
On enlightenment: You cannot get it by taking thought; You cannot seek it by not taking thought.
Sitting quietly, doing nothing, Spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.
Like a sword that cuts, but cannot cut itself; Like an eye that sees, but cannot see itself.
It's a funny old world - a man's lucky if he can get out of it alive.
The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.
Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean, when's it going to end?
When a person tells you, "I'll think it over and let you know" - you know.
Hypochondriac: someone who enjoys bad health.
Well, if I called the wrong number, why did you answer the phone?
One of the symptoms of approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important. If I were a medical man, I should prescribe a holiday to any patient who considered his work important.
A celebrity is someone who works hard all his life to become well known, then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognized.
Youth would be an ideal state if it came a little later in life.
I had to give up masochism - I was enjoying it too much ...
Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute.
The amount of sleep required by the average person is about five minutes more.
No civilised person goes to bed the same day he gets up
There's no secret about success. Did you ever know a successful man that didn't tell you all about it.
Behind every successful man there stands an amazed woman.
To err is human, but it feels divine.
The penalty of success is to be bored by the people who used to snub you.
What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists? In that case, I definitely overpaid for my carpet.
He hasn't got much to say, but at least he doesn't try to say anything else.
I have a new philosophy. I'm only going to dread one day at a time.
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