To be in possession of an absolute truth is to have a net of familiarity spread over the whole of eternity. There are no surprises and no unknowns.

Eric Hoffer

. . . (Gertrude Stein) died firmly in character, having delivered from her hospital bed the last specimen and one of the most searching and comical specimens of Steinese. “What is the answer?” she inquired, and getting no answer, said laughing, “In that case, what is the question?”

F. W. Dupee, Selected Writings of Gertrude Stein

We all have the power — at least for a moment — to shape our environment, and how wrong of us to ignore this privilege just because it is fleeting. We must accept the fact that nothing we create belongs to us forever and let the act of creation be its own reward.

Elizabeth Hailey, A Woman of Independent Means

We do not walk on our legs, but on our Will.

Sufi proverb

The most perplexing form of evil, and especially so for all idealists, is that kind of evil which comes out of our efforts to do good. Perhaps when we try to do good without love, we create evil.

William Irwin Thompson

Everyone takes the limits of his own vision for the limits of the world.

Schopenhauer

I . . . doubt that film can ever argue effectively against its own material: that a genuine anti-war film, say, can be made on the basis of even the ugliest battle scenes. . . . No matter what filmmakers intend, film always argues yes. People have been modeling their lives after films for years, but the medium is somehow unsuited to moral lessons, cautionary tales, or polemics of any kind. If you want to make a pacifist film, you must make an exemplary film about peaceful men.

Renata Adler, A Year in the Dark

A prophecy that comes true, especially a negative prophecy, is a prophecy that has failed. One doesn’t prophesy for the purpose of being accurate. A prophecy is an attempt to warn or to prepare people to make a change, and if they make that change, then what they’re preparing for just may not occur.

Paul Solomon

The epitome of the human realm is to be stuck in a huge traffic jam of discursive thought.

Chögyam Trungpa, The Myth of Freedom

The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell.

Simone Weil

The man in whom Tao
Acts without impediment
Does not bother with his own interests
And does not despise
Others who do.
He does not struggle to make money
And does not make a virtue of poverty.
He goes his way
Without relying on others
And does not pride himself
On walking alone.
While he does not follow the crowd
He won’t complain of those who do.
Rank and reward
Make no appeal to him;
Disgrace and shame
Do not deter him.
He is not always looking
For right and wrong
Always deciding “Yes” or “No.”

Thomas Merton, The Way of Chuang Tzu

What am I doing at a level of consciousness where this is real?

Thaddeus Golas, The Lazy Man’s Guide to Enlightenment