“The World is Large – Its beauty indescrible.”

He who regards all things as one is a companion of Nature.

Great knowledge sees all in one. Small knowledge breaks down into the many.

Verily God does not reward man for what he does, but for what he is.

Good order results spontaneously when things are let alone.

Running around accusing others is not as good as laughing. And enjoying a good laugh is not as good as going along with things.

The creature born is the creature dying.

Fish live in water. Men die in it. Nature is diverse, and not all tastes are the same.

We cling to our own point of view, as though everything depended on it. Yet our opinions have no permanence; like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away.

Study is to study what cannot be studied. Undertaking means undertaking what cannot be undertaken. Philosophizing is to philosophize about what cannot be philosophized about. Knowing that knowing is unknowable is true perfection.

The eye is a menace to clear sight, the ear is a menace to subtle hearing, the mind is a menace to wisdom, every organ of the senses is a menace to its own capacity.

The sage has the sun and moon by his side and the universe under his arm. He blends everything into a harmonious whole. . . . He blends the disparities of ten thousand years into one complete purity. All things are blended like this and mutually involve each other.

During our dreams we do not know we are dreaming. We may even dream of interpreting a dream. Only on waking do we know it was a dream. Only after the great awakening will we realize that this is the great dream.

There may be difficulty at the moment, but I will not lose the Virtue that I possess. It is when the ice and snow are on them that we see the strength of the cypress and the pine. I am grateful for this trouble around me, because it gives me an opportunity to realize how fortunate I am.

Forget the years, forget distinctions. Leap into the boundless and make it your home!

Are you and I perchance caught up in a dream from which we have not yet awakened?

Life comes from the earth and life returns to the earth.

Savage, despicable evil. That’s what we were fighting in Iraq. That’s why a lot of people, myself included, called the enemy ‘savages.’ There really was no other way to describe what we encountered there.

No; I did not hate him. The word is too weak. There is no word in the language strong enough to describe my feelings. I can say only that I knew the gnawing of a desire for vengeance on him that was a pain in itself and that exceeded all the bounds of language.

The word is too weak. There is no word in the language strong enough to describe my feelings.

What pen can describe this scene of marvellous horror; what pencil can portray it?

Corporate types love to pretend their life is exciting. The whispers, fist-pumping and animated hand gestures are all designed to lift our job description from what it really is – that of an overpaid clerk.

Corporate types love to pretend their life is exciting. The whispers, fist-pumping and animated hand gestures are all designed to lift our job description from what it really is – that of an overpaid clerk.

I can’t please everyone. That’s not in my J.D., you know, not in my job description.

The artist is not a man who describes, but a man who feels.