If people were superior to animals, they’d take good care of them,” said Pooh.
BENJAMIN HOFFThings just happen in the right way, at the right time. At least when you let them, when you work with circumstances instead of saying, ‘This isn’t supposed to be happening this way,’ and trying harder to make it happen some other way.
More Benjamin Hoff Quotes
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Do you really want to be happy? You can begin by being appreciative of who you are and what you’ve got.
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Like silence after noise, or cool, clear water on a hot, stuffy day, Emptiness cleans out the messy mind and charges up the batteries of spiritual energy. Many people are afraid of Emptiness, however, because it reminds them of Loneliness.
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In the Age of Perfect Virtue, men lived among the animals and birds as members of one large family. There were no distinctions between superior and inferior to separate one man or species from another. All retained their natural Virtue and lived in a state of pure simplicity.
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No matter how useful we may be, sometimes it takes us a while to recognize our own value.
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When you know and respect your Inner Nature, you know where you belong. You also know where you don’t belong.
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The Eeyore Educational System sees childhood as a waste of time, a luxury that society cannot afford . . . Put children in school at the earliest age possible; load them down with homework; take away their time, their creativity, their play, their power; then plug them into machines.
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A clever mind is not a heart. Knowledge doesn’t really care, wisdom does.
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Knowledge and Experience do not necessarily speak the same language.
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It is very hard to be brave,” said Piglet, sniffing slightly, “when you’re only a Very Small Animal.” Rabbit, who had begun to write very busily, looked up and said: “It is because you are a very small animal that you will be Useful in the adventure before us.
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“Rabbit’s clever,” said Pooh thoughtfully. “Yes,” said Piglet, “Rabbit’s clever.” “And he has Brain.” “Yes,” said Piglet, “Rabbit has Brain.” There was a long silence. “I suppose,” said Pooh, “that that’s why he never understands anything.”
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When you discard arrogance, complexity, and a few other things that get in the way, sooner or later you will discover that simple, childlike, and mysterious secret known to those of the Uncarved Block: Life is Fun.
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When we give up our images of self-importance and our ideas of what should be, we can help things become what they need to be.
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The Infinite Universal Power is more than just a narrow-minded gatekeeper to a spiritual County Club.
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Whether many people realize it yet or not, man, the Inferior Animal, has by now proved himself incapable of keeping his own species – and others – alive for very much longer. So the earth has begun its own plan to set things right.
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The wise know their limitations; the foolish do not.
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As any old Taoist walking out of the woods can tell you, simple-minded does not necessarily mean stupid.
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Now, scholars can be very useful and necessary, in their own dull and unamusing way. They provide a lot of information. It’s just that there is Something More, and that Something More is what life is really all about.
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Those who think that the rewarding things in life are somewhere over the rainbow ‘burn their toast a lot,’ said Pooh
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Lots of people talk to animals… Not very many listen, though… That’s the problem.
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There is more to knowing than just being correct
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It means that Tao doesn’t force or interfere with things, but lets them work in their own way, to produce results naturally. Then whatever needs to be done is done.
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Enjoy the simple, the natural and the plain. Along with that comes the ability to do things spontaneously and have them work.
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I think, therefore I am confused.
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Through working in harmony with life’s circumstances, Taoist understanding changes what others may percieve as negative into something positive.
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You’d be surprised how many people violate this simple principle every day of their lives and try to fit square pegs into round holes, ignoring the clear reality that Things Are As They Are.
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The main problem with this great obsession for saving time is very simple: you can’t save time. You can only spend it. But you can spend it wisely or foolishly.
BENJAMIN HOFF