“I am neither Christian enough nor charitable enough to like anybody just because he is alive and breathing. I want people to interest or amuse me. I want them fascinating and witty or so dul as to be different.”

I want them either intellectually stimulating or wonderfully corny; perfectly charming or hundred percent stinker.

Our little room was morbidly quiet and sorrow was heaped in my corner like dirty snow.

I like my chosen companions to be distinguishable from the undulating masses and I don’t care how.

In the country Sunday is the day on which you do exactly as much work as you do on other days but feel guilty all the time you are doing it because Sunday is a day of rest.

There’s nothing as cozy as a piece of candy and a book.

a grudge will soon rot the pocket you carry it in.

I’ll do it because I want to but not because you tell me to!

In the country, weather is as important as food and sometimes means the difference between life and death.

Almost anybody would rather be known for expert shoe-tying than for kicking the cat.” She always tells whiners how charming they are–bullies how brave–bad sports how good–sneaks how honest!

A cigarette is a breathing space. It makes a parenthesis.

Zazen is an activity that is an extension of the universe. Zazen is not the life of an individual, it’s the universe that’s breathing.

I gasp, pressing both palms to my chest. Now the monstrous thing has its claws around my throat, squeezing my airway. I twist and put my head between my knees, breathing until the strangled feeling leaves me.

He gave her such gifts – not the kind that were put in boxes, but the sort that filled her with imagination, breathing indescribable happiness into her life.

Sometimes survival simply looks like breathing.

Breathing is something vital to peoples lives. If you see that Dhamma practice is vital to your life, then you will feel that breathing and practising the Dhamma are equally important.

It’s about alleviating stress and controlling breathing. It’s about being balanced.

Money is important yes, but not the most important. I don’t need money to smile or breathe.