“Ego is constantly attempting to acquire and apply the teachings of spirituality for its own benefit.”

The discovery of magic can happen only when we transcend our embarrassment about being alive, when we have the bravery to proclaim the goodness and dignity of human life, without either hesitation or arrogance. Then magic can descend onto our existence.

We are always in transition. If you can just relax with that, you’ll have no problem.

Spirituality doesn’t exist on another level different from ordinary life.

Compassion automatically invites you to relate with people because you no longer regard people as a drain on your energy.

Fundamentally, no one can help us. If we seek to relieve our loneliness, we will be distracted from the path. Instead, we must make a relationship with loneliness until it becomes aloneness.

Whatever shakes you should without delay, right away, be incorporated into the path.

Fearlessness comes from working with the softness of the human heart.

To be a warrior is to learn to be genuine in every moment of your life.

There is no such thing as talent, only awareness.

Anything that is created must sooner or later die. Enlightenment is permanent because we have not produced it; we have merely discovered it.

The point is not to convert anyone to our view, but rather to help people wake to their own view, their own sanity.

Gentle day’s flower – The hummingbird competes With the stillness of the air.

Because there is something difficult and destructive involved, there must be something creative involved as well. Relating to that creative aspect is the point.

If we open our eyes, if we open our minds, if we open our hearts, we will find that this world is a magical place. It is magical not because it tricks us or changes unexpectedly into something else, but because it can be so vividly and brilliantly.

We cannot change the way the world is, but by opening ourselves to the world as it is, we may find that gentleness, decency and bravery are available – not only to us, but to all human beings.

Luxury is experiencing reality

Government is the only institution that can take a valuable commodity like paper, and make it worthless by applying ink.

Faith, to my mind, is a stiffening process, a sort of mental starch, which ought to be applied as sparingly as possible. I dislike the stuff. I do not believe in it, for its own sake, at all… My lawgivers are Erasmus and Montaigne, not Moses and St Paul.

When it applies to the Olympics and making a decision, I have to claim Australia as my country.

He stares at me, and I don’t look away. He isn’t a dog, but the same rules apply. Looking away is submissive.

Once war is forced upon us, there is no alternative than to apply every available means to bring it to a swift end. War’s very object is victory-not prolonged indecision.

To get a roaster clean, send something like baked apples in it to a neighbor. Neighbors always return pans spotless, and you won’t have to use a blow torch on it like you usually do.

There is no more effective medicine to apply to feverish public sentiments than figures.

How long does it have to go on? This punishment? Haven’t I done time enough, haven’t I served my term? can’t I apply for a-pardon?