a collection of quotes

Below is a collection of quotes that live rent-free in my mind and heart.

I hope they inspire you as they have me.

Life is a pure flame, and we live by an invisible Sun within us.

— Sir Thomas Browne

Meditation is a process of lightening up, of trusting the basic goodness of what we have and who we are, and of realizing that any wisdom that exists, exists in what we already have.

— Pema Chödrön

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.

— Kurt Vonnegut

Pearls lie not on the seashore,
If thou desirest one, thou must dive for it.

— Alan Jacobs

If you would escape moral and physical assasination, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing – court obscurity, for only in oblivion does safety lie.

— Elbert Hubbard

It isn't the things that happen to us in our lives that cause us to suffer, it's how we relate to the things that happen to us that causes us to suffer.

— Pema Chödrön

Your mental illness is not your fault, but it is your responsibility.

— Marcus Parks

If it's a matter of taste, go with the flow. If it's a matter of principle, stand like a rock.

— Maya Higa

Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.

— Peter Drucker

We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey.

— Kenji Miyazawa

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

— Robert Frost

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.–

— Emily Dickinson

Stand at the brink of the abyss of despair, and when you see that you cannot bear it anymore, draw back a little and have a cup of tea.

— Elder Sophrony

The world is awful. The world is much better. The world can be much better.

— Max Roser

The usefulness of democracy is that we can coordinate our criticisms into coherent proposals, and vote on them.

The tragedy of democracy is that we must coordinate our criticisms into coherent proposals, and vote on them.

— thomastjeffery

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

— Frank Herbert

Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. [...] We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant.

— Karl Popper

The story of German scientific forestry transmits a timeless truth: When we simplify complex systems, we destroy them, and the devastating consequences sometimes aren’t obvious until it’s too late.

— Maria Farrell and Robin Berjon