Quotes

Here are some nice quotes that I got recently. They are all more or less self-evident but we tend to forget them all the time.



Many people lose the small joys, in hope for the big happiness.
~Pearl S. Buck

That's what we all are doing. Our eyes are in the future, we want something and before we get it we refuse to be happy. And when we finally get that something we are content...only for a while before we start wanting something else. Happiness is not found by getting what you want. It is found when one realizes that nothing is really needed, all is just perfect right now.

Nothing can be taught to a man; but it’s possible to help him find the answer within himself.
~Galileo Galilei

I am quite amazed that Galilei, a famous scientist said this. He might have meant something totally different of course but it's a remarkable quote. We tend to look for authority, for advices how to live and how to be, rules, for guidances, for practices, for answers. But nobody can give answer to the one that has a question. Such answer has no value, it solves nothing. One must look for the problem by itself, to be ready to go against authority if that's what one finds out.

The true philosophy is to learn again to see the world.
~Merleau-Ponty

This sounds like a Zen wisdom. Seeing the world as it is and not as one would like it to be - that takes courage. I would even change the quote a bit to this form: The true wisdom is to unlearn everything to see the world.

There are people who speak to us and we do not listen to them; there are people who hurt us and they don’t leave a scar, but there are people who simply appear in our life and they mark us for ever.
~Cecília Meireles

Though nobody really ever hurts us (if we're not talking about physical violence) as we get hurt by ourselves - I still agree with the quote. We react to some people so that we are totally indifferent what they do or what they say. Some people we let affect on ourselves. And then there are few people that we let affect on ourselves very deeply. Those are the people that we carry in our hearts all lifetime.

Never walk on the traveled path, because it only leads you where the others have been.
~Grahan Bell

In other words, don't be afraid to go on untravelled paths. Find your own paths instead of following the masses in what they do and how they live.

Love me when I less deserves it, because it’s then when I need it most
~Chinese Proverb

That's more like a relationship advice. When our egos are hurt or upset, when we are feeling most foolish moments - that's the best time to drop weapons and open arms. That's one of the most difficult things in the world, turning the other cheek.