Civilization changes man on the outside. Meditation softens him within, through and through.

The process of becoming who you will be begins first with the total acceptance of who you are.

Whatever attitudes we habitually use toward ourselves, we will use on others, and whatever attitudes we habitually use toward others, we will use on ourselves.

When you have learned compassion for yourself, compassion for others is automatic.

You can learn not to want what you want, to recognize desires but not be controlled by them.

Watch the functioning of your own mind in a calm and detached manner so you can gain insight into your own behavior.

No matter how hard you pursue pleasure and success, there are times when you fail. No matter how fast you flee, there are times when pain catches up with you.

The purpose of meditation is personal transformation.

The you that goes in one side of the meditation experience is not the same you that comes out the other side.

Meditation changes your character.

We have to learn to be kind to ourselves. In the long run avoiding unpleasantness is a very unkind thing to do to yourself.

She had never had a daydream that dreamed itself, like nightmares. That crawled out of her brain like a creature of the dark. A daymare.

I've always had a fascination with cars and racing, not that I've ever competed.

Fashion is everywhere. Everywhere! Flowers are fashion to me, the sky is fashion, my garden is fashion. My darling, the Sistine Chapel is fashion.

I often find it easier to be teaching or giving to others, and often struggle with the place of my own pleasure and joy.

We cannot even reproduce our thoughts entirely in words.

It's not like some movies where you're following a bunch of different stories you can cut around. There was nowhere to cut to. It's these guys. We're not cutting back to anybody else

Kingsley Amis was one of a trio of brilliant comic novelists who made English literature sparkle in the twentieth century.

Funny how it kept hitting me, like each new thing was a surprise. When was I going to stop being surprised?

As long as the Arabs fight tribe against tribe, so long will they be a little people, a silly people, greedy, barbarous and cruel.

Some genres I'm not a huge fan of but there are always exceptions that break the rules. There are always a few people doing it in a way weird enough to grab my attention.