I am the Real, for I have not ceased to be real – through the Real.

Study the assumptions behind your actions. Then study the assumptions behind your assumptions.

The secret of Sufism is that it has no secret at all'.

When a belief becomes more than an instrument, you are lost. You remain lost until you learn what 'belief' is really for.

Premature independence is the daughter of conceit.

Do not try to be humble: learn humility.

No practice exists in isolation.

If your desire for 'good' is based on greed, it is not good, but greed.

Anybody or anything may stand between you and knowledge if you are unfit for it.

Exercise power by means of kindness, and you may be causing more damage than you could by cruelty. Neither approach is correct.

If you really want to learn, do not be surprised if someone tries to teach you. And do not lightly reject the method.

It struck her all at once that dealing with other human beings was an awful lot of work.

I spend most of my time at the ranch with my family, and enjoy life - watch the sun come up, watch it go down, thank God for another day, and just be happy.

We can't have jobs created in America if China is making all of our products.

There are two things I eat that I know I shouldn't: chocolate and ice cream. You only live once, so I am going to eat chocolate.

In a criminal justice setting, it's very hard to create a therapeutic environment where people do feel safe, but the real important thing to do is to do your best to do that.

You meet the same people on the way down that you meet on the way up, but you're going the other way.

Having experienced everything one time already made it easier the second time around.

On an overcrowded planet where more species slip toward extinction every day, should one species have the right to multiply and consume at will, even as it nudges others to oblivion?

'Pastoralia' by George Saunders is one of my favorite novels.