The sages say that life is illusion, but does that change its poignancy?

Grappling with fate is like meeting an expert wrestler: to escape, you have to accept the fall when you are thrown. The only thing that counts is whether you get back up.

All teachings are mere references. The true experience is living your own life. Then, even the holiest of words are only words.

It is too facile to say that the way to follow Tao is to simply go along with the flow of life. Sometimes, like the carp, we must know when to go it alone.

Some Warriors look fierce, but are mild. Some seem timid, but are vicious. Look beyond appearances; position yourself for the advantage.

Whether we remain the ash or become the phoenix is up to us.

Rain scatters plum petals; Weeping stains the earth. One can only take shelter And wait for clearing.

Money is never more important than your body and mind, but you must work and support yourself. Never depend on others for your livelihood.

The appreciation of life does not require wealth or plenty. It requires only gratitude for the beauty of the world.

Once we make our decision, all things will come to us. Auspicious signs are not a superstition, but a confirmation. They are a response.

A moving door hinge never corrodes. Flowing water never grows stagnant.

I understood the life around me better, not from love, which everybody acknowledges to be a great teacher, but from estrangement, to which nobody has attributed the power of reinforcing insight

Poetry was the maiden I loved but politics was the harridan I married.

Happiness and peace will come to earth only as the light of love and human compassion enter the souls of men.

Education is necessary to unlearn privilege, unlearn exclusion, unlearn discrimination, unlearn prejudice, unlearn war.

Endless motorbike talk can and does bore me.

With Fred McDowell, I just love the way he articulates the notes. I'm hardly unique in that, but there's just something about that that I love.

Our entire civilization is built on a foundation of unfixable bullshit.

Go Sir, gallop and don't forget that the world was made in six days. You can ask me for anything but not time.

When your guru gives you a command, you better listen to it. I love everybody. Even George Bush.

I wish I could be elegant.