There is no greater difference between men than between grateful and ungrateful people.

If all men lead mechanical, unpoetical lives, this is the real nihilism, the real undoing of the world.

The object of our lives is to look at, listen to, touch, taste things. Without them, - these sticks, stones, feathers, shells, - there is no Deity.

Think of Zen, of the Void, of Good and Evil and you are bound hand and foot. Think only and entirely and completely of what you are doing at the moment and you are free as a bird.

A haiku is the expression of a temporary enlightenment, in which we see into the life of things.

I myself think that to have a cat is more important than to have a Bible.

Zen is the unsymbolization of the world.

What is essential is not the answer but the questions; the answers indeed are the death of the life that is in the questions.

The love of nature is religion, and that religion is poetry; these three things are one thing. This is the unspoken creed of haiku poets.

Regarding R. H. Blyth: Blyth is sometimes perilous, naturally, since he's a high-handed old poem himself, but he's also sublime - and who goes to poetry for safety anyway.

Regarding R. H. Blyth: For translations, the best books are still those by R. H. Blyth. . . .

My past takes no hostages, no prisoners. I've let go of yesterday and am free to receive the beautiful gift of the present.

Write what you want to write

All commend patience, but none can endure to suffer.

I had a very close relationship with another kid when I was growing up. I was his imaginary friend.

Approach your own inner life with a loving quality that accepts who you are without trying to change who you are.

I like to have curves and feel like a woman. I hope that people see that in my photos and know that healthy is better than skinny.

The folks who go after grand challenges are impatient. They're pissed off. They're sick and tired, but in a passionate way. They're driven by a fire in their bellies to make a difference.

It is a government by the corporations, for the corporations.

Justice can never be done in the midst of injustice.

Faced by the actual practice of freedom, the French and American revolutions would be forced to stand by their words.