Great Throughts Treasury

"Man needs what's worst in him in order to achieve what's best in him."

"Many of us are returning from a long journey during which we were forced to search for things that were of no interest to us. Now we realize that they were false. But this return cannot be made without pain, because we have been away for a long time and feel that we are strangers in out own land. It will take some time to find the friends who also left, and the places where our roots and treasures lie. But this will happen."

"Many people are afraid of happiness because this word carries with it the need to develop part of their habits... and lost their identity."

"Many years later, if someone asked her where she had come as a young man, how can she replied: Very nice, and lovely, and worthy to be loved."

"Mari remembered what she had read in the young girl's eyes the moment she had come into the refectory: fear. Fear. Veronika might feel insecurity, shyness, shame, constraint, but why fear? That was only justifiable when confronted by a real threat: ferocious animals, armed attackers, earthquakes, but not a group of people gathered together in a refectory. But human beings are like that,' she thought. We've replaced nearly all our emotions with fear."

"Many people don't allow themselves to love... because there are a lot of things at risk a lot of future and a lot of past."

"Marie, let?s suppose that two firemen go into a forest to put out a small fire. Afterwards, when they emerge and go over to a stream, the face of one is all smeared with black, while the other man?s face is completely clean. My question is this: which of the two will wash his face? That?s a silly question. The one with the dirty face of course.? No, the one with the dirty face will look at the other man and assume that he looks like him. And, vice versa, the man with the clean face will see his colleague covered in grime and say to himself: I must be dirty too. I?d better have a wash.? What are you trying to say?? I?m saying that, during the time I spent in the hospital, I came to realize that I was always looking for myself in the women I loved. I looked at their lovely, clean faces and saw myself reflected in them. They, on the other hand, looked at me and saw the dirt on my face and, however intelligent or self-confident they were, they ended up seeing themselves reflected in me thinking that they were worse than they were. Please, don?t let that happen to you."

"May be God created the desert so that man could appreciate the date trees."

"Matt is still alive. These words may seem contradictory, but I knew many people who are no longer living, although they continued to work, eat and engage in the usual social activities. They did everything automatically, oblivious to the magical moment which carries with him every day. Days did not stop to think about the miracle of life, did not understand the day that the next moment may be the last on earth."

"May your morning be a beautiful one, with the sun shining on your soldier's armor, for in the afternoon I will defeat you."

"May my tears run just as far, that my love might never know that one day I cried for him."

"Maybe God created the desert so that man could appreciate the date trees."

"Maybe love is that makes us grow old prematurely, and brings us back while young people may be gone."

"Maybe love does not age prematurely, and makes us young when passing youth."

"Maybe these desert birds could explain to him the meaning of love without ownership."

"Meet your obligations. But obligations never prevented anyone from following their dreams. Remember that you are a manifestation of the absolute, and do only those things in your life that are worth the effort. Only those who do that will understand the great transformations that are yet to be seen."

"Men always have their reasons. But the fact is that they always wind up leaving."

"Men and women who have a very strong will are in the habit of Class isolationist."

"Maybe love is the one who makes us grow old prematurely... and takes us back to when the youth has gone."

"Men have never understood the words of the wise."

"Men dream more about coming home than about leaving."

"Men who have nothing to lose never give a thought for eternal life."

"Miracles do not go against the laws of nature; we only think that because we do not know nature's laws."

"Men take the oddest satisfaction in feeling superior without knowing that most of the time they are being utterly predictable."

"Miracles occur all around us, signs from God show us the way, angels plead to be heard, but we pay little attention to them because we have been taught that we must follow certain formulas and rules if we want to find God. We do not recognize that God is wherever we allow Him/Her to enter."

"Millions of couples out there practiced the art of sadomasochism every day, without even realizing it. They went to work, came back, complained about everything, insulted their wife or were insulted by her, felt wretched, but were, nonetheless, tightly bound to their own unhappiness, not realizing that all it would take was a single gesture, a final goodbye, to free them from that oppression."

"Most human beings still cannot trust love."

"Miracles only happen if you believe in miracles."

"Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place."

"Much they would like to share their joy at some triumph or their grief at some overwhelming sadness, it's always best and safest to keep silent."

"Music isn't just something that comforts or distracts us, it goes beyond that - it's an ideology. You can judge people by the kind of music they listen to."

"Most important and most vulnerable of human emotions; Love."

"My brained warned me, but my heart didn't want to take its advice."

"My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer."

"My friend, we are warriors, warriors and speak the language of some."

"My heart might be bruised, but it will recover and become capable of seeing beauty of life once more. It's happened before, it will happen again, I'm sure. When someone leaves, it's because someone else is about to arrive--I'll find love again."

"My Heart Is Afraid that it will have to suffer, the boy told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky. Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams."

"My search for wisdom, peace of mind, and an awareness of realities visible and invisible has become routine and pointless."

"My soul will dance with Athena's soul; I'll be with her while I sleep; I'll wake up sweating and go into the kitchen for a glass of water. I'll understand that in order to combat ghosts you must use weapons that form no part of reality. Then, following the advice of my grandmother, I'll place an open pair of scissors on my bedside table to snip off the end of the dream. The next day, I'll look at the scissors with a touch of regret, but I must adapt to living in the world again or risk going mad."

"My heart is afraid to suffer, said the boy Alchemist, one night they looked at the moonless sky than the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself."

"Music only exists because the pauses exist, and sentences only exist because the blank spaces exist."

"My smile is my way of saying: You can destroy my body, but not my soul."

"Nature is telling us: Change!"

"Never allow waiting to become a habit. Live your dreams and take risks. Life is happening now."

"Near Death, always helps us to live our lives better."

"My roots are ready, but I?ll manage to grow only with the help of others. Not just you or J. or my wife but people I?ve never met."

"Needless to say, I had been alone on other occasions during the year. Needless to say, my girlfriend was only two hours away by plane. Needless to say, after a busy day, what could be better than a stroll through the narrow streets and lanes of the old city, without having to talk to anyone, simply enjoying the beauty around me. And yet the feeling that surfaced was one of oppressive, distressing loneliness ? not having someone with whom I could share the city, the walk, the things I?d like to say? there is nothing worse than the feeling that no one cares whether we exist or not, that no one is interested in what we have to say about life, and that the world can continue turning without our awkward presence."

"Near Tokyo lived a great Samurai warrior, now old, who decided to teach Zen Buddhism to young people. In spite of his age, the legend was that he could defeat any adversary."

"Never give up. When your heart becomes tired, just walk with your legs - but move on."

"Negative desires can cause no evil if you do not allow yourself to be seduced by them."