Great Throughts Treasury

"The boy knew a lot of people in the city. That was what made traveling appeal to him-- he always made new friends, and he didn't need to spend all if his time with them."

"The boy listened to the sound of her voice and thought it to be more beautiful than the sound of the wind in the date palms."

"The boy reached through to the Soul of the World, and saw that it was a part of the Soul of God. And he saw that the Soul of God was his own soul. And that he, a boy, could perform miracles."

"The boy thought it a strange question. But he trusted in the old man, who had said that, when you really want something, the universe always conspires in your favor."

"The boy said: Lord harsh. Elijah said: Only with their choice."

"The boy told himself that, on the way toward realizing his own destiny, he had learned all he needed to know, and had experienced everything he might have dreamed of."

"The brave are those who make decisions despite their fear, who are tormented by the Devil every step of the way and gripped by anxiety about their every action, wondering if they are right or wrong. And yet nevertheless, they act."

"The Buddhists were right, the Hindus were right, the Muslims were right, and so were the Jews. Whenever someone follows the path to faith?sincerely follows it?he or she is able to unite with God and to perform miracles...God is the same, even though He has a thousand names; it is up to us to select a name for Him."

"The celebrity syndrome. When people forget who they are and start to believe what other people say about them. The Superclass, everyone's dream, a world without shadows or darkness, where yes is the only possible answer to any request."

"The closer you start to dream, a legend in your own life is more than the real reason."

"The closer one gets to realize his destiny, the more that destiny becomes his true reason for being."

"The chronically embittered noticed his illness only once a week: on Sunday afternoon. Then, if neither his work nor the routine helped him to alleviate the symptoms, he noticed that something was wrong. For the peace of this afternoon was pure hell, the time is not passed, and he was constantly irritated. Yet it was Monday again, and the Bitter forgot his symptoms, even though he swore that he would never have time to rest, and complained about the fact that the weekends always went by so fast."

"The Buried Alive Exercise: Lie down on the floor and relax. Cross your arms over your chest in the posture of death. Imagine all of the details of your burial, as if it were to be carried out tomorrow, the only difference being that you are being buried alive. As the situation develops in your mind ? the chapel, the procession to the cemetery, the lowering of the casket, the worms in the grave ? you begin tensing all of your muscles more and more in a desperate attempt to escape. But you cannot do so. Keep trying until you cannot stand it any longer, and then, using a movement that involves your entire body, throw aside the confines of the coffin, breathe deeply, and find yourself free. This movement will have a greater effect if you scream at the same time; it should be a scream that emanates from the depths of your body."

"The danger lies in focusing on that pain, giving it a particular person's name, and keeping it always present in your thoughts."

"The completion is always more difficult that the beginning."

"The darkest hour of the night came just before the dawn."

"The danger of an adventure is worth a thousand days of ease and comfort."

"The day drags along, you make thousands of plans, you imagine every possible conversation, you promise to change your behavior in certain ways?and you feel more and more anxious until your loved one arrives. But by then, you don't know what to say. The hours of waiting have been transformed into tension, the tension has become fear, and the fear makes you embarrassed about showing affection."

"The day is made up of 24 hours and an infinite number of moments. We need to be aware of those moments and make the most of them regardless of whether we're busy doing something or contemplating life."

"The desert is a capricious lady, and sometimes she drives men crazy."

"The death tomorrow, like death on any other day, and every day comes either to live or to leave this world. Words and things, and one is: Everything is written."

"The defeated are those who never fail. Defeat means that we lose a particular battle or war. Failure does not allow us to go on fighting. Defeat comes when we fail to get something we very much want. Failure does not allow us to dream. Its motto is: ?Expect nothing and you won?t be disappointed.? Defeat ends when we launch into another battle. Failure has no end: it is a lifetime choice. Defeat is for those who, despite their fears, live with enthusiasm and faith. Defeat is for the valiant. Only they will know the honor of losing and the joy of winning. I am not here to tell you that defeat is part of life: we all know that. Only the defeated know Love. Because it is in the realm of love that we fight our first battles ? and generally lose. I am here to tell you that there are people who have never been defeated. They are the ones who never fought."

"The desert, with its endless monotony, put him to dreaming."

"The desert takes our men from us, and they don't always return. We know that, and we are used to it. Those who don't return become a part of the clouds, a part of the animals that hide in the ravines and of the water that comes from the earth. They become a part of everything... they become the Soul of the World."

"The dunes are changed by the wind, but the desert never changes. That's the way it will be with our love for each other."

"The East has left on his face one day, this woman's perfume, and because he loved her even before he knew it on the ground, and the love that holds the Hasov can discover all the secrets of the world."

"The dunes change with the wind, but the desert is still the same. So it will be with our love."

"The Enemy is a part of Agape and is there to test our will and our hand at swordplay. He was placed in our lives, and we in his life with a purpose. This purpose has to be satisfied. So flee the fighting is the worst that can happen. It's worse than losing the fight, because defeat can always learn something, but the leak is all that we declare victory for our enemy."

"The essence of creation is embodied in one order only one; it is love and love is the force that combines in order to intensify the experience dispersed among several lives and scattered among the people of the world."

"The errors of God, like those of great artists, or of true lovers, bring forth so many joyful rewards, that at times it is worth wishing for them."

"The eyes are the mirror of the soul and reflect everything that seems to be hidden; and, like a mirror, they also reflect the person looking into them. So if the person looking into someone?s eyes has a dark soul, he will see only his own ugliness."

"The enemy is not the person standing before you, sword in hand. It is the person standing next to you with a dagger concealed behind his back."

"The fact that they were afraid to do any change may upset the world who calibrated it and they grow up."

"The established religions no longer ask fundamental questions about our identity and our reason for living. Instead, they concentrate purely on a series of dogmas and rules concerned only with fitting in with a particular social and political organization. People in search of real spirituality are, therefore, setting off in new directions, and that inevitably means a return to the past and to primitive religions, before those religions were contaminated by the structures of power."

"The falcon?s beak carries bits of me, myself, the desert said. For years, I care for his game, feeding it with the little water that I have, and then I show him where the game is. And, one day, as I enjoy the fact that his game thrives on my surface, the falcon dives out of the sky, and takes away what I?ve created."

"The fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself."

"The faith of one's self, it is always easier, than deal with it and others struggle for his personal rights."

"The feeling of uselessness is no respecter of age and never asks permission, but instead corrodes people?s souls, repeating over and over: ?No one is interested in you, you?re nothing, the world doesn?t need your presence."

"The fear of the unknown evaporated when we understand that the process of our becoming the world has its hands of one."

"The feet of laborers, pilgrims and explorers smoothed these stones. The stones were changed and the travelers were too."

"The first road to God is prayer, the second is joy."

"The first symptom of the process of our killing our dreams is the lack of time,? Petrus continued. ?The busiest people I have known in my life always have time enough to do everything. Those who do nothing are always tired and pay no attention to the little amount of work they are required to do. They complain constantly that the day is too short. The truth is, they are afraid to fight the good fight."

"The following morning, the whole population drank from the well and they all went mad, apart from the king and his family, who had a well set aside for them alone, which the magician had not managed to poison. The king was worried and tried to control the population by issuing a series of edicts governing security and public health. The policemen and the inspectors, however, had also drunk the poisoned water, and they thought the king?s decisions were absurd and resolved to take no notice of them. When the inhabitants of the kingdom heard these decrees, they became convinced that the king had gone mad and was now giving nonsensical orders. They marched on the castle and called for his abdication. In despair the king prepared to step down from the throne, but the queen stopped him, saying: ?Let us go and drink from the communal well. Then we will be the same as them.? And that was what they did: The king and the queen drank the water of madness and immediately began talking nonsense. Their subjects repented at once; now that the king was displaying such wisdom, why not allow him to continue ruling the country? The country continued to live in peace, although its inhabitants behaved very differently from those of its neighbors. And the king was able to govern until the end of his days. Veronika laughed. You don?t seem crazy at all, she said. But I am, although I?m undergoing treatment since my problem is that I lack a particular chemical. While I hope that the chemical gets rid of my chronic depression, I want to continue being crazy, living my life the way I dream it, and not the way other people want it to be. Do you know what exists out there, beyond the walls of Villete? People who have all drunk from the same well. Exactly, said Zedka. They think they?re normal, because they all do the same thing. Well, I?m going to pretend that I have drunk from the same well as them."

"The fool who loves giving advice on our garden never tends his own plants."

"The future belongs to God, and it is only he who reveals it, under extraordinary circumstances. How do I guess at the future? Based on the omens of the present. The secret is here in the present. If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better. Forget about the future, and live ach day according to the teachings, confident that God loves his children. Each day, in itself, brings with it an eternity."

"The gift of speaking in many languages is the direct contact with the spirit, and is a basic requirement for the reflections of the window."

"The future would end up finding out the truth about the past."

"The fourth year, signals leave you because you did not want to hear them. Tribal Chiefs will know, and you will be removed from the Council. Then you'll be a rich merchant with many camels and many goods. But you'll spend the rest of your days wandering among the palm trees and the desert, knowing that you did your Personal Legend and it is too late for that."

"The fourth obstacle: the fear of realizing the dream for which we fought all our lives. Oscar Wilde said: Each man kills the thing he loves. And it?s true. The mere possibility of getting what we want fills the soul of the ordinary person with guilt. We look around at all those who have failed to get what they want and feel that we do not deserve to get what we want either. We forget about all the obstacles we overcame, all the suffering we endured, all the things we had to give up in order to get this far. I have known a lot of people who, when their personal calling was within their grasp, went on to commit a series of stupid mistakes and never reached their goal?when it was only a step away. This is the most dangerous of the obstacles because it has a kind of saintly aura about it: renouncing joy and conquest. But if you believe yourself worthy of the thing you fought so hard to get, then you become an instrument of God, you help the Soul of the World, and you understand why you are here."

"The first wish is important because it is hidden, forbidden, not allowed. Not sure if you lost to your other half, she does not know, but something attracts you, and we must believe it's true."