Notable Quotations

[LoneBear]

Thought I'd start a topic for some notable quotes. I found this list of Oma Desala's quotes (Stargate SG-1's Ascended Ancient that reminds me of Deb/Q)... very Zen-like:

• Lightning flashes, sparks shower, in one blink of your eyes you have missed seeing.
• When the mind is enlightened, the spirit is freed and the body matters not.
• You must complete the journey you began at Kheb. Only then will you be able to find your way to the Great Path.
• Release your burden.
• One cannot reach enlightenment by running from death.
• Many roads lead to the Great Path. Only the willing will find their way.
• The river tells no lies, though standing on the shore, the dishonest man still hears them.
• The future is never certain. You saved many without regard for your own life.
• You can never reach enlightenment if you do not believe you are worthy.
• Because it is so clear it takes a long time to realize it. If you immediately know the candlelight is fire, the meal was cooked a long time ago.
• The success or failure of your deeds does not add up to the sum of your life. Your spirit cannot be weighed. Judge yourself by the intention of your actions and by the strength with which you faced the challenges that have stood in your way.
• The universe is vast and we are so small. There is only one thing we can ever truly control. Whether we are good or evil.
• Anyone can reach enlightenment. Anyone prepared to open their mind as you did when you first came to Kheb.
• Walking the Great Path brings great responsibility. You cannot fear it nor hesitate in your resolve.

[LoneBear]

One of my all-time favorites, from Babylon 5...

You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them?

So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe.

--Marcus Cole, A Late Delivery from Avalon

[polonious21]

Bashir: Was any of it true?
Garek: Every word.
Bashir: Even the lies?
Garek: Especially the lies

[Gopi]

Albus Dumbledore:

It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.

It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.

To the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.

It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more.

Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.

Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?

[polonious21]

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. ~Henry David Thoreau, 1854

It is only when we silent the blaring sounds of our daily existence that we can finally hear the whispers of truth that life reveals to us, as it stands knocking on the doorsteps of our hearts. ~K.T. Jong

Few people know so clearly what they want. Most people can't even think what to hope for when they throw a penny in a fountain. ~Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams

[LoneBear]

I have never understood why it should be necessary to become irrational in order to prove that you care, or, indeed, why it should be necessary to prove it, at all.

[Arcelius]

Suffering is not good for the soul unless it teaches you how to not suffer. That is its purpose.

[zenmaster]

Maybe in order to understand mankind we have to look at that word itself. MANKIND. Basically, it's made up of two separate words "mank" and "ind." What do these words mean? It's a mystery and that's why so is mankind.

[LoneBear]

"It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly."

--Bertrand Russell

[LoneBear]

"You must come to knowledge; it cannot come to you"

--Alien leader on "Seaquest"

[LoneBear]

"It's not important how you spend your money--but how you spend your life."

--Hiram Gummer

[Arcelius]

"I'm sensitive . . . . and I'd like to stay that way." -- Jewel

[LoneBear]

"Time flies like the wind, but fruit flies like bananas."

[Amhlaibh]

I'm not well at the moment so have learned this directly.

"Never trust a fart" LOL

[Arcelius]

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
--Nelson Mandela

[Amhlaibh]

"Nothing in the universe is wasted, it is simply transformed" -Klaatu, The day the earth stood stil.

[BlueEagle]

When you discover in yourself something that is true, you must claim it and not let it be taken away from you. Sometimes people who do not know your heart will miss the importance of something that is part of your deepest self, precious in your eyes. They might not know you well enough to be able to speak your heart and follow your own deepest calling.

There is a part of you that too easily gives in to others’ influence. As soon as someone questions your motives, you start doubting yourself; you end up agreeing with the other before you have consulted your own heart. Thus you grow passive and simply assume that the other knows better.

Here you have to be very attentive to your inner self. “Coming home” and “being given back to your self” are expressions that indicate that you have a solid inner base from which you can speak and act – without apologies – humbly but convincingly.

[polonious21]

"Oh yet we trust that somehow good will be the final goal of ill, To pangs of nature, sins of will, Defects of doubt and taints of blood; That nothing walks with aimless feet; That not one life shall be destroyed, or cast as rubbish to the void, when God hath made the pile complete; That not a worm is cloven in vain; That not a moth with vain desire is shriveled in a fruitless fire, or but serves another's gain. Behold, we know not anything; I can but trust that good shall fall at last --far off--at last, to all, and every winter change to spring. So runs my dream: But what am I? An infant crying in the night: An infant crying for the light: and with no language but a cry." Lord Tennyson In Memoriam

[Amhlaibh]

"you can not ripen an apple with a blow torch"

[LoneBear]

"Love: A temporary insanity curable by marriage."
--Ambrose Bierce

[Gopi]

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

--Hamlet Act 1, William Shakespeare

[Arcelius]

I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes

[Gopi]

"Why will you do this for me?" asked Hanuman.

"You are my first and best friend of another race," replied the Rakshasa, Vibhishana. "You are faithful and very wise, when you stop to think. You put your whole heart into what you do; and you don't think twice when you've made up your mind, nor seek for any gain, so I call you my friend."

"I am."

[LoneBear]

"He who tastes a grain of mustard seed, knows more of its flavor than he who sees an elephant load of it."

--Hindu proverb

One learns a great deal from the smallest sample of life experience... if the opportunity is taken to experience life, rather than watch it go by on FOX news!

[Alluvion]

Spirituality is the bouquet of nature.
- Joseph Campbell