Philosophy
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I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.
Philosophy: Unintelligible answers to insoluble problems.
I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.
A rolling stone gathers no moss, so there's nothing to cushion the impact when it hits.
All that glitters is not gold, there's brass and copper or it might be plated!
Anything good or bad lies in your eyes.
Anything worth doing is worth doing well.
Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
Be on the world, not of it...As a waterdrop on a lotusleaf...
Begin with the end in mind.
Definition of a philosopher: a philosopher is a blind man in a dark cellar at midnight looking for a black cat that isn't there. He is distinguished from a theologian, in that the theologian finds the cat. He is also distinguished from a lawyer, who smuggles in a cat in his overcoat pocket, and emerges to produce it in triumph.
Any one can get angry - that is easy - or give or spend money; but to do this to the right person, to the right extent, at the right time, with the right motive, and in the right way, that is not for every one, nor is it easy.
Bashfulness is an ornament to youth, but a reproach to old age.
Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.
Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.
Those who educate children well are more to be honored than parents, for these only gave life, those the art of living well.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Love is the beauty of the soul.
This is the very perfection of a man, to find out his own imperfections.
The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.
A person cannot approach the divine by reaching beyond the human. To become human, is what this individual person, has been created for.
An animal's eyes have the power to speak a great language.
I do, indeed, close my door at times and surrender myself to a book, but only because I can open the door again and see a human face looking at me.
There are three principle in a man's being and life: The principle of thought, the principle of speech, and the principle of action. The origin of all conflict between me and my fellow-men is that I do not say what I mean and I don't do what I say.
All animals except man know that the ultimate of life is to enjoy it.
The ideas I stand for are not mine. I borrowed them from Socrates. I swiped them from Chesterfield. I stole them from Jesus. And I put them in a book. If you don't like their rules, whose would you use?
Is not this whole world an illusion? And yet it fools everybody.
Natural ability without education has more often raised a man to glory and virtue than education without natural ability.
First things first, second things never.
Life's too short to stuff a mushroom.
Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today.
Only the gentle are ever really strong.
The gratification comes in the doing, not in the results.
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. After some years, it can boast of a long series of successes.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Roast Beef, Medium, is not only a food. It is a philosophy.
The main facts in human life are five: birth, food, sleep, love and death.
We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
If your head is wax, don't walk in the sun.
Man's main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is.
In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.
An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
If you reveal your secrets to the wind you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They came through you but not from you
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
Some marry the first information they receive, and turn what comes later into their concubine. Since deceit is always first to arrive, there is no room left for truth.
Think with the few and speak with the many.
A leader is one who ventures and takes the risks of going out ahead to show the way and whom others follow, voluntarily, because they are persuaded that the leader's path is the right one - for them, probably better than they could devise for themselves.
In peace, children inter their parents; war violates the order of nature and causes parents to inter their children.
Why resist temptation? There will always be more.
Work is the greatest thing in the world, so we should always save some of it for tomorrow.
Oh, if only it were possible to find understanding,Joseph exclaimed.
If only there were a dogma to believe in. Everything is contradictory, everything tangential; there are no certainties anywhere. Everything can be interpreted one way and then again interpreted in the opposite sense. The whole of world history can be explained as development and progress and can also be seen as nothing but decadence and meaninglessness. Isn't there any truth? Is there no real and valid doctrine?
There is truth, my boy. But the doctrine you desire, absolute, perfect dogma that alone provides wisdom, does not exist. Nor should you long for a perfect doctrine, my friend. Rather, you should long for the perfection of yourself. The deity is within you, not in ideas and books. Truth is lived, not taught. Be prepared for conflicts, Joseph Knecht - I can see that they already have begun.
Life is short, [the] art long, opportunity fleeting, experience deceptive, judgment difficult.
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
A propensity to hope and joy is real riches; one to fear and sorrow real poverty.
But the greatest part of mankind float betwixt vice and virtue.
Nothing appears more surprising to those who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye, than the ease with which the many are governed by the few.
To be a philosophical Skeptic is the first and most essential step towards being a sound, believing Christian.
Beauty is truth, truth beauty. That is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
Even if you fall on your face, you're still moving forward.
What's really important in life? Sitting on a beach? Looking at television eight hours a day? I think we have to appreciate that we're alive for only a limited period of time, and we'll spend most of our lives working.
This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.
Sincerity is impossible unless it pervades the whole being, and the pretense of it saps the very foundation of character.
The violin, through the serene clarity of its song, helps to keep our bearings in the storm, as a light in the night, a compass in the tempest, it shows us a way to a haven of sincerity and respect.
It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.
To mistake money for wealth, is the same sort of error as to mistake the highway which may be the easiest way of getting to your house or lands, for the house and lands themselves.
Art is an invention of aesthetics, which in turn is an invention of philosophers... What we call art is a game.
Man does not speak because he thinks; he thinks because he speaks. Or rather, speaking is no different than thinking: to speak is to think.
All men whilst they are awake are in one common world: but each of them, when he is asleep, is in a world of his own.
But for the sake of some little mouthful of flesh, we deprive a soul of the sun and light and of that proportion of life and time it had been born into the world to enjoy.
Courage consists not in hazarding without fear; but being resolutely minded in a just cause.
For the mind does not require filling like a bottle, but rather, like wood, it only requires kindling to create in it an impulse to think independently and an ardent desire for the truth.
God is the brave man's hope, and not the coward's excuse.
I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.
It is part of a good man to do great and noble deeds, though he risk everything.
No man ever wetted clay and then left it, as if there would be bricks by chance and fortune.
Prosperity is no just scale; adversity is the only balance to weigh friends.
Silence at the proper season is wisdom, and better than any speech.
The measure of a man is the way he bears up under misfortune.
The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.
To find fault is easy; to do better may be difficult.
A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.
I am the bullgod; I am free, and I feed on all that is forsaken.
The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.
Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision.
While animals survive by adjusting themselves to their background, man survives by adjusting his background to himself.
One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And, the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.
If you are going to do something wrong at least enjoy it.
The purpose of life is not to be happy at all. It is to be useful, to be honorable. It is to be compassionate. It is to matter, to have it make some difference that you lived.
Truth is stranger than fiction; fiction has to make sense.
We see things as we are, not as they are.
I died as a mineral and became a plant,
I died as plant and rose to animal,
I died as animal and I was Man.
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I'll meet you there.
The wound is the place where the light enters you.
When the soul lies down in that grass the world is too full to talk about.
Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it.
It's better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a cow.
Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.
Audacity augments courage; hesitation, fear.
Do not despise the bottom rungs in the ascent to greatness.
He who has lost honor can lose nothing more.
He whom many fear, has himself many to fear.
How unhappy is he who cannot forgive himself.
I often regret that I have spoken; never that I have been silent.
If you wish to reach the highest, begin at the lowest.
In quarreling the truth is always lost.
It is a bad plan that cannot be changed.
It is a good thing to learn caution from the misfortunes of others.
It is bad advice that cannot be altered.
It is better to learn late than never.
It is folly to punish your neighbor by fire when you live next door.
It is kindness to immediately refuse what you intend to deny.
It is not every question that deserves an answer.
It is only the ignorant who despise education.
Learn to see in another's calamity the ills which you should avoid.
Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage.
Let your life be pleasing to the multitude, and it can not be so to yourself.
Never promise more than you can perform.
No one knows what he can do until he tries.
No pleasure endures unseasoned by variety.
One is not exposed to danger who, even when in safety is always on their guard.
One ungrateful man does an injury to all who stand in need of aid.
Pain forces even the innocent to lie.
Practice is the best of all instructors.
Take care that no one hates you justly.
The bare recollection of anger kindles anger.
The bow too tensely strung is easily broken.
The eyes are not responsible when the mind does the seeing.
The person who receives the most favors is the one who knows how to return them.
The things which belong to others please us more, and that which is ours, is more pleasing to others.
To do two things at once is to do neither.
You cannot put the same shoe on every foot.
After sixty years of self-experience, I have found that out and out hypocrisy is an almost impossible achievement.
Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.
Creation is an endless activity of God's freedom; it is an end in itself.
Death is not extinguishing the light; it is putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.
Freedom is true when it is a revelation of truth.
I believe in the true meeting of the East and the West.
That which fails to illuminate the intellect, and only keeps it in the obsession of some delusion, is its greatest obstacle.
The danger inherent in all force grows stronger when it is likely to gain success, for then it becomes temptation.
To enjoy something, it's essential to guard it with the fence of leisure.
Tom said to himself that it was not such a hollow world, after all. He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it - namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain. If he had been a great and wise philosopher, like the writer of this book, he would now have comprehended that Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and that Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.
Every man dies, not every man really lives.
Our philosophy is that management's role is simply to get the right people in the right places to do a job, and to encourage them to use their own inventiveness to accomplish the task at hand.
The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.
Wise are those who learn that the bottom line doesn't always have to be their top priority.
Imagination and fiction make up more than three quarters of our real life.
The art of progress is to preserve order amid change, and to preserve change amid order.
Regard it as just as desirable to build a chicken house as to build a cathedral.
A gentleman can withstand hardships; it is only the small man who, when submitted to them, is swept off his feet.
He who learns but does not think is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.
If a gentleman is frivolous, he will lose the respect of his inferiors.
It is only the very wisest and the very stupidest who cannot change.
Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.
Men's natures are alike; it is their habits that carry them apart.
Old age, believe me, is a good and pleasant thing. It is true you are gently shouldered off the stage, but then you are given such a comfortable front stall as spectator.
The man of virtue makes the difficulty to be overcome his first business, and success only a subsequent consideration.
The Master said,At fifteen I set my heart on learning; at thirty I took my stand; at forty I came to be free from doubts; at fifty I understood the Decree of Heaven; at sixty my ear was attuned; at seventy I followed my heart's desire without overstepping the line.
Things that are done, it is needless to speak about ... things that are past, it is needless to blame.
The superior man is easy to serve, but difficult to please ... The inferior man is difficult to serve, but easy to please.
The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell.
To be dilatory about giving orders, but to expect absolute punctuality, that is called being a tormentor.
When anger rises, think of the consequences.
When you meet someone better than yourself, turn your thoughts to becoming his equal. When you meet someone not as good as you are, look within and examine your own self.
Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.
The great man does not think beforehand of his words that they may be sincere, nor of his actions that they may be resolute - he simply speaks and does what is right.
There is no fixed road to wealth, and goods do not stay with the same master forever.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
A leader is best when people barely know that he exists.
Less good when they obey and acclaim him.
Worse when they fear and despise him.
Fail to honor people, and they fail to honor you.
But of a good leader, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled,
they will say,We did this ourselves.
A terrace nine stories high rises from a handful of earth; A journey of a thousand miles starts from beneath one's feet.
Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.
Failure is the foundation of success; success is the lurking place of failure.
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
In government it is order that matters; In action it is timeliness that matters.
Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.
Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
It is on disaster that good fortune perches; it is beneath good fortune that disaster crouches.
The mark of a moderate man is freedom from his own ideas. Tolerant like the sky, all-pervading like sunlight, firm like a mountain, supple like a tree in the wind, he has no destination in view and makes use of anything life happens to bring his way.
The Master has no possessions. The more he does for others, the happier he is. The more he gives to others, the wealthier he is.
To lead people, walk behind them.
Wise men don't need to prove their point; men who need to prove their point aren't wise.
All war is deception.
The general who wins a battle makes many calculations ... here the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few to defeat.
The successful person has unusual skill at dealing with conflict and ensuring the best outcome for all.
Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.
Once upon a time, I, Chuang Chou, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was Chou. Soon I awaked, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man. Between a man and a butterfly there is necessarily a distinction. The transition is called the transformation of material things.
Any one can get angry - that is easy - or give or spend money; but to do this to the right person, to the right extent, at the right time, with the right motive, and in the right way, that is not for every one, nor is it easy.
Bashfulness is an ornament to youth, but a reproach to old age.
Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.
Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.
Some men are just as firmly convinced of what they think as others are of what they know.
Those who educate children well are more to be honored than parents, for these only gave life, those the art of living well.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Wicked men obey for fear; good men, from love.
It is difficulties that show what men are.
It is your own conviction which compels you; that is, choice compels choice.
Only the educated are free.
There is noroyal roadto geometry.
A bad beginning makes a bad ending.
In every work a reward added makes the pleasure twice as great.
Love is all we have, the only way that each can help the other.
Man tell us our lives are free of danger. We stay at home. They go to war. Rubbish. I'd rather face three assaults. In line of battle, than bear one child.
Ten soldiers wisely led will beat a hundred without a head.
There is one thing alone that stands the brunt of life throughout its course: a quiet conscience.
Where two discourse, if the one's anger rise,
The man who lets the contest fall is wise.
Youth is the best time to be rich, and the best time to be poor.
Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality.
It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.
At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.
What I say is thatjustorrightmeans nothing but what is in the interest of the stronger party.
Where there is an income tax, the just man will pay more and the unjust less on the same income.
Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.
Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little.
He who receives a benefit with gratitude repays the first installment on his debt.
If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.
Lack of confidence is not the result of difficulty; the difficulty comes from lack of confidence.
Age carries all things away, even the mind.
From one learn all.
Love conquers all.
The medicine increases the disease.
They are able because they think they are able.
They can because they think they can.
We can't all do everything.
