“Arrogance is the banal mask for cowardice but far more important, it is the most potent impediment to the flourishing life. Clear thinking and self-importance cannot logically coexist... Conceit is an iron gate that admits no new knowledge, no expansive possibilities, nor constructive ides.”

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“Behold the world fresh—as it is, on its own terms—through the eyes of a beginner. To know that you do not know and to be willing to admit the you do not know without sheepishly apologizing is a real strength, and sets the stage for learning and progress in any endeavor.”

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“Curb your desire—don’t set your heart on so many things and you will get what you need.”

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“Demand not that things happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do, and you will go on well.”

Chapters: 73. Heaven’s Net

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“Desire and aversion, though powerful, are but habits. And we can train ourselves to have better habits.”

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“Every desire degrades us, and renders us slaves of what we desire... If it's freedom you seek, then wish nothing and shun nothing that depends on others, or you will always be a helpless slave.”

Chapters: 46. Enough

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“Every difficulty in life presents us with an opportunity to turn inward and to invoke our own submerged inner resources. The trials we endure can and should introduce us to our strengths.”

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“Except for extreme physical abuse, other people cannot hurt you unless you allow them to... Don't consent to be hurt and you won't be hurt—this is a choice over which you have control.”

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“Getting distracted by trifles is the easiest thing in the world... If you are old, do not go far from the ship, or you might fail to appear when you are called.”

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“Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some things are within our control, and some things are not.”

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“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

Chapters: 63. Easy as Hard

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“He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at.”

Chapters: 49. No Set Mind

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“I have to die. If it is now, well then I die now; if later, then now I will take my lunch, since the hour for lunch has arrived – and dying I will tend to later.”

Chapters: 50. Claws and Swords

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“If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you but answer, "He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone."”

Chapters: 79. No Demands

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“if you attempt to adopt the affairs of others as your own, your pursuits will be thwarted and you will become a frustrated, anxious, and fault-finding person.”

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“If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.”

Chapters: 41. Distilled Life

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“It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.”

Chapters: 38. Fruit Over Flowers
65. Simplicity: the Hidden Power of Goodness

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“It is much better to die of hunger unhindered by grief and fear than to live affluently beset with worry, dread, suspicion, and unchecked desire.”

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“It is not so much what you are doing as how you are doing it... harmonizing your will with nature should be your utmost ideal.”

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“It is only our opinions and principles that can render us unhappy, and it is only the ignorant person that finds fault with another.”

Chapters: 38. Fruit Over Flowers

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“Like a traveler who takes care of a room at an inn, take great care with what you have while the world lets you have it... Inner peace begins when we stop saying of things, 'I have lost it' and instead say, 'it has been returned to where it came from.'”

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“Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.”

Chapters: 27. No Trace

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“Moral progress results in freedom from inner turmoil. The surest sign of the higher life is serenity and external circumstances and people should not have the power to cause you any disturbance.”

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“Most of what passes for legitimate entertainment is inferior or foolish… Your life is too short and you have important things to do. Be discriminating about what images and ideas you permit into your mind. If you yourself don't choose what thoughts and images you expose yourself to, someone else will, and their motives may not be the highest… determine not to waste your time and attention on mindless pap.”

Chapters: 60. Less is More

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“Nature hath given men one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.”

Chapters: 56. One with the Dust
61. Lying Low

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“Not death or pain is to be feared, only the fear of death or pain.”

Chapters: 50. Claws and Swords

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“Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig... there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.”

Chapters: 59. The Gardening of Spirit

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“Open your eyes: See things for what they really are... It is not things that disturb us, but our interpretation of their significance.”

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“Seemeth it nothing to you, never to accuse, never to blame either God or Man? to wear ever the same countenance in going forth as in coming in? This was the secret of Socrates: yet he never said that he knew or taught anything…”

Chapters: 77. Stringing a Bow

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“Sickness may challenge your body. But are you merely your body? Lameness may impede your legs but you are not merely your legs. Your will is bigger than your legs.”

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“Small-minded people blame others. Average people blame themselves. The wise see all blame as foolishness.”

Chapters: 8. Like Water

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“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own…”

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“The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.”

Chapters: 66. Go Low

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“There is no need to yearn, envy, and grab... Diogenes and Heraclitus were impeccable models of living by such principles rather than by raw impulse.”

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“We are not disturbed by what happens to us, but by our thoughts about what happens to us.”

Chapters: 81. Journey Without Goal
2. The Wordless Teachings

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“We’re not disturbed by what happens to us – only by our thoughts about what happens to us”

Chapters: 2. The Wordless Teachings

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“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”

Chapters: 53. Shameless Thieves

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“When you have shut your doors and darkened your room, remember, never to say that you are alone; for you are not alone; your genius is within.”

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“Who is the rich man? He who is content.”

Chapters: 67. Three Treasures

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“You are not an isolated entity, but a unique, irreplaceable part of the cosmos... an essential piece of the puzzle of humanity, a part of a vast, intricate, and perfectly ordered human community.”

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“Your own purpose should seek harmony with nature itself for this is the true road to freedom... Understand that nature as a whole is ordered according to reason, but that not everything in nature is reasonable.”

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