Francois Rabelais photo

“We will take the good-will for the deed.”

Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Fourth Book (1548, 1552), Chapter 49.

Savitri Devi photo
Malala Yousafzai photo
Malala Yousafzai photo
Malala Yousafzai photo

“This is what my soul is telling me: be peaceful and love everyone.”

Malala Yousafzai (1997) Pakistani children's education activist

UN speech, June 2013
Context: Even if there was a gun in my hand and he was standing in front of me, I would not shoot him. This is the compassion I have learned from Mohamed, the prophet of mercy, Jesus Christ and Lord Buddha. This the legacy of change I have inherited from Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Mohammed Ali Jinnah. This is the philosophy of nonviolence that I have learned from Gandhi, Bacha Khan and Mother Teresa. And this is the forgiveness that I have learned from my father and from my mother. This is what my soul is telling me: be peaceful and love everyone.

Akira Toriyama photo

“Actually, I have a lot of hobbies, but I've kept up with model-building the longest. In particular, I love military models.”

Akira Toriyama (1955) manga artist and video game character designer

Interview with Toriyama http://www.myfavoritegames.com/dragonball-z/Info/Interviews/Interviews-AkiraToriyama.htm

Alan Watts photo

“And therefore, one of the most sacred missions to be imposed upon those who would be liberated from this culture is that they shall love material, that they shall love color, that they shall dress beautifully, that they shall cook well, that they shall live in lovely houses, and that they shall preserve the face of nature.”

Alan Watts (1915–1973) British philosopher, writer and speaker

Beat Zen and Hasidism talk with Maurice Friedman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPYuvHcRoyw
Context: This is what troubles me about what we'll call vaguely "the new youth". There's a certain sloppiness. For example, at Millbrook in New York - that place is a mess, it's an unspeakable mess! Everything is dilapidated, it's a pad, not just a pad, but a mattress with the stuffing coming out of it. And this bothers me - because, after all, in America, it's bad enough anyway, we don't revere material, we mistreat it terribly. Los Angeles is the most amazing mistreatment of material that one can see in centuries. This is not a materialistic civilization at all. It is a civilization devoted to the hatred and destruction of material, its conversion into junk and poison gas. And therefore, one of the most sacred missions to be imposed upon those who would be liberated from this culture is that they shall love material, that they shall love color, that they shall dress beautifully, that they shall cook well, that they shall live in lovely houses, and that they shall preserve the face of nature. And this is the cardinal thing in your tradition, my friend, because when the Lord God created the material world, he surprised himself. And having already created it, he sat back, and saw then, that it was good. Very good.

Alan Watts photo
Alan Watts quote: “It comes only in the awareness that one has no self  to love.”
Alan Watts photo

“It comes only in the awareness that one has no self to love.”

Alan Watts (1915–1973) British philosopher, writer and speaker

The Wisdom of Insecurity (1951)
Context: There is no formula for generating the authentic warmth of love. It cannot be copied. You cannot talk yourself into it or rouse it by straining at the emotions or by dedicating yourself solemnly to the service of mankind. Everyone has love, but it can only come out when he is convinced of the impossibility and the frustration of trying to love himself. This conviction will not come through condemnations, through hating oneself, through calling self love bad names in the universe. It comes only in the awareness that one has no self to love.

Eric Cantona photo

“After his first training session in heaven, George Best, from his favourite right wing, turned the head of God who was filling in at left-back. I would love him to save me a place in his team - George Best that is, not God.”

Eric Cantona (1966) French actor and association football player

Quotes of the week, BBC News, 6 December 2005, 2007-04-18 http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/funny_old_game/4498894.stm,

William Morris photo

“Eve shall kiss night,
And the leaves stir like rain
As the wind stealeth light
O'er the grass of the plain.”

William Morris (1834–1896) author, designer, and craftsman

Love is Enough (1872), Song VII: Dawn Talks to Day
Context: Eve shall kiss night,
And the leaves stir like rain
As the wind stealeth light
O'er the grass of the plain.
Unseen are thine eyes
Mid the dreamy night's sleeping,
And on my mouth there lies
The dear rain of thy weeping.

William Morris photo

“O Love, set a word in my mouth for our meeting”

William Morris (1834–1896) author, designer, and craftsman

Love is Enough (1872), Song VII: Dawn Talks to Day
Context: Dawn talks to Day
Over dew-gleaming flowers,
Night flies away
Till the resting of hours:
Fresh are thy feet
And with dreams thine eyes glistening,
Thy still lips are sweet
Though the world is a-listening.
O Love, set a word in my mouth for our meeting,
Cast thine arms round about me to stay my heart's beating!
O fresh day, O fair day, O long day made ours!

Adi Shankara photo

“The Atman, the Sun of Knowledge that rises in the sky of the heart, destroys the darkness of the ignorance, pervades and sustains all and shines and makes everything to shine.”

Adi Shankara (788–820) Hindu philosopher monk of 8th century

Source: Atma Bodha (1987), p. 121: Quote nr. 67.

Virginia Woolf photo
Kate Bush photo

“The eye in wonder
The eye that sees
The "I" that loves you.”

Kate Bush (1958) British recording artist; singer, songwriter, musician and record producer

Song lyrics, The Red Shoes (1993)
Context: The fine purple
The purest gold
The red of the Sacred Heart
The grey of a ghost
The "L" of the lips are open
To the "O" of the Host
The "V" of the velvet
The "E" of my eye
The eye in wonder
The eye that sees
The "I" that loves you.

Paul McCartney photo

“Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs
And what's wrong with that?
I'd like to know
'Cause here I go again…”

Paul McCartney (1942) English singer-songwriter and composer

"Silly Love Songs", 1976
Lyrics, Wings
Context: You'd think that people would have had enough of silly love songs
I look around me and I see it isn't so
Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs
And what's wrong with that?
I'd like to know
'Cause here I go again...
I love you.

“(In my sleep I dreamed this poem)

Someone I loved once gave me
a box full of darkness.

It took me years to understand
that this, too, was a gift.”

Mary Oliver (1935–2019) American writer

Variant: Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.
Source: Thirst

Suman Pokhrel photo

“I would regard meanings given by others so far as refreshing boon,
I would still be enamored of rose or any heartless flower's smell
if tender tides of your affection had not suffused
the pollen of my heart with loving aroma.”

Suman Pokhrel (1967) Nepali poet, lyricist, playwright, translator and artist

<span class="plainlinks"> You are, as You are https://allpoetry.com/poem/11313676-You-are--as-You-are--by-Suman-Pokhrel/</span>
From Poetry

Rajneesh photo

“Any mundane activity can become meditative. Digging a hole in the garden, planting new roses in the garden — you can do it with such tremendous love and compassion, you can do it with the hands of a buddha.”

Rajneesh (1931–1990) Godman and leader of the Rajneesh movement

Hyakujo: The Everest of Zen
Context: Any mundane activity can become meditative. Digging a hole in the garden, planting new roses in the garden — you can do it with such tremendous love and compassion, you can do it with the hands of a buddha. There is no contradiction … I say unto you, your every act should be a ceremony. If you can bring your consciousness, your awareness, your intelligence to the act, if you can be spontaneous, then there is no need for any other religion: life itself will be the religion.