“There are no impediments to meditation. The very thought of such obstacles is the greatest impediment.”

"Happy Thoughts on a Sunny Day in New York City", p. 9
Dinosaur in a Haystack (1995)

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Part I: You Don't Have To Do A Thing
The Courage to Stand Alone (2001)
Context: Whatever pursuit you are indulging in, somewhere along the line it has to dawn on you that it is not leading you anywhere. As long as you want something, you will do that. That want has to be very, very clear. What do you want? All the time I ask you the question, "What do you want?" You say, "I want to be at peace with myself." That is an impossible goal for you because everything you are doing to be at peace with yourself is what is destroying the peace that is already there. You have set in motion the movement of thought which is destroying the peace that is there, you see. It is very difficult to understand that all that you are doing is the impediment, is the one thing that is disturbing the harmony, the peace that is already there.

Source: Sonnets (1609), CXVI

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 13.

V.20
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book V
Context: In a sense, people are our proper occupation. Our job is to do them good and put up with them. But when they obstruct our proper tasks, they become irrelevant to us--like sun, wind, and animals. Our actions may be impeded by them, but there can be no impeding our intentions or our dispositions. Because we can accommodate and adapt. The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way. (Hays translation)

The Carpet People (1971; 1992)

"Meryphillia"
The Throne of Bones (1997)
Context: For all their laughter, ghouls are a dull lot. Hunger is the fire in which they burn, and it burns hotter than the hunger for power over men or for knowledge of the gods in a crazed mortal. It vaporizes delicacy and leaves behind only a slag of anger and lust. They see their fellows as impediments to feeding, to be mauled and shrieked at when the mourners go home. They are seldom alone, not through love of one another's company, but because a lone ghoul is suspected of stealing food. Their copulation is so hasty that distinctions of sex and identity are often ignored.

K 72
Aphorisms (1765-1799), Notebook K (1789-1793)