“For with slight efforts how should we obtain great results? It is foolish even to desire it.”
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Euripidés 116
ancient Athenian playwright -480–-406 BCRelated quotes

“Mountains should be climbed with as little effort as possible and without desire.”
Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974), Ch. 17
Context: Mountains should be climbed with as little effort as possible and without desire. The reality of your own nature should determine the speed. If you become restless, speed up. If you become winded, slow down. You climb the mountain in an equilibrium between restlessness and exhaustion. Then, when you are no longer thinking ahead, each footstep isn't just a means to an an end but a unique event in itself. This leaf has jagged edges. This rock looks loose. From this place the snow is less visible, even though closer. These are things you should notice anyway. To live only for some future goal is shallow. It’s the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top. Here's where things grow. <!-- p. 205

“A hobby accompanied by more effort on your part, will result in a great career.”

“To lose the thing we love is greater pain
Than to desire and never to obtain.”
Che lasciar quel che s'ama, e peggio assai
Che disiarlo, e non averlo mai.
XVII, 6
Rifacimento of Orlando Innamorato
Source: Sandman Slim

Cited in: Chris Griffiths, Melina Costi (2011) GRASP: The Solution. p. 64.
1970s, The Art of Problem Solving, 1978

“But how foolish it is to set out one’s life, when one is not even owner of the morrow!”
Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter CI: On the Futility of Planning Ahead