Whether it is good or evil, whether life in itself is pain or pleasure, whether it is uncertain – that it may perhaps be this is not important – but the unity of the world, the coherence of all events, the embracing of the big and the small from the same stream, from the same law of cause, of becoming and dying: this shines clearly.
[…]Let me warn you, you who are thirsty for knowledge, against the thicket of opinions and the conflict of words. Opinions mean nothing; they may be beautiful or ugly, clever or foolish, anyone can embrace or reject them.
[…]I think that nobody finds salvation through teachings.
[…]For to recognize causes, it seemed to him, is to think, and through thought alone feelings become knowledge and are not lost, but become real and begin to mature.
[…]I wanted to rid myself of the Self, to conquer it, but I could not conquer it, I could only deceive it, could only hide from it. Truly, nothing in the world has occupied my thoughts as much as the Self, this riddle, that I live, that I am one and am separated and different from everybody else, that I am Siddhartha; and about nothing in the world do I know less than about myself.
The reason why I do not know anything about myself, is due to one thing, I was afraid of myself, I was fleeing from myself.
[…]Meaning and reality were not hidden somewhere behind things, they were in them, in all of them.
[…]No, this world of thought was still on this side, and it led to no goal when one destroyed the senses of the incidental Self but fed it with thoughts and erudition. Both thought and the senses were fine things, behind both of them lay hidden the last meaning.
[…]All are subservient, all wish to be my friend, to obey and to think little. People are children.
[…]He does not allow anything to enter his mind which opposes his goal. Everyone can perform magic, everyone can reach his goal, if he can think, wait and fast.
[…]Writing is good, thinking is better. Cleverness is good, patience is better.
[…]One cannot have pleasure without giving it.
[…]Within you there is a stillness and sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself. Few people have that capacity and yet everyone could have it.
Most people are like a falling leaf that drifts and turns in the air, flutters, and falls to the ground. But a few others are like stars which travel one defined path: no wind reaches them, they have within themselves their guide and path.
[…]Perhaps people like us cannot love. Ordinary people can – that is their secret.
[…]The wheel of appearances revolves quickly.
[…]Was then not all sorrow in time, all self-torment and fear in time? Were not all difficulties and evil in the world conquered as soon as one conquered time, as soon as one dispelled time?
[…]You know that gentleness is stronger than severity, that water is stronger than rock, that love is stronger than force.
[…]With the exception of one small thing, one tiny little thing, they lacked nothing that the sage and thinker had, and that was the consciousness of the unity of all life… harmony, knowledge of the eternal perfection of the world, and unity.
[…]When someone is seeking, it happens quite easily that he only sees the thing that he is seeking; that he is unable to find anything, unable to absorb anything, because he is only thinking of the thing he is seeking, because he has a goal, because he is obsessed with his goal. Seeking means: to have a goal; but finding means: to be free, to be receptive, to have no goal.
[…]Wisdom is not communicable. The wisdom which a wise man tries to communicate always sounds foolish.
Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, be fortified by it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.
[…]In every truth the opposite is equally true.
[…]The world is not imperfect or slowly evolving along a long path to perfection. No, it is perfect at every moment.
Therefore, it seems to me that everything that exists is good.
[…]Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish.
[…]What is of value and wisdom to one man seems nonsense to another.
[…]It may be important to great thinkers to examine the world, to explain and despise it. But I think it is only important to love the world, not to despise it, not for us to hate each other, but to be able to regard the world and ourselves and all beings with love, admiration and respect.
