From the pine tree
learn of the pine tree
from the bamboo
learn of the bamboo.

Basho

Jim Croce - Time in a Bottle

"Awe is what moves us forward."
Joseph Campbell

"Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live." 
Norman Cousins

"The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to him his own."  Benjamin Disraeli

"Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment.  Full effort is full victory."
Mahatma Gandhi

a wintry sonnet - Christina Rossetti

A Robin said: The Spring will never come,
And I shall never care to build again.
A Rosebush said: These frosts are wearisome,
My sap will never stir for sun or rain.
The half Moon said: These nights are fogged and slow,
I neither care to wax nor care to wane.
The Ocean said: I thirst from long ago,
Because earth’s rivers cannot fill the main.

When Springtime came, red Robin built a nest,
And trilled a lover’s song in sheer delight.
Grey hoarfrost vanished, and the Rose with might
Clothed her in leaves and buds of crimson core.
The dim Moon brightened. Ocean sunned his crest,
Dimpled his blue, yet thirsted evermore.

"For twenty seven years
I’ve always sought the Way.
Well, this morning we passed
Like strangers on the road.

- Kokuin (10th century)"

"Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom."

"The most exquisite paradox… as soon as you give it all up, you can have it all. As long as you want power, you can't have it. The minute you don't want power, you'll have more than you ever dreamed possible.."
Ram Dass

"Events, circumstances, etc., have their origin in ourselves.  They spring from seeds which we have sown."  -Henry David Thoreau

"Gentleness is a divine trait.  There is nothing stronger than gentleness.  And there is nothing more gentle than real strength.."
Kabir

"I prefer the errors of enthusiasm to the indifference of wisdom."
Anatole France

"When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy."
Rumi

“Listen or thy tongue will keep thee deaf.”
Native American Indian proverb

"Reflect on your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some."
Charles Dickens

Simplicity means the achievement of maximum effect with minimum means.
Koichi Kawana

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
Robert Olson