However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act upon them?
- BuddhaSpirituality
Spirituality is the broadest heading in this collection, because it gathers texts from very different worlds — Buddhist sutras, Sufi poetry, Christian mysticism, Stoic notebooks. What they share is not belief but a direction of attention: inward, and toward the question of what actually matters once everything that does not is removed.
Rumi and Marcus Aurelius never heard of each other and wrote a thousand years apart, yet both are after the same thing: a way to quiet the mind enough to see clearly. If one of these traditions is close to you, the others may read as foreign. They are still worth reading together; the overlaps are usually larger than expected.
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched — they must be felt with the heart.
- Helen KellerOut of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.
- Kahlil GibranFaith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark.
- Rabindranath TagoreSilence is a source of great strength.
- Lao TzuIf the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.
- Meister EckhartHappiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold; happiness dwells in the soul.
- DemocritusRadiate boundless love towards the entire world.
- BuddhaWithin you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.
- Hermann HesseTo see a world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour.
- William BlakePatience is the key to paradise.
- Turkish ProverbIn every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.
- John MuirLook deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
- Albert EinsteinBeauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.
- Kahlil GibranFaith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.
- Augustine of HippoPeace comes from within. Do not seek it without.
- BuddhaAll the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.
- Francis of AssisiGratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.
- CiceroThe wound is the place where the Light enters you.
- RumiPeace begins with a smile.
- Mother TeresaHeaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.
- Henry David ThoreauWhat you seek is seeking you.
- RumiYou yourself must strive. The Buddhas only point the way.
- BuddhaPeace is not an absence of war; it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.
- Baruch SpinozaWhen I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.
- Lao TzuMusic expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.
- Victor HugoThe only journey is the one within.
- Rainer Maria Rilke