Hans Eiskonen > Hans's Quotes

“Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.”
― Confucius

“Elevators are brilliant. I’m going to stand here a little longer. The good thing about riding in an elevator as a grown-up is that nobody questions my being in the elevator. Nobody suspects me of just riding the elevator. I look like I’m one of the others.”
― Erlend Loe

“Get scared. It will do you good. Smoke a bit, stare blankly at some ceilings, beat your head against some walls, refuse to see some people, paint and write. Get scared some more. Allow your little mind to do nothing but function. Stay inside, go out - I don’t care what you’ll do; but stay scared as hell. You will never be able to experience everything. So, please, do poetical justice to your soul and simply experience yourself.”
― Albert Camus

“Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing.”
― Lao Tzu

“Heaven is right where you are standing, and that is the place to train.”
― Morihei Ueshiba

“…I don’t wish to meet people. They disgust me. Increasingly so. But I must have milk.”
― Erlend Loe, Doppler

“There is no solution because there is no problem.”
― Marcel Duchamp

“Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, 'Where have I gone wrong'.
Then a voice says to me, 'This is going to take more than one night.”
― Charlie Schultz

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
― Harry Crosby, Transit of Venus

“[...]the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!”
― Jack Kerouac, On the Road

“We think we understand the rules when we become adults but what we really experience is a narrowing of the imagination.”
― David Lynch

“I don't think it was pain that made [Vincent Van Gogh] great - I think his painting brought him whatever happiness he had.”
― David Lynch

“Float with me in the world of ether.”
― David Lynch

“Never forget:
we walk on hell,
gazing at flowers.”
― Kobayashi Issa

“Stop thinking, and end your problems.
What difference between yes and no?
What difference between success and failure?
Must you value what others value,
avoid what others avoid?
How ridiculous!

Other people are excited,
as though they were at a parade.
I alone don't care,
I alone am expressionless,
like an infant before it can smile.

Other people have what they need;
I alone possess nothing.
I alone drift about,
like someone without a home.
I am like an idiot, my mind is so empty.

Other people are bright;
I alone am dark.
Other people are sharp;
I alone am dull.
Other people have purpose;
I alone don't know.
I drift like a wave on the ocean,
I blow as aimless as the wind.

I am different from ordinary people.
I drink from the Great Mother's breasts.”
― Lao-Tzu, Tao Te Ching

“If a person seems wicked, do not cast him away. Awaken him with your words, elevate him with your deeds, repay his injury with your kindness. Do not cast him away; cast away his wickedness.”
― Lao-Tzu

“Yes, four in the morning is both too early and too late. Anyone awake must be up to no good, so let’s not ask any questions.”
― Frank Chimero, The Shape of Design

“We cannot, after all, judge a biography by its length, by the number of pages in it; we must judge by the richness of the contents...Sometimes the 'unfinisheds' are among the most beautiful symphonies.”
― Viktor E. Frankl, The Doctor and the Soul

“Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
― George Bernard Shaw

“Panic is the sudden realization that everything around you is alive.”
― William S. Burroughs, Ghost of Chance

“We should not judge people by their peak of excellence; but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they started.”
― Henry Ward Beecher

“As long as we continue to live as if we are what we do, what we have, and what other people think about us, we will remain filled with judgments, opinions, evaluations, and condemnations. We will remain addicted to putting people and things in their "right" place.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen

“Respond to every call
that excites your spirit.
Ignore those that make you fearful
and sad, that degrade you
back toward disease and death.”
― Rumi, The Essential Rumi

“When another blames you or hates you, or people voice similar criticisms, go to their souls, penetrate inside and see what sort of people they are. You will realize that there is no need to be racked with anxiety that they should hold any particular opinion about you.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape. ”
― William S. Burroughs

“You were not there for the beginning. You will not be there for the end. Your knowledge of what is going on can only be superficial and relative”
― William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch: The Restored Text

“Smash the control images. Smash the control machine.”
― William S. Burroughs, Dead City Radio

“The whole culture is telling you to hurry, while the art tells you to take your time. Always listen to the art.”
― Junot Díaz

“Let the first act of every morning be to make the following resolve for the day:

- I shall not fear anyone on Earth.
- I shall fear only God.
- I shall not bear ill will toward anyone.
- I shall not submit to injustice from anyone.
- I shall conquer untruth by truth. And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

“The last refuge of the insomniac is a sense of superiority to the sleeping world.”
― Leonard Cohen