Joseph Harriott > Joseph's Quotes

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night

“Do not despise your own place and hour. Every place is under the stars, every place is the center of the world.”
― John Burroughs, Studies in Nature and Literature

“There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.”
― J.K. Rowling

“Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.”
― Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

“The truth is not always beautiful, nor beautiful words the truth.”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

“The best fighter is never angry.”
― Lao Tzu

“Time is a created thing. To say 'I don't have time,' is like saying, 'I don't want to.”
― Lao Tzu

“Because one believes in oneself, one doesn't try to convince others. Because one is content with oneself, one doesn't need others' approval. Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts him or her.”
― Lao Tzu

“A man with outward courage dares to die; a man with inner courage dares to live.”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

“Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.”
― Lao Tzu

“Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you.”
― Lao Tzu

“At the center of your being
you have the answer;
you know who you are
and you know what you want.”
― Lao Tzu

“Silence is a source of Great Strength.”
― Lao Tzu

“Do you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear?”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

“But if you do not find an intelligent companion, a wise and well-behaved person going the same way as yourself, then go on your way alone, like a king abandoning a conquered kingdom, or like a great elephant in the deep forest – The Buddha.”
― David Tuffley, The Essence of Buddhism

“The greatest achievement is selflessness.”
― David Tuffley, The Essence of Buddhism

“Being attached to any worldly thing always leads to suffering, since nothing in the world is permanent and any attachment to impermanence is certain to cause suffering.”
― David Tuffley, The Essence of Buddhism

“The third noble truth holds that you can end your suffering by eliminating the desire for sensual gratification and breaking the attachments you have to the egoic self and any of the other conceptual structures that are the furniture of your life.”
― David Tuffley, The Essence of Buddhism

“When happiness comes along, enjoy it while it lasts because it will not be permanent. You should not try hold onto it as if it were permanent because when it leaves, it will upset you.”
― David Tuffley, The Essence of Buddhism

“If a person knows not that he knows not, ignore him. If he knows that he knows not, go teach him. If he knows that he knows, go learn from him.”
― Swami Satchidananda, The Living Gita: The Complete Bhagavad Gita: a Commentary for Modern Readers

“If you are that patient, your mind is more settled, and what you do will be more perfect. If you are unsettled and anxious to get the result, you are already disturbed; nothing done with that disturbed mind will have quality. So, it is not only how long you practice, but with what patience, what earnestness and what quality also.”
― Swami Satchidananda, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: Commentary on the Raja Yoga Sutras by Sri Swami Satchidananda

“We are not going to change the whole world, but we can change ourselves and feel free as birds. We can be serene even in the midst of calamities and, by our serenity, make others more tranquil. Serenity is contagious. If we smile at someone, he or she will smile back. And a smile costs nothing. We should plague everyone with joy. If we are to die in a minute, why not die happily, laughing? (136-137)”
― Sri S. Satchidananda, The Yoga Sutras of Pantanjali

“Happiness is not be sought outside. It can never come from outside or from inside--because it simply is. It is always. Where? Everywhere.”
― Swami Satchidananda, To Know Your Self: The Essential Teachings

“Yield not to weakness. It does not suit you. Shake off this petty faintheartedness. Stand up, Scorcher of foes, wake up!”
― Swami Satchidananda, The Living Gita: The Complete Bhagavad Gita: a Commentary for Modern Readers

“It’s a fact. Fear of the disease kills more people than the disease itself. So make the mind strong. After all, what is it that we are afraid of? One day we are going to die. If death comes, say, “Oh, you have come. You are going to take away this garb and get me a new one? Okay, take this and get me a new model.” If you only have right understanding, there’s no room for fear.”
― Swami Satchidananda, To Know Your Self: The Essential Teachings of Swami Satchidananda

“Mr. Duffy lived a short distance from his body.”
― James Joyce, Dubliners

“the person who takes medicine must recover twice,once from the disease ,and once from the medicine.”
― William Osler

“The world is sensitive to our touch. It has a kind of 'Zing!' that makes it fly off in ways that are not imaginable classically. The whole structure of quantum mechanics may be nothing more than the optimal method of reasoning and processing information in the light of such a fundamental (wonderful) sensitivity. — Chris Fuchs”
― Philip Ball, Beyond Weird

“A more ambitious bet would be to learn from what we imagine a more mature civilization might have attempted. To take the small scientific leap and allow the possibility ‘Oumuamua was extraterrestrial technology is to give humanity the small nudge toward thinking like a civilization that could have left a lightsail buoy for our solar system to run into. It is to nudge us not just to imagine alien spacecraft but to contemplate the construction of our own such craft.”
― Avi Loeb, Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth

“Sometimes, by near accident, something exceptionally rare and special crosses your path. Life turns on your seeing clearly what’s in front of you.”
― Avi Loeb, Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth – A New York Times Bestselling Science Book on the Oumuamua Mystery and Alien Technology from Harvard's Top Astronomer