D. > D.'s Quotes

“The Perfect Man uses his mind like a mirror - going after nothing, welcoming nothing, responding but not storing.”
― Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu

“This is the real secret of life -- to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.”
― Alan Watts

“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”
― Mark Twain

“I've had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.”
― Mark Twain

“For me, happiness is the joy we feel striving after our potential.”
― Shawn Achor, The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work

“One is a great deal less anxious if one feels perfectly free to be anxious, and the same may be said of guilt.”
― Alan Wilson Watts, Psychotherapy East and West

“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”
― Alan Wilson Watts

“Flow with whatever may happen, and let your mind be free: Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.”
― Zhuangzi

“Success is peace of mind in knowing you did your best.”
― John Wooden

“Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other.”
― Mark Twain

“Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“… if you refuse to let your own suffering lie upon you for an hour and if you constantly try to prevent and forestall all possible stress way ahead of time; if you experience suffering and displeasure as evil, hateful, worthy of annihilation, and as a defect of existence, then it is clear that besides your religion of pity you also harbor another religion in your heart that is perhaps the mother of the religion of pity: the religion of comfortableness. How little you know of human happiness, you comfortable and benevolent people, for happiness and unhappiness are sisters and even twins that either grow up together or, as in your case, remain small together.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

“Never try to be better than someone else. Learn from others, and try to be the best you can be. Success is the by-product of that preparation.”
― John Wooden

“The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.”
― Alan Wilson Watts, The Culture of Counter-Culture: Edited Transcripts

“When we encounter an unexpected challenge of threat the only way to save ourselves is to hold on tight to the people around us and not let go.”
― Shawn Achor, The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance atWork

“Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.”
― Alan Wilson Watts

“What we have to discover is that there is no safety, that seeking is painful, and that when we imagine that we have found it, we don’t like it.”
― Alan Wilson Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety

“For unless one is able to live fully in the present, the future is a hoax.
There is no point whatever in making plans for a future which you will
never be able to enjoy. When your plans mature, you will still be living
for some other future beyond. You will never, never be able to sit back
with full contentment and say, "Now, I've arrived!" Your entire
education has deprived you of this capacity because it was preparing
you for the future, instead of showing you how to be alive now.”
― Alan Wilson Watts

“There may be wrong actions in the sense of actions contrary to the rules of human communication. But the way you feel towards other people: loving, hating, et cetera, et cetera; there aren’t any wrong feelings.

And so, to try and force one’s feelings to be other than what they are is absurd. And furthermore: dishonest.

But you see: the idea that there are no wrong feelings is an immensely threatening one to people who are afraid to feel.

This is one of the peculiar problems of our culture: we are terrified of our feelings. We think that if we give them any scope and if we don’t immediately beat them down, they will lead us down into all kinds of chaotic and destructive actions.

But if, for a change, we would allow our feelings and look upon their comings and goings as something as beautiful and necessary as changes in the weather, the going of night and day and the four seasons, we would be at peace with ourselves.”
― Alan Watts

“There comes a time when you ought to start doing what you want. Take a job that you love. You will jump out of bed in the morning. I think you are out of your mind if you keep taking jobs that you don't like because you think it will look good on your resume. Isn't that a little like saving up sex for your old age?”
― Warren Buffett

“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”
― John Wooden

“Don't mistake activity with achievement.”
― John Wooden

“The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.”
― John Wooden

“Never make excuses. Your friends don't need them and your foes won't believe them.”
― John Wooden, Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court

“Seek opportunities to show you care. The smallest gestures often make the biggest difference.”
― John Wooden

“Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. ”
― John R Wooden

“A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.”
― John Wooden

“Five years from now, you’re the same person except for the people you’ve met and the books you’ve read.”
― John Wooden

“Remember, results aren't the criteria for success — it's the effort made for achievement that is most important.”
― John Wooden, Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success: Building Blocks for a Better Life

“Ye suffer from yourselves. None else compels,
None other holds you that ye live and die,
And whirl upon the wheel, and hug and kiss
Its spokes of agony,
Its tire of tears, its nave of nothingness.”
― Edwin Arnold, The Light of Asia