Dan Metevier's Favorite Quotes

Basic Goodness

2010-11-22T11:54:00.000-08:00

When you live your life
in accordance with basic goodness,
then you develop natural elegance.
Your life can be spacious and relaxed,
without having to be sloppy.
You can actually let go of your depression
and embarrassment about being a human being,
and you can cheer up.

Dorje Dradul of Mukpo, on Letting Go

Candles

2010-01-01T15:30:00.000-08:00

A candle loses nothing
by lighting another candle.

Maya Angelou

Not Poet Enough

2010-01-01T15:26:00.000-08:00

If your daily life seems poor,
do not blame it;
blame yourself that you
are not poet enough
to call forth its riches.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Never Forget

2009-12-08T09:55:00.000-08:00

I've learned that people
will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget
how you made them feel.

Maya Angelou

Loving Somebody

2009-12-07T14:56:00.000-08:00

When we give ourselves over to loving somebody,
it is not just them we are discovering and loving
but who we are and who we will become
when we are with them.

Stephen Mitchell

Elephant in the Dark

2009-12-01T10:54:00.000-08:00

Some Hindus have an elephant to show.
No one here has ever seen an elephant.
They bring it at night to a dark room.
One by one, we go in the dark and come out
saying how we experience the animal.
One of us happens to touch the trunk.
"A water-pipe kind ...of creature."
Another, the ear. "A very strong, always moving
back and forth, fan-animal."
Another, the leg. "I find it still,
like a column on a temple."
Another touches the curved back.
"A leathery throne."
Another, the cleverest, feels the tusk.
"A rounded sword made of porcelain."
He's proud of his description.
Each of us touches one place
and understands the whole in that way.
The palm and the fingers feeling in the dark are
how the senses explore the reality of the elephant.
If each of us held a candle there,
and if we went in together,
we could see it.

Rumi (translated by Coleman Barks)

Not Understanding

2009-11-30T17:05:00.000-08:00

It is difficult to get a man
to understand something
when his job depends
on not understanding it.

Upton Sinclair

The Dark, Deep Places

2009-11-28T08:18:00.000-08:00

The dark, deep places
we often think are barren
and useless are actually
swarming with beauty and mystery,
thick with meaning
and the magnificent ability
to explode the boundaries of
what we once thought possible/impossible.

Mark Morford

What We Do Not Know

2009-11-28T08:02:00.000-08:00

The greatest weakness
in contemporary thought
seems to me to reside
in the extravagant reverence
for what we know compared
with what we do not know.

Andre Breton

Not What I Meant

2009-11-24T18:26:00.000-08:00

I know you believe you understand
what you think I said,
but I am not sure you realize
that what you heard is not what I meant.

Author Unknown

Slightly Underdone

2009-11-24T17:13:00.000-08:00

If it walks like a duck
and quacks like a duck,
send it back.
It's slightly underdone.

Stephen Colbert

Had Enough

2009-11-22T14:38:00.000-08:00

We don't know when we've had enough
until we've had too much.

Unknown

Everything

2009-11-16T11:31:00.001-08:00

You can't have everything.
Where would you put it?

Steven Wright

Power

2009-11-16T11:30:00.001-08:00

Never underestimate the power
of underestimating your power.

Mark Morford

Objectivity

2009-11-14T08:42:00.001-08:00

There is no such thing as objectivity.
I actually think it is pernicious as a goal.

Molly Ivins

Rediscovered

2009-11-12T14:45:00.000-08:00

One needs only to watch
a healthy infant or small child,
forever testing and exploring
and enjoying this,
to know what I have
rediscovered in myself.

Barry Stevens

Get Me Out

2009-11-12T14:38:00.000-08:00

No matter who got me
into what I got into,
I am the only person
who can get me out.

Barry Stevens

Balance

2009-11-10T11:04:00.000-08:00

If we could learn how to
balance rest against effort,
calmness against strain,
quiet against turmoil,
we would assure ourselves
of joy in living and
psychological health for life.

Josephine Rathbone

Blaming Others

2009-11-08T16:04:00.001-08:00

The only person who cannot be helped
is that person who blames others.

Carl Rogers

Helpful Relationship

2009-11-08T16:02:00.000-08:00

The relationship which I have found helpful
is characterized by a sort of transparency on my part,
in which my real feelings are evident;
by an acceptance of this other person
as a separate person with value in his own right;
and by a deep empathic understanding which enables me
to see his private world through his eyes.

Carl Rogers

The Good Life

2009-11-08T16:01:00.001-08:00

The good life is a process,
not a state of being.
It is a direction
not a destination.

Carl Rogers

Understanding of Ourselves

2009-11-08T15:59:00.001-08:00

Everything that irritates us about others
can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.

Carl Jung

Something Wrong

2009-11-05T20:12:00.001-08:00

If everyone starts agreeing with you,
you know you must be doing something wrong.

Robert Koster

Religion

2009-11-05T20:11:00.001-08:00

Whatever your religion might be,
most of the world disagrees with you.

Mark Morford

Risks

2009-11-05T12:28:00.000-08:00

And the day came when the risk
it took to remain tight inside the bud
was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

Anais Nin

Another Groove

2009-11-03T13:20:00.001-08:00

If you don't like what you're doing,
you can always pick up your needle
and move to another groove.

Timothy Leary

Operating a Soul

2009-11-03T13:19:00.000-08:00

Learning how to operate a soul
figures to take time.

Timothy Leary

Women

2009-11-03T13:18:00.001-08:00

Women who seek
to be equal with men
lack ambition.

Timothy Leary

Think

2009-11-03T13:17:00.002-08:00

Think for yourself
and question authority.

Timothy Leary

Universe

2009-11-03T13:17:00.001-08:00

The universe is an intelligence test.

Timothy Leary

Youth

2009-11-03T13:16:00.001-08:00

You're only as young
as the last time
you changed your mind.

Timothy Leary

Appalling

2009-11-02T13:20:00.000-08:00

Woe to him who seeks to
please rather than appall.

Herman Melville

Trust

2009-11-02T09:20:00.000-08:00

Trust in human nature
is acceptance of
the good-and-bad of it,
and it is hard to trust
those who do not admit
their own weaknesses.

Alan Watts

Keep Walking

2009-10-29T11:57:00.000-07:00

If you're walking down the right path
and you're willing to keep walking,
eventually you'll make progress.

Barack Obama

Nirvana

2009-10-27T14:28:00.000-07:00

Yes, there is a Nirvana;
it is leading your sheep to a green pasture,
and in putting your child to sleep,
and in writing the last line of your poem.

Kahlil Gibran

Understanding

2009-10-27T14:27:00.001-07:00

To understand the heart and mind of a person,
look not at what he has already achieved,
but at what he aspires to do.

Kahlil Gibran

A Truth

2009-10-27T14:26:00.001-07:00

Say not, 'I have found the truth,'
but rather, 'I have found a truth.'

Kahlil Gibran

Character

2009-10-27T14:25:00.001-07:00

Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls;
the most massive characters are seared with scars.

Kahlil Gibran

Ungrateful

2009-10-27T14:24:00.001-07:00

I have learnt silence from the talkative,
toleration from the intolerant,
and kindness from the unkind;
yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.

Kahlil Gibran

Truth

2009-10-27T14:23:00.001-07:00

God made Truth with many doors to
welcome every believer who knocks on them.

Kahlil Gibran

True Nature

2009-10-27T11:35:00.000-07:00

The wit makes fun of other persons;
the satirist makes fun of the world;
the humorist makes fun of himself,
but in so doing, he identifies himself
with people--that is, people everywhere,
not for the purpose of taking them apart,
but simply revealing their true nature.

James Thurber

Nonconformist

2009-10-27T11:34:00.002-07:00

Why do you have to be a nonconformist
like everybody else?

James Thurber

Disturbed

2009-10-27T11:34:00.001-07:00

I do not have a psychiatrist and I do not want one,
for the simple reason that if he listened to me long enough,
he might become disturbed.

James Thurber

Flat on Your Face

2009-10-27T11:33:00.001-07:00

You might as well fall flat on your face
as lean over too far backward.

James Thurber

All the Answers

2009-10-27T11:31:00.000-07:00

It is better to know
some of the questions
than all of the answers.

James Thurber

Before We Die

2009-10-27T11:30:00.001-07:00

All human beings should try to learn before they die
what they are running from, and to, and why.

James Thurber

Bizarre and Inexplicable

2009-10-27T11:26:00.000-07:00

There is a theory which states that
if ever anybody discovers exactly
what the Universe is for and why it is here,
it will instantly disappear and be replaced
by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
There is another theory which states
that this has already happened.

Douglas Adams

Where I Needed to Be

2009-10-27T11:25:00.001-07:00

I may not have gone where I intended to go,
but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.

Douglas Adams

Immaturity

2009-10-27T11:23:00.001-07:00

You can only be young once.
But you can always be immature.

Dave Barry

Education

2009-10-27T11:18:00.001-07:00

My education was dismal.
I went to a series of schools
for mentally disturbed teachers.

Woody Allen

Good and Bad

2009-10-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

It seemed the world was divided
into good and bad people.
The good ones slept better...
while the bad ones seemed to
enjoy the waking hours much more.

Woody Allen

Metaphysics

2009-10-27T11:15:00.001-07:00

I was thrown out of college
for cheating on the metaphysics exam;
I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me.

Woody Allen

Mind Over Matter

2009-10-27T11:12:00.000-07:00

Age is mind over matter.
If you don't mind,
it doesn't matter.

Satchel Paige

Just Sitting

2009-10-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes I just sits.

Satchel Paige

Known to God and Myself Alone

2009-10-27T11:02:00.000-07:00

Say nothing of my religion.
It is known to God and myself alone.
Its evidence before the world is
to be sought in my life:
if it has been honest and dutiful to society
the religion which has regulated it
cannot be a bad one.

Thomas Jefferson

Puzzling It Out

2009-10-27T11:00:00.000-07:00

To believe in God or in a guiding force
because someone tells you to
is the height of stupidity.
We are given senses to receive
our information within.
With our own eyes we see,
and with our own skin we feel.
With our intelligence,
it is intended that we understand.
But each person must puzzle it out
for himself or herself.

Sophy Burnham

Studying Religions

2009-10-27T10:59:00.001-07:00

The more I study religions
the more I am convinced
that man never worshipped
anything but himself.

Sir Richard Francis Burton

Consolation

2009-10-27T10:57:00.000-07:00

Those who seek consolation in existing churches
often pay for their peace of mind
with a tacit agreement to ignore a great deal
of what is known about the way the world works.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Humble Admiration

2009-10-27T10:54:00.000-07:00

My religion consists of a humble admiration
of the illimitable superior spirit
who reveals himself in the slight details
we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.

Albert Einstein

Ignorance

2009-10-27T10:52:00.000-07:00

The greater the ignorance
the greater the dogmatism.

Sir William Osler

Learning

2009-10-27T10:50:00.000-07:00

I have never met a man so ignorant
that I couldn't learn something from him.

Galileo Galilei

Good Laughs

2009-10-27T10:48:00.001-07:00

We are all here for a spell;
get all the good laughs you can.

Will Rogers

Wisdom

2009-10-26T20:17:00.000-07:00

It is not hard
to produce wisdom.
What is hard is
to have wisdom
not interrupted.

Unknown

Seeking Connections

2009-10-11T12:56:00.000-07:00

Peace is not won by those who
fiercely guard their differences
but by those who with open minds
and hearts seek out connections.

Katherine Paterson

Scream

2009-09-30T13:06:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a scream
is better than a thesis.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Good Time

2009-09-08T17:00:00.001-07:00

If only we'd stop trying to be happy,
we could have a pretty good time.

Edith Wharton

Pausing

2009-09-05T17:00:00.001-07:00

Pausing is the doorway
to awakening.

Patricia Donegan

Freedom

2009-09-05T07:30:00.000-07:00

To be free of thousands of years
of conditioning does not require time or future.
At this moment you can step out
of the movement of thought.
And allow quite simply an alert presence
to be there.
You're not here any longer
as the carrier of your personal history,
but you're here as an alive field of aware presence.

Eckhart Tolle

Secret

2009-08-29T06:54:00.000-07:00

This is my secret,
I don't mind what happens.

J. Krishnamurti

One's Own Way

2009-08-24T17:09:00.000-07:00

I would not have anyone adopt
my mode of living on my account.
I would have each one be very careful
to find out and pursue his own way.

Henry David Thoreau

The Present

2009-08-18T10:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday is history,
tomorrow is a mystery,
but today is a gift.
That is why it is called
the present.

Kung Fu Panda

Discovering Your Self

2009-08-12T13:07:00.000-07:00

You can't get there by bus,
only by hard work and risk
and by not quite knowing
what you're doing.
You have to leave
the city of your comfort
and go into the wilderness
of your intuition.
What you'll discover
will be wonderful.
What you'll discover
is yourself.

Alan Alda

First-Rate Version of Yourself

2009-08-11T18:55:00.000-07:00

Always be a first-rate version of yourself,
instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.

Judy Garland

End of Insanity

2009-07-30T13:12:00.000-07:00

That in you which recognizes madness as madness
(even if it is your own) is sanity,
is the arising awareness, is the end of insanity.

Eckhart Tolle

We See Things

2009-07-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

We see things
not as they are,
but as we are.

Immanuel Kant

Experience the World

2009-07-23T16:30:00.000-07:00

Experience the world
instead of talking about
experiencing the world.

Diego Rodriguez

Calming or Swimming

2009-07-22T20:07:00.000-07:00

Sometimes God calms the storm.
At other times, He calms the sailor.
And sometimes He makes us swim.

Unknown

The Way It Is

2009-07-20T18:57:00.001-07:00

And that's the way it is.

Walter Cronkite

Less and Less

2009-07-09T14:25:00.001-07:00

Less and less,
until things just are
what they are.

Lao-Tze

True Human Being

2009-07-08T18:39:00.000-07:00

Of all the trails in this life,
there is one that matters
more than all the others.
It is the trail of
a true human being.

Kicking Bird
(Dances with Wolves)

Searching for the Truth

2009-07-07T13:53:00.000-07:00

Don't keep searching for the truth;
Just let go of your opinions.

Chinese sage Seng Ts'an

Transformations

2009-07-07T07:55:00.000-07:00

What all myths have to deal with
is transformations of consciousness.
You have been thinking one way,
you now have to think a different way.
Consciousness is transformed either
by the trials themselves or
by illuminating revelations.
Trials and revelations are what it's all about.

Joseph Campbell

My Only True Belongings

2009-07-06T12:38:00.000-07:00

My actions are
my only true belongings.

Thich Nhat Hanh

The One Less Traveled By

2009-07-05T10:03:00.000-07:00

Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

My Future

2009-07-04T11:17:00.000-07:00

My future starts when
I wake up every morning.
Every day I find something
creative to do with my life.

Miles Davis

Stop the World

2009-06-28T06:52:00.000-07:00

STOP THE WORLD,
I WANNA GET ON!!!!

From "The Producers"

Life Is Just a Mirror

2009-06-28T06:50:00.000-07:00

Life is just a mirror,
and what you see out there,
you must first see inside of you.

Wally Amos

Walk Through It Yourself

2009-06-28T06:48:00.001-07:00

Teachers open the door but
you must walk through it yourself.

Chinese Proverb

We Do Not Grow Absolutely

2009-06-26T18:01:00.000-07:00

We do not grow absolutely, chronologically.
We grow sometimes in one dimension,
and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially.
We are relative. We are mature in one realm,
childish in another. The past, present, and future
mingle and pull us backward, forward, or
fix us in the present. We are made up of
layers, cells, constellations.

Anais Nin

Wisdom

2009-06-23T15:16:00.000-07:00

Clever people master life;
the wise illuminate it and
create fresh difficulties.

Emil Nolde

Art of Living

2009-06-23T15:14:00.001-07:00

The art of living lies less
in eliminating our troubles
than in growing with them.

Unknown

All the Good

2009-06-20T11:31:00.000-07:00

No one can do all the good
that the world needs,
but the world needs all the good
that you and I can do.

Lama Surya Das

In a Gentle Way

2009-06-20T11:28:00.000-07:00

In a gentle way,
you can shake the world.

Mahatma Gandhi

Exactly as It Does

2009-06-19T17:54:00.000-07:00

Learn to wish
that everything
should come to pass
exactly as it does.

Epictetus

Flowers

2009-06-19T06:01:00.001-07:00

There are always flowers
for those who want to see them.

Henri Matisse

What to Overlook

2009-06-18T19:06:00.001-07:00

The art of being wise is
knowing what to overlook.

William James

In the Midst of Living

2009-06-18T18:55:00.000-07:00

My ideas usually come
not at my desk writing
but in the midst of living.

Anais Nin

Truly Present

2009-06-18T08:45:00.000-07:00

When truly present,
you are more
in control of situations,
you have more love,
patience, understanding,
and compassion.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Experience

2009-06-17T19:14:00.000-07:00

My experience is
what I agree to attend to.

William James

Defining Yourself

2009-06-14T07:43:00.000-07:00

When you judge another,
you do not define them,
you define yourself.

Wayne Dyer