"Misfortunes are like a strong wind. I do not mean that it blows us off our intended path. It tears our clothes from us, and we are left as we truly are, rather than as we would like to appear."
Arthur Golden, "Memoirs of a Geisha"
"What does the marble from which a sculptor carves a masterpiece think? It thinks: ‘I am being struck, I am being destroyed, shattered; I am being violated; I am perishing.’ But marble is foolish. Life is sculpting me; it is creating a masterpiece out of me. And I must endure every blow, even if I do not understand them. I must hold on. I must calmly accept everything, help it, cooperate with it, so that it can complete its work."
Jean Cocteau
"I feel the very soul of the city in these simple, humble loaves. The whole world is relentlessly striving toward destruction, while here, every day, masterpieces are quietly baked to order." Hercule Poirot, "Murder on the Orient Express"
"Even the greatest masterpiece of literature is merely a dictionary thrown into disarray." Jean Cocteau
"Masterpieces are not born by themselves or in isolation; they are the result of years of thought nurtured collectively, by an entire people, so that behind the voice of one stands the experience of many."
Virginia Woolf, "A Room of One's Own"
"Each of us is the author of a unique creation called ‘My Life.’ And even if you have no inspiration today, you must never give up! After all, no one but you can make your life what it is meant to be. But if you find the strength within yourself, do not give up, do not shrink from difficulties and the blows of fate, then you will be able to create a true masterpiece!"
Oleg Roy
"Very little is needed for a happy life. It all depends on the person himself, on his way of thinking." Marcus Aurelius
"It is impossible to live better than by spending one's life striving to become more perfect." Socrates
"The universe is constantly working on you, transforming you both inwardly and outwardly. Every person is an unfinished creation that slowly, step by step, moves toward perfection. We are all incomplete sketches that will inevitably become finished works of art."
Elif Shafak
"The causes and effects are infinite in number and variety. Everything influences everything. In this universe, when one thing changes, everything changes. Hence the great power of human beings to change the world by changing themselves." Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
"There are no exceptions, and there can be none, for anyone in life. All of nature lives and moves according to the laws of cause and effect. And no person can escape this law of the entire universe."
Kokordiya Antarova, "Two Lives"
"The universe is a world full of wonders. I could lie for hours and look at the sky. So many stars. So many mysteries. But there is one special star; when I look at it, I remember one special person." Adam Kirk, "Parallel Worlds"
"If you cannot see the sun, do not cry—for because of your tears you will not see the stars."
(By crying for the sun at night, you fail to notice the stars.) Rabindranath Tagore
"At night, when you look at the sky, you will see my star, the one on which I live, the one on which I laugh. And you will hear that all the stars are laughing. You will have stars that know how to laugh!"
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
"The stars will remain when neither the shadows of our bodies nor our deeds remain on Earth."
Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov
"I would like to know why the stars shine. Probably so that sooner or later everyone can find their own again."
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "The Little Prince"
The four attributes of truth will spontaneously express themselves in our being. The soul will be the bearer of true and pure love, the mind of infallible knowledge, vita—life—will manifest invincible might and strength, while the body will be an expression of perfect beauty and harmony.
Sri Aurobindo
"You must love yourself without thinking about whether you deserve love or not. You are alive—that is sufficient proof that you deserve love, just as you deserve to breathe. You do not ask whether you deserve the right to breathe or not. Love is almost invisible nourishment for the soul, just as food nourishes the body. And if you are overflowing with self-love, you will be able to love others."
Osho
"Love cannot be eradicated from the earth—Love binds the earth to the heavens, Love is the winged angel of the eternal spheres; Love gives birth to Divinity in mortals."
"Love is the fundamental tone, Joy is the Music, Power is the tension, Knowledge is the performer, the infinite All is the composer and the audience."
Sri Aurobindo
"They spent their lives among good books, good thinkers, good composers, and good music—always good, yesterday and today, only good music—and they did not know that the disaster of mediocre taste is worse than the disaster of bad taste."
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak, "Doctor Zhivago"
"Whatever reality may be, it is good. Love it, rejoice in it, and relax into it. If something leaves, say goodbye. Everything changes... life flows and changes. No one remains the same; sometimes vast spaces open up, sometimes there is nowhere to move. Both are good. Both are gifts of existence. We must learn a gratitude that gives thanks for everything, whatever may happen. Simply enjoy what is happening—it, and nothing else, is happening right now. Tomorrow, perhaps one thing will change and there will be something else; then enjoy that other thing. The day after tomorrow, perhaps something third will happen. Enjoy the third. Do not compare it with the past or with useless fantasies about the future. Live in this moment. Sometimes it is hot, sometimes very cold, but both are necessary; otherwise life will disappear."
Osho
"Chess leads to spirituality because it makes us understand that there is a struggle between two forces—white and black—which symbolize good and evil, positive and negative. It makes us understand that each of us has a role, but different abilities: a pawn, a queen, or a king; yet depending on their position, all of us, even simple pawns, can deliver checkmate."
Bernard Werber, The Last Secret
"There are many phenomena close to one another,
Two-faced properties (oh, where are they not found!).
Life is the duality of such unions,
Like a thing and its shadow, matter and light."
Edgar Allan Poe
"Seeking fire, you find smoke along with it.
In learning the truth, you learn falsehood as well.
Every thing has two halves,
And without one, you cannot understand the other."
Chinese proverb
"It is dangerous to convince a person that he is entirely like an animal without showing him, at the same time, his greatness. It is no less dangerous to convince him of his greatness while saying nothing of his baseness. It is even more dangerous not to open his eyes to the duality of human nature. But it is truly beneficial to show him both sides."
Blaise Pascal, “Thoughts”
"In striving to adapt, we often disregard our true feelings or push them deeper inside, even when they are strong feelings such as passion or pain—anything at all, just to please our culture. At that moment, we become divided, violate our wholeness, and the one becomes dual." Martha Beck
