Ryokan Poems Quotes & Sayings

How much is a life worth? This question is the first that enters Zoey's mind each morning, and it is the last she thinks before falling off to sleep every night. Can a price be put on such a thing? And if it could be, would one ever be able to pay it? — Joe Hart

As our leader Saddam Hussein said, 'God is grilling their stomachs in hell.' — Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahaf

When you act like a nice guy, everyone examines your motives with a microscope. When you act like a conscienceless louse, they generally take you at face value. — Donald Hamilton

The fatherless son had two new moons in his forty days in the wilderness, the second one telling him it was time to become God and enter the beast of history. — Jim Harrison

Too lazy to be ambitious,
I let the world take care of itself.
Ten days' worth of rice in my bag;
a bundle of twigs by the fireplace.
Why chatter about delusion and enlightenment?
Listening to the night rain on my roof,
I sit comfortably, with both legs stretched out. — Ryokan

The two go hand in hand like a dance: chance flirts with necessity, randomness with determinism. To be sure, it is from this interchange that novelty and creativity arise in Nature, thereby yielding unique forms and novel structures. — Eric Chaisson

In the parable of the ten virgins, Jesus is clearly saying that prior to his return the whole church will be asleep (Mt. 25:5), not just the foolish virgins but the wise as well. This verse turned my thinking upside down. No matter how I looked at it, no matter what commentary I read, no one had an adequate answer for what this verse really says. Denomination Presidents, Seminary Professors, Pastors and everyone in the pews: Jesus is telling us that we're all snoozing. — Nelson Walters

It's a tough universe kid. Dirty. Vicious. What the Empire doesn't screw up directly the rest of us screw up in fear of, or anger at, the Empire. — Simon Goodson

Eh, I'll just get another computer. This will be my Disney trip computer." My parents had boxes of photos in their closets. Now we have old computers in our closets. "Hey, honey, there's our wedding computer." "There's my computer from when I was single. I guess I should destroy that one. — Jim Gaffigan

a certain stink on a certain kind of soul, a foul scent of hateful smallness too often thwarted . . . then given an ounce of power. — Cherie Priest