Takuan Quotes & Sayings

It is the very mind itself that leads the mind astray - of the mind, do not be mindless — Takuan Soho

One is not likely to achieve understanding from the explanation of another. — Takuan Soho

If you follow the present-day world, you will turn your back on the Way; if you would not turn your back on the Way, do not follow the world. — Takuan Soho

I loved them too and while you might lay a greater claim to them, I defy you to miss your wife any more than I'll miss my best friend or your child, who was every inch a son to me. — Fiona McIntosh

Fear not the waking world, my mortal,
Fear not the flat, synthetic blood,
Nor the heart in the ribbing metal.
Fear not the tread, the seeded milling,
The trigger and scythe, the bridal blade,
Nor the flint in the lover's mauling. — Dylan Thomas

Music doth extenuate fears furies appeaseth cruelty abateth heaviness and to such as are wakeful it causeth quiet rest; it cures all irksomeness and heaviness of soul. — Cassiodorus

Basketball talent is basketball talent, no matter if it comes from the suburbs or the city. Take the time to know and understand me before you judge me. Only God can do that. Roses do grow from concrete! — Chris Webber

If you can sit here and talk to a person you don't know very well, and talk about all these things you've been through - that's something. That's courage. It's knowing yourself. — Hector Tobar

The topography of literature, the fact in fiction,is one of my pleasures
I mean, where the living road enters the pages of a book, and you are able to stroll along both the real and imagined road. — Paul Theroux

I'm devoted to promiscuity, and always have been. I believe the more you do, the better it is for you. I'm a great health nut, and sex is, I think, absolutely marvelous for the whole system; tones you up. — Gore Vidal

Zen is to have the heart and soul of a little child. — Takuan Soho

One may explain water, but the mouth will not become wet. One may expound fully on the nature of fire, but the mouth will not become hot. — Takuan Soho

When one practices discipline and moves from the beginner's territory to immovable wisdom, one makes a return and falls back to the level of the beginner. — Takuan Soho

Completely forget about the mind and you will do all things well — Takuan Soho

When this No-Mind has been well developed, the mind does not stop with one thing nor does it lack any one thing. It appears appropriately when facing a time of need. — Takuan Soho

When a person does not think, "Where shall I put it?" the mind will extend throughout the entire body and move to any place at all ... The effort not to stop the mind in just one place - this is discipline. Not stopping the mind is object and essence. Put it nowhere and it will be everywhere. Even in moving the mind outside the body, if it is sent in one direction, it will be lacking in nine others. If the mind is not restricted to just one direction, it will be in all ten. — Takuan Soho

One does not divine this by impressions or knowledge. What this means is that no matter how much you try to figure or calculate by means of impressions or knowledge, it will not prove the least bit useful. Therefore, separate yourself from the discrimination of figuring things out. — Takuan Soho

The Jews supplied the contacts for international trade, sometimes in competition to the Venetians, the word Ghetto itself comes from the Venetians, it was an Island in the Venice lagoon, and they had their own part of Corfu town, — Maurice Price

Whether that is me retiring, staying here or going somewhere else, it will be on my terms. I've made it to this point, and I felt great that I have the choice to make it for myself. — Ray Allen

When you look at a tree, se it for its leafs, its branches, its trunk and the roots, then and only then will you see the tree — Takuan Soho

Greatness is not the effect of which inspiration is the cause. We are all inspired, but we are all not great. — Ned Rorem

Consider the core of the mind to be a wagon, with will-power to be carried about in it. Push it to a place where there can be failure, and there will be failure. Push it to a place where there can be success, and there will be success. But whether there is success or failure, if one entrusts himself to the straightness of this wagon of the core of the mind, he will attain right-mindedness in either case. Severing oneself from desire and being like a rock or tree, nothing will ever be achieved. Not departing from desire, but realizing a desireless right-mindedness - this is the Way. — Takuan Soho

Sever the edge between before and after. — Takuan Soho

When we really connect to that place of wisdom and strength and understanding, everything becomes easier. — Arianna Huffington

We cannot live on probabilities. The faith in which we can live bravely and die in peace must be a certainty, so far as it professes to be a faith at all, or it is nothing. — James Anthony Froude

She stands beside Corr, looking up at him.
I want her to love him — Maggie Stiefvater

When facing a single tree, if you look at a single one of its red leaves, you will not see all the others. When the eye is not set on one leaf, and you face the tree with nothing at all in mind, any number of leaves are visible to the eye without limit. But if a single leaf holds the eye, it will be as if the remaining leaves were not there. — Takuan Soho

Soybeans really need an uplift, being on the dull side, but, like dull people, respond readily to the right contacts. — Irma S. Rombauer

Presumably, as a Martial artist, I do not fight for gain or loss, am not concerned with strength or weakness, and neither advance a step nor retreat a step. The enemy does not see me. I do not see the enemy. Penetrating to a place where heaven and earth have not yet divided, where yin and yang have not yet arrived, I quickly and necessarily gain effect. — Takuan Soho

Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won't see the tree.
Preoccupied with a single tree, you'll miss the entire forest. — Takuan Soho

The Buddha and all sentient beings are not two. — Takuan Soho

Shonin: I have composed a poem. Kokushi: Let's hear it. Shonin: When I chant, Both Buddha and self Cease to exist. There is only the voice that says, Namu Amida Butsu. Kokushi: Something's wrong with the last couple of lines, don't you think? (after a lapse of time) Shonin: This is how I've written it: When I chant, Both Buddha and self Cease to exist. Namu Amida Butsu. Kokushi: There! You got it! — Takuan Soho

Takuan Soho stated, Each action of the warrior is performed from a place of fundamental wisdom ... it is completely different from the ordinary behavior of a fool. Even if it looks the same, it is different on the inside. — Bohdi Sanders