Zen Lessons Quotes & Sayings

No ideals. No illusions. Just reality - but more perfect than you've ever imagined. That's what being mindful and living in the present means. — Lidiya K.

Feminism has fought no wars ... killed no opponents ... set up no concentration camps ... starved no enemies ... practiced no cruelty. Its battles have been for education, for the vote, for better working conditions, for safety in the streets ... for reforms in the law. — Dale Spender

Once upon a time,
there was a Zen sign
at every small railway crossing in America

Stop. Look. And listen. — Dick Allen

People get stuck a lot because they're afraid to act; in the worst case, ... we get so attached to some end result that we can't function. We need help just to move on, only life doesn't wait. — Bernie Glassman

Often we suffer because we don't realize what's essential.
We may want to be rich, but the rich are lonely.
We see all those people on TV that have won the lottery and want to be at their place, but studies show that they are even more miserable after having won the big check. They don't really know what to do with all that money, take poor decisions on how to spend them, change themselves and their friends don't see them in the same way. — Lidiya K.

The most expected thing you can expect is what's unexpected. — Dick Allen

I steeled myself for the next response. I knew it was going to be one of the Zen life lessons. [ ... ]
Instead he kissed me. — Richelle Mead

Love is an attraction. It draws one person to another even though they are a thousand miles apart. — Debasish Mridha

We all just want a life that matters!! — Dianna Donnely

Do not do that again," he said stiffly.
"Don't kiss me back then," I retorted.
He stared at me for what seemed like forever. "I don't give 'Zen lessons' to hear myself talk. I don't give them because you're another student. I'm doing this to teach you control."
"You're doing a great job," I said bitterly. — Richelle Mead

It's the group sound that's important, even when you're playing a solo. — Oscar Peterson

Mindfulness helps you understand that the past is gone, can't be changed and all the lessons are already learned. — Lidiya K.

Sometimes guitar riffs get repeated over and over ("vamping," in the lingo of musicians), but generally there is a soloist proving variation that runs above that background, lest the song sound monotonous. Philip Glass's minimalist compositions (such as the soundtrack to 'Koyaanisqatsi') deviate from much of the classical music that preceded them, with much less obvious movement than, say, the Romantic-era compositions that his work seems to rebel against, yet his works, too, consist not only of extensive repetition but also of constant (though subtle) variation. Virtually every song you've ever heard consists of exactly that: themes that recur over and over, overlaid with variations. — Gary F. Marcus

What is best for people is what they do for themselves. — Benjamin Franklin

Kids want to be grown ups, adults want to be young and careless again.
Single people desperately want a relationship, but those who are in one still complain almost all the time and wish for freedom.
The poor want money, the rich want more of it.
This means that changing your situation doesn't prevent you from suffering, doesn't make your desires go away.
So you need to change something on the inside. — Lidiya K.

You see, from where I stand, there are a couple of ways. You continue your journey and you will find your path or the path is already there and you aren't just able to see it. — Ackshat Deoli

In one of their quarrels, they had begun calling each other Mister. and Misses., and since then they had never made it up enough to change it. — Carson McCullers

A person in such a hurry seldom gets good results — Jon J. Muth

There's a void inside most people.
It's been created by not being contented with who we are, not being happy with what we have, not being present and looking for something more, better, more exciting out there.
And we've always been trying to fill this void with something external. — Lidiya K.