Unless a tree has borne blossoms in spring, you will vainly look for fruit on it in autumn.

Unless a tree has borne blossoms in spring, you will vainly look for fruit on it in autumn.

If you seek, how is that different from pursuing sound and form? If you don't seek, how are you different read more

If you seek, how is that different from pursuing sound and form? If you don't seek, how are you different from earth, wood, or stone? You must seek without seeking.

The wise does at once what the fool does at last.

The wise does at once what the fool does at last.

The reason for the slow progress of the world seems to lie in a single fact. Every man is born read more

The reason for the slow progress of the world seems to lie in a single fact. Every man is born under the yoke, and grows up beneath the oppressions of his age. He can only get a vision of the unselfish forces in the world by appealing to them, and every appeal is a call to arms. If he fights he must fight, not one man, but a conspiracy. He is always at war with a civilization. On his side is proverbial philosophy, a galaxy of invisible saints and sages, and the half-developed consciousness and professions of everybody. Against him is the world, and every selfish passion in his own heart.

I've had a few arguments with people, but I never carry a grudge. You know
why? While you're carrying a read more

I've had a few arguments with people, but I never carry a grudge. You know
why? While you're carrying a grudge, they're out dancing.

It is not necessary to hope in order to understand, nor to succeed in order to persevere.

It is not necessary to hope in order to understand, nor to succeed in order to persevere.

Many a man is praised for his reserve and so-called shyness when he is simply too proud to risk making read more

Many a man is praised for his reserve and so-called shyness when he is simply too proud to risk making a fool of himself. - All About Ourselves and Other Essays.

Oh, sons of earth! attempt ye still to rise.
By mountains pil'd on mountains to the skies?
read more

Oh, sons of earth! attempt ye still to rise.
By mountains pil'd on mountains to the skies?
Heav'n still with laughter the vain toil surveys,
And buries madmen in the heaps they raise.

It's not enough that I should succeed -- others should fail.

It's not enough that I should succeed -- others should fail.