Happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which if you will sit down read more

Happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.

To banish cares, scare away sorrow and soothe pain is the business of the poet and singer.

To banish cares, scare away sorrow and soothe pain is the business of the poet and singer.

Shall you cry because roses have thorns, or rejoice because thorns have roses?

Shall you cry because roses have thorns, or rejoice because thorns have roses?

Tearless grief bleeds inwardly.

Tearless grief bleeds inwardly.

There is no coming to consciousness without pain.

There is no coming to consciousness without pain.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage read more

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Man could not live if he were entirely impervious to sadness. Many sorrows can be endured only by being embraced, read more

Man could not live if he were entirely impervious to sadness. Many sorrows can be endured only by being embraced, and the pleasure taken in them naturally has a somewhat melancholy character. So, melancholy is morbid only when it occupies too much place in life; but it is equally morbid for it to be wholly excluded from life.

There is no such thing as happiness, only lesser shades of melancholy.

There is no such thing as happiness, only lesser shades of melancholy.

When one is rising, standing, walking, doing something, stopping, one should constantly concentrate one's mind on the act and the read more

When one is rising, standing, walking, doing something, stopping, one should constantly concentrate one's mind on the act and the doing of it, not one ones' relation to the act or its character or value... One should simply practice concentration of the mind on the act itself, understanding it to be an expedient means for attaining tranquility of mind, realization, insight, and wisdom.