Whatever it is you’re seeking won’t come in the form you’re expecting
— Haruki Murakami (via nuuro)
*When you are in it up to your ears, keep your mouth shut.
Lazlo’s Chinese Relativity Axiom: No matter how great your
triumphs or how tragic your defeats—-approximately one billion
Chinese couldn’t care less.
Desiderata
Max Ehrmann
Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy. Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.
The winners
- When the night is thick and the tracks are blind
- A friend at a pinch is a friend, indeed,
- But a fool to wait for the laggard behind.
- Down to Gehenna or up to the Throne,
- He travels the fastest who travels alone.
- White hands cling to the tightened rein,
- Slipping the spur from the booted heel,
- Tenderest voices cry " Turn again!"
- Red lips tarnish the scabbarded steel,
- High hopes faint on a warm hearth-stone--
- He travels the fastest who travels alone.
- One may fall but he falls by himself--
- Falls by himself with himself to blame.
- One may attain and to him is pelf--
- Loot of the city in Gold or Fame.
- Plunder of earth shall be all his own
- Who travels the fastest and travels alone.
- Wherefore the more ye be helpen-.en and stayed,
- Stayed by a friend in the hour of toil,
- Sing the heretical song I have made--
- His be the labour and yours be the spoil.
- Win by his aid and the aid disown--
- He travels the fastest who travels alone!
- Rudyard Kipling
After a long day on my bicycle, I feel refreshed, cleansed, purified. I feel that I have established contact with my environment and that I am at peace. On days like that I am permeated with a profound gratitude for my bicycle. Even if I did not enjoy riding, I would still do it for my peace of mind. What a wonderful tonic to be exposed to bright sunshine, drenching rain, choking dust, dripping fog, rigid air, punishing winds!
—
Paul de Vivie
So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.
- Christopher McCandless (via Ross Thomas)
