Even when we do receive good advice, it is easy to ignore it or misinterpret it. The places where we are stuck, those difficult layers of fear and attachment, the points of self-delusion and unworthiness we will encounter are many. They come in everyone's practice, and the more educated and competent we believe ourselves to be, the slower the climb and the more foolhardy our falls.

To take the one seat is to discover we are unshakeable.

- Jack Kornfield, American writer, psychologist, and Buddhist teacher

A kind of light spread out from her. And everything changed color. And the world opened out. And a day was good to awaken to. And there were no limits to anything. And the people of the world were good and handsome. And I was not afraid anymore.

- John Steinbeck, Nobel Prize winning American author, from his book East of Eden.

We are candles, lit by the one great flame. The breath of life does not extinguish us; on the contrary, it only serves our flame to blaze brighter. Here, in the temple of one love, there is no flickering or smoke to our flame. We are natural in our purpose, simply to bring the warmth and light of love to life. We dance, though we are stillness. We are on fire, though we do not burn.

There is a flame that must be safeguarded. In truth, it can never be extinguished. It is the light that never goes out. Even with such enduring power, our recognition and respect of this flame is essential to human development. This flame is holy and lies within each human heart.

- Alana Fairchild, Australian author

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet and educator

If you want to be free, learn to live simply.

Use what you have and be content where you are. Quit trying to solve your problems by moving to another place, by changing mates or careers.

Leave your car in the garage. If you have a gun, put it away. Sell that complex computer and go back to using pencil and paper. Rather than read every new book that comes along, reread the classics.

Eat food grown locally. Wear simple, durable clothing. Keep a small home, uncluttered and easy to clean. Keep an open calendar with periods of uncommitted time. Have a spiritual practice and let family customs grow.

Of course, the world is full of novelty and adventures. New opportunities come along every day.

So what?

- John Heider, The Tao of Leadership

We cast a shadow on something wherever we stand, and it is no good moving from place to place to save things; because the shadow always follows. Choose a place where you won't do harm...and stand in it for all you are worth facing the sunshine.

- E.M. Forster, English author.

HELPED are those who are content to be themselves; they will never lack mystery in their lives and the joys of self-discovery will be constant.

HELPED are those who love the entire cosmos rather than their own tiny country, city, or farm, for to them will be shown the unbroken web of life and the meaning of infinity.

HELPED are those who live in quietness, knowing neither brand name nor fad; they shall live every day as if in eternity, and each moment shall be as full as it is long.

HELPED are those who love others unsplit off from their faults; to them will be given clarity of vision.

HELPED are those who create anything at all, for they shall relive the thrill of their own conception, and realize a partnership in the creation of the Universe that keeps them responsible and cheerful.

HELPED are those who love the Earth, their mother, and who willingly suffer that she may not die; in their grief over her pain they will weep rivers of blood, and in their joy in her lively response to love, they will converse with the trees.

HELPED are those whose ever act is a prayer for harmony in the Universe, for they are the restorers of balance to our planet. To them will be given the insight that every good act done anywhere in the cosmos welcomes the life of an animal or a child.

HELPED are those who risk themselves for others' sakes; to them will be given increasing opportunities for ever greater risks. Theirs will be a vision of the world in which no one's gift is despised or lost.

HELPED are those who strive to give up their anger; their reward will be that in any confrontation their first thoughts will never be of violence or of war.

HELPED are those whose every act is a prayer for peace; on them depends the future of the world.

HELPED are those who forgive; their reward shall be forgiveness of every evil done to them. It will be in their power, therefore, to envision the new Earth.

HELPED are those who are shown the existence of the Creator's magic in the Universe; they shall experience delight and astonishment without ceasing.

HELPED are those who laugh with a pure heart; theirs will be the company of the jolly righteous.

HELPED are those who love all the colors of all the human beings, as they love all the colors of the animals and plants; none of their children, nor any of their ancestors, nor any parts of themselves, shall be hidden from them.

HELPED are those who love the lesbian, the gay, and the straight, as they love the sun, the moon, and the stars. None of their children, nor any of their ancestors, nor any parts of themselves, shall be hidden from them.

HELPED are those who love the broken and the whole; none of their children, nor any of their ancestors, nor any parts of themselves, shall be hidden from them.

HELPED are those who do not join mobs; theirs shall be the understanding that to attack in anger is to murder in confusion.

HELPED are those who find the courage to do at least one small thing each day to help the existence of another--plant, animal, river, or human being. They shall be joined by a multitude of the timid.

HELPED are those who lose their fear of death; theirs is the power to envision the future in a blade of grass.

HELPED are those who love and actively support the diversity of life; they shall be secure in their differences.

HELPED are those who KNOW.

- Alice Walker,  American novelist, short story writer, poet, social activist, and the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you until it seems that you cannot hold on for a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time when the tide will turn.

- Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author and abolitionist

We want the world to allow the unconditional fulfillment of all our aspirations, and since this does not happen, we fall prey to suffering. Our search for happiness is more often founded on our illusions than on reality. It is pointless to try to shape the world to fit out desires: we must transform our minds.

- Matthieu Ricard, born in France in 1946 and son of French philosopher Jean-François Revel and painter Yahne Le Toumelin, is a Buddhist monk, author of books, translator and photographer.

The great heroes on this path
are unknown and unsung.
Throughout the ages they have worked
with humble simplicity,
merely one person helping another
through the ordinary trials of life.

Looking to experts will make us lose our way.
The power of the Tao
comes from within each person's heart.
We merely help reveal this power
to those for whom we care.

- The Caregiver's Tao Te Ching, by William and Nancy Martin