2024: Index B

Baba Ram Dass - A00004

"The quieter you become the more you can hear."

 

Bacon, Francis - A00005

 "Begin doing what you want to do now.  We are not living in eternity.  We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand -- and melting like a snowflake."  

Baker, Nicholson - A00017

""Carpe diem" doesn't mean seize the day -- it means something gentler and more sensible.  "Carpe diem" means pluck the day .... What Horace had in mind was that you should gently pull on the day's stem, as if it were, say a wildflower or an olive, holding it with all the practiced care of your thumb and the side of your finger. ... Pick the day, harvest the day, reap the day, mow the day, forage the day.  Don't freaking grab the day in your fist like a burger at a fairground and take a big chomping bite out of it." (05/16/2023)

Basho, Matsuo - A00030

"All who have achieved real excellence in any art possess one thing in common, that is, a mind to obey nature, to be one with nature, throughout the four seasons of the year."  (08/25/2023)

Baughman, Michael - A00013

"Many men fish all their lives without realizing it is not the fish they are after."  (04/12/2023)

Beck, Charlotte Joko - A00014

"Enlightenment is not something you achieve.  It is the absence of something.  All your life you have been going forward after something, pursuing some goal.  Enlightenment is dropping all that.  But to talk about it is of little use.  The practice has to be done by each individual.  There is no substitute.  We can read about it until we are a thousand years old and it won't do a thing for us.  We all have to practice, and we have to practice with all of our might for the rest of our lives."  (04/06/2023)

Benedict of Nursia (Saint Benedict) - A00011

"Listen carefully to the master's instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart."  [Prologue to the Rule of Saint Benedict] (01/22/2023)

Bernhardt, Sarah - A00006

"Life begets life.  Energy begets energy.  It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich."

Botton, Alain de - A00007

"Awe is everywhere, we just don't always perceive it." 

Brach, Tara - A00018

"There is something wonderfully bold and liberating about saying Yes to our entire imperfect and messy life.  With even a glimmer of that possibility, joy rushes in."  (04/22/2023)

Branson, Richard - A00008

"Treat failure as a lesson on how not to approach achieving a goal, and then use that learning to improve your chances of success when you try again.  Failure is only the end if you decide to stop."

Buddha, The - A00009

"A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but if he is peaceful, loving and fearless then he is in truth called wise."

"Be a lamp to yourself.  Be your own confidence. Hold to the truth within yourself, as to the only truth."  (06/03/2023)

"Believe nothing, O monks, merely because you have been told it or because it is traditional, or because you yourselves have imagined it.  Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher.  But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings -- in that doctrine believe and cling to and take it as your guide."  (06/07/2023)

"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened.  Happiness never decreases by being shared."

Buddhist Chant - A00009

"All things in this world are impermanent. They have the nature to rise and pass away.  To be in harmony with this truth brings true happiness." 

Buddhist Saying - A00009

"Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck."  [Tibetan Buddhist Saying] (01/05/2023)