Said a philosopher to a street sweeper, "I pity you. Yours is a
hard and dirty task."
And the street sweeper said, "Thank you, sir. But tell me what is
your task?"
And the philosopher answered saying, "I study man's mind, his
deeds and his desires."
Then the street sweeper went on with his sweeping and said with a
smile, "I pity you too."
He who listens to truth is not less than he who utters truth.
No man can draw the line between necessities and luxuries. Only the
angels can do that, and the angels are wise and wistful.
Perhaps the angels are our better thought in space.
He is the true prince who finds his throne in the heart of the
dervish.
Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than
you need.
In truth you owe naught to any man. You owe all to all men.
All those who have lived in the past live with us now. Surely none of
us would be an ungracious host.
He who longs the most lives the longest.
They say to me, "A bird in the hand is worth ten in the
bush."
But I say, "A bird and a feather in the bush is worth more than
ten birds in the hand."
Your seeking after that feather is life with winged feet;
nay, it is life itself.
There are only two elements here, beauty and truth; beauty in the
hearts of lovers, and truth in the arms of the tillers of the soil.
Great beauty captures me, but a beauty still greater frees me even
from itself.
Beauty shines brighter in the heart of him who longs for it than in
the eyes of him who sees it.
I admire him who reveals his mind to me; I honor him who unveils his
dreams. But why am I shy, and even a little ashamed before him who
serves me?
The gifted were once proud in serving princes.
Now they claim honor in serving paupers.
The angels know that too many practical men eat their bread with the
sweat of the dreamer's brow.
Wit is often a mask. If you could tear it you would find either a
genius irritated or cleverness juggling.
The understanding attributes to me understanding and the dull,
dullness. I think they are both right.
Only those with secrets in their hearts could divine the secrets in
our hearts.
He who would share your pleasure but not your pain shall lose the key
to one of the seven gates of Paradise.
Yes, there is a Nirvanah; it is in leading your sheep to a green
pasture, and in putting your child to sleep, and in writing the last
line of your poem.
We choose our joys and our sorrows long before we experience them.
Sadness is but a wall between two gardens.
When either your joy or your sorrow becomes great the world becomes
small.
Desire is half of life; idifference is half of death.
The bitterest thing in our today's sorrow is the memory of our
yesterday's joy.
They say to me, "You must needs choose between the pleasures of
this world and the peace of the next world."
And I say to them, "I have chosen both the delights of this world
and the peace of the next. For I know in my heart that the Supreme
Poet wrote but one poem, and it scans perfectly, and it also rhymes
perfectly."
Faith is an oasis in the heart which will never be reached by the
caravan of thinking.
When you reach your height you shall desire but only for desire; and
you shall hunger, for hunger; and you shall thirst for greater thirst.
If you reveal your secrets to the wind you should not blame the wind
for revealing them to the trees.
The flowers of spring are winter's dreams related at the breakfast
table of the angels.
Said a skunk to a tube-rose, "See how swiftly I run, while you
cannot walk nor even creep."
Said the tube-rose to the skunk, "Oh, most noble swift runner,
please run swiftly!"
Turtles can tell more about roads than hares.
Strange that creatures without backbones have the hardest shells.
The most talkative is the least intelligent, and there is hardly a
difference between an orator and an auctioneer.
Be grateful that you do not have to live down the renown of a father
nor the wealth of an uncle.
But above all be grateful that no one will have to live down either
your renown or your wealth.
Only when a juggler misses catching his ball does he appeal to me.
The envious praises me unknowingly.
Long were you a dream in your mother's sleep, and then she woke to
give you birth.
The germ of the race is in your mother's longing.
My father and mother desired a child and they begot me.
And I wanted a mother and a father and I begot night and the sea.
Some of our children are our justifications and some are but our
regrets.
When night comes and you too are dark, lie down and be dark with a
will.
And when morning comes and you are still dark stand up and say to the
day with a will, "I am still dark."
It is stupid to play a role with the night and the day.
They would both laugh at you.
The mountain veiled in mist is not a hill; an oak tree in the rain is
not a weeping willow.
Behold here is a paradox; the deep and high are nearer to one another
than the mid-level to either.
When I stood a clear mirror before you, you gazed into me and saw your
image.
Then you said, "I love you."
But in truth you loved yourself in me.
When you enjoy loving your neighbor it ceases to be a virtue.
Love which is not always springing is always dying.
You cannot have youth and the knowledge of it at the same time;
For youth is too busy living to know, and knowledge is too busy
seeking itself to live.
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