“One man watches a river flow by. If he does not wish it to flow, to change ceaselessly in accord with its nature, he will suffer great pain. Another man understands that nature of the river is to change constantly, regardless of his likes and dislikes, and therefore he does not suffer. To know existence as this flow, empty of lasting pleasure, void of self, is to find that which is stable and free of suffering, to find true peace in the world.” IfsKnowsMenWorldDoeSelfPainSufferingWishPleasureExistenceWatchesFlowRiversEmptyLikesLastingOne ManDislikeVoidStableAnother ManAccordTrue PeaceLikes And Dislikes Author:Ajahn Chah
“There are many things worth telling that are not quite narrative. And eternity itself possesses no beginning, middle or end. Fossils, arrowheads, castle ruins, empty crosses: from the Parthenon to the Bo Tree to a grown man's or woman's old stuffed bear, what moves us about many objects is not what remains but what has vanished. There comes a time, thanks to rivers, when a few beautiful old teeth are all that remain of the two-hundred-foot spires of life we call trees. There comes a river, whose current is time, that does a similar sculpting in the mind.” MenMindDoeTwoEndsBeautifulMovingTreeFeetMiddleObjectsBearsHundredRiversCrossesEmptyEternityRemainsCurrentsTeethRuinsThanksNarrativeFossilsCastlesThere Comes A TimeGrown ManSculptingAll That RemainsSpiresParthenon Author:David James Duncan
“One afternoon late in October of the year 1697, Euclide Auclair, the philosopher apothecary of Quebec, stood on the top of Cap Diamant gazing down the broad, empty river far beneath him.” YearsBookLateRiversEmptyPhilosopherBroadsAfternoonCapsOctoberGazingQuebecApothecary Author:Willa Cather
“If a man is crossing the river and an empty boat collides with his skiff, even though he is a bad tempered man he will not become very angry. But if he sees a man in the other boat he will scream and shout and curse at the man to steer clear. If you can empty your own boat crossing the river of the world, no one will oppose you, no one will seek to harm you. Thus is the perfect man - his boat is empty.” IfsMenWorldPerfectClearHe ManRiversEmptyAngryHarmBoatCurseScreamCrossingsSteersPerfect ManCollideBad Temper Author:Zhuangzi
“In a river mist, if another boat knocks against yours, you might yell at the other fellow to stay clear. But if you notice then, that it's an empty boat, adrift with nobody aboard, you stop yelling. When you discover that all the others are drifting boats, there's no one to yell at. And when you find out you are an empty boat, there's no one to yell.” IfsMightClearRiversEmptyFellowsBoatMistYellingDriftingAdrift Author:Zhuangzi
“It turns out - this is a metaphor out of [Charles] Dickens - that the raw sewage emptied into the Anacostia comes from the Federal Triangle. I have a sewer map, and on it you can see the pipe from which congressional wastes empty into the river that then flows through the black neighborhoods of Washington, D.C. It is very expensive to do anything about the river, but somebody's working on it.” TurnsBlackWasteFlowRiversEmptyMetaphorExpensiveNeighborhoodMapsPipeDickensTrianglesSewersSewage Author:Robert Hass
“That country where it is always turning late in the year. That country where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist; where noons go quickly, dusks and twilights linger, and midnights stay. That country composed in the main of cellars, sub-cellars, coal-bins, closets, attics, and pantries faced away from the sun. That country whose people are autumn people, thinking only autumn thoughts. Whose people passing at night on the empty walks sound like rain.” PeopleThinkingYearsCountryNightSoundWalksSunQuietLateRainRiversEmptyPassingPassingsHillsAutumnTwilightClosetsCoalMidnightFogMistNoonDuskCellarsAtticsPantry Book:THE OCTOBER COUNTRY Source: THE OCTOBER COUNTRY
“No, life cannot be understood flat on a page. It has to be lived; a person has to get out of his head, has to fall in love, has to memorize poems, has to jump off bridges into rivers, has to stand in an empty desert and whisper sonnets under his breath... We get one story, you and I, and one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting and the climax and resolution. It would be a crime not to venture out, wouldn't it?" -Donald Miller,Through Painted Deserts” PersonsStoriesWould BeFallCrimeElementsPagesUnderstoodRiversEmptyBreathsFalling In LoveSettingSettingsDesertBridgesFlatsResolutionVentureSonnetClimax Book:Through Painted Deserts: Light, God, and Beauty on the Open Road Source: Through Painted Deserts: Light, God, and Beauty on the Open Road
“The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers and cities; but to know someone who thinks and feels with us, and who, though distant, is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden.” IfsThinkingKnowsWorldInspirationalFeelsEarthSpiritNatureFriendshipCommunityCitiesMountainGardenRiversEmptyFriendship Garden Author:Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“I call the light and high aspects of my being spirit and the dark and heavy aspects soul. Soul is at home in the deep, shaded valleys. Heavy torpid flowers saturated with black grow there. The rivers flow like warm syrup. They empty into huge oceans of soul. Spirit is a land of high white peaks and glittering jewel-like lakes and flowers. Life is sparse and sounds travel great distances. There is soul music, soul food, and soul love... People need to climb the mountain not simple because it is there But because the soulful divinity needs to be mated with the spirit.” PeopleNeedsSoulHomeLightLife IsSpiritGrowsSoundBlackDarkSimpleWhiteLandFlowerHugeMountainOceanAspectFlowRiversEmptyDistanceHeavyWarmDivinityClimbsLakesValleysJewelsSoulfulSaturatedMusic SoulSyrupFood For The SoulFlower Life Author:Dalai Lama
“For years I walked around with the phrase "Green River" because I had seen that on a soda fountain drink when I was probably 8 or 9 years old, and I went, 'Gee, I like that.' Another one was "Lodi", which I thought sounded really cool. I got this cheap little empty plastic notebook at my local drugstore, and bought a little slab of filler paper and the very first title I wrote in it was "Proud Mary". I had no idea what that title meant.” YearsFirstsLittlesIdeasProudDrinkPaperRiversEmptyGreenLocalsNo IdeaTitlesPhrasesSongwritingPlasticMaryFountainNotebookReally CoolSodaSlabsFillers Author:John Fogerty
“How many of us go through our days parched and empty, thirsting after happiness, when we're really standing knee-deep in the river of abundance?” InspirationalStandingRiversEmptyKneesAbundanceHippie Author:Sarah Ban Breathnach