Alan Watts

Join the dance.

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.

The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.

Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.

You are a function of what the whole universe is doing in the same way that a wave is a function of what the whole ocean is doing.

If you really understand Zen, you can use any book, even the dictionary, because the sound of the rain needs no translation.

If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliche that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that’s his problem. Love and peace are eternal.

An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it.

The basis of peace should be a world federation.

Public opinion is held in reverence. It settles everything. Some think it is the voice of God.

Talent does what it can; genius does what it must.

It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native criminal class except Congress.

Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.

You must learn that you do not have to be angry just because you have the right to be.

This ain’t my first rodeo son!

What I have never been afraid of is to be a little silly, and you can engage people that way!

Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.

One day I will kiss you, kiss you with lips that understand, kiss you with lips that can better explain, that can speak in so many languages. They will know how to say I love you in ways you have never heard, in ways that sound unlike anything any other man has mouthed before, false promises and fairy tales they did not ever believe in. One day I will kiss you, pressed words between your lips. I will kiss you and they will rattle between your teeth, run down your throat, and fill your lungs. They will echo against your ribs, they will reverberate through your limbs, they will dress every corner you’ve kept sadness hidden away until all that grows inside of you is the understanding that you are enough. One day I will tell you all about my paper napkin theories, algorithms I formed that demonstrate how the sum of all that you are, is greater than infinity, but to me you have always been the one.

If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they get smart just in time to ask questions?

The way out of life and death is not some special technique; essential thing is to penetrate to the root of life and death.

The best leaders are those most interested in surrounding themselves with assistants and associates smarter than they are. They are frank in admitting this and are willing to pay for such talents.