Mark Twain

Everything human is pathetic. The secret source of humor itself is not joy but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven.

There was never a century nor a country that was short of experts who knew the Deity’s mind and were willing to reveal it.

Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.

When one has tasted it Watermelon he knows what the angels eat.

I never let schooling interfere with my education.

There is a great deal of human nature in people.

The valley stream’s rushing sound is the eloquent tongue of Buddha. The mountain’s vibrant colours are nothing but the Buddha’s form.

The clergyman is expected to be a kind of human Sunday.

If anything is worth doing, do it with all your heart.

I feel the presence of a higher power. I believe that what you give is what you get. It’s universal law. I believe in the power of prayer and of words. I’ve learned that when you predict that negative things will happen, they do.

[on enlightenment] Body and mind dropped off.

God is a concept by which we measure our pain.

All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace.

I don’t know if God exists, but it would be better for His reputation if He didn’t.

What is a soul? It’s like electricity – we don’t really know what it is, but it’s a force that can light a room.

The Zen expression Kill the Buddha!” means to kill any concept of the Buddha as something apart from oneself.

Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.

Of all religions, the Christian should of course inspire the most tolerance, but until now Christians have been the most intolerant of all men.

We are desire. It is the essence of the human Soul, the secret of our existence. Absolutely nothing of human greatness is ever accomplished without it. Not a symphony has been written, a mountain climbed, an injustice fought, or a love sustained apart from desire. Desire fuels our search for the life we prize. – John Elderidge