Thomas Jefferson

Never spend your money before you have it.

In matters of style, swim with the current;In matters of principle, stand like a rock.

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

To preserve their independence, we must not let our rules load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude.

I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.

Harmonizing opposites by going back to their source is the distinctive quality of the Zen attitude, the Middle Way: embracing contradictions, making a synthesis of them, achieving balance.

Children, Fear God; that is to say, have an holy awe upon your minds to avoid that which is evil, and a strict care to embrace and do that which is good.

When the student is ready the teacher will appear.

Jesus tapped me on the shoulder and said, Bob, why are you resisting me? I said, I’m not resisting you! He said, You gonna follow me? I said, I’ve never thought about that before! He said, When you’re not following me, you’re resisting me.

I would like to believe there is a God, but I think it is better to say I’m not sure there is a God and live your life with kindness and respect for people than to say I know there is a God and then do bad things,

Well, I don’t know, but I’ve been told the streets in heaven are lined with gold. I ask you how things could get much worse if the Russians happen to get up there first; Wowee! pretty scary!

To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.

Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others is the ultimate source of success in life.

The greatest impurity is ignorance. Free yourself from it. Be pure.

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

What a good thing Adam had. When he said a good thing he knew nobody had said it before.

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

Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts.

I’m an atheist and I thank God for it.

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