Latest Quotes

“We’re the worst terrorists in the world and it was a long time coming. This entire country was built on the slaughter of innocents.”

— Anonymous, Humans of New York

“The leaders would nod their heads, and say ‘thank you very much,’ but then nothing would change. Unless there was an economic benefit, nobody cared about protecting children, or empowering women, or stopping genocide.”

— Anonymous, Humans of New York

“People’s lives are defined by the search for bread.”

— Anonymous, Humans of New York

“What is anonymity if not a social face mask and sweeping enabler of false courage?”

— Mark Leibovich, The Consequences of Our Consequence-Free Society

“Your mind can’t do its job if it’s filled with inflexible ideologies and judgments. A degree of emptiness is required to let thoughts come and go without letting them sit around and go stale. Meditation encourages this flow of ideas. Metaphorically, the in and out movements of the breath provide a f…”

— Charlie Ambler, Finding Emptiness

“The Western mind tends to have a really hard time adapting to the most important concepts in Zen. As a result, the type of Zen that is usually sold to large audiences is not Zen at all, but a sort-of goal-oriented New Age spirituality labeled as Zen. It is much easier to read a few books than it is…”

— Charlie Ambler, Finding Emptiness

“Thirty spokes share the wheel’s hub; It is the center hole that makes it useful. Shape clay into a vessel; It is the space within that makes it useful. Cut doors and windows for a room; It is the holes which make it useful. Therefore profit comes from what is there; Usefulness from what is not there…”

— Tao Te Ching, The Way of Lao Tzu

“Emptiness which is conceptually liable to be mistaken for sheer nothingness is in fact the reservoir of infinite possibilities.”

— D.T. Suzuki, An Introduction to Zen Buddhism

“A degree of attachment occurs whenever you stumble upon something you like. It could be something you find visually appealing, pleases you, or aligns with your perceived goals and purpose in life. Over time, people begin to associate their sense of purpose with the attachments that provide them with…”

— Charlie Ambler, Healthy Detachment

“As soon as you fear losing someone, you dehumanize them. Remember: they don’t belong to you. No one belongs to anyone. Instead, be grateful for the presence of others in your life while they are around.”

— Charlie Ambler, Healthy Detachment

“When the year seems new, the canvas of my life seems fresh and untainted. I am unburdened; blissfully oblivious of how quickly time flies. I set goals and intentions for how I’ll live and how I’ll grow. I resolve to be better. The weight of the last year lifts for a moment, and I feel as though I ca…”

— Abby Larson, Life Is Fleeting, But We Must Press On

“Only the young have such moments.”

— Joseph Conrad, The Shadow Line; a confession

“The driveway began to dip to the long pitch of the bluff.”

— William Sloane, The Rim of Morning: Two Tales of Cosmic Horror

“Not every 13-year-old girl is accused of murder, brought to trial, and found guilty.”

— Avi, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

“If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book.”

— Lemony Snicket, The Bad Beginning: Or, Orphans! (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 1)

“Almost all our discovers are due to our violences, to the exacerbation of our instability.”

— E. M. Cioran, The Temptation to Exist

“riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.”

— James Joyce, Finnegans Wake (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin)

“She's really, really rich. Besides I love her.”

— Jill Eisenstadt, Kiss Out

“All natural movements of the soul are controlled by laws analogous to those of physical gravity.”

— Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace (Routledge Classics)

“East of my home, the long ridge lies across the skyline like the low hull of a submarine.”

— J.A. Baker, The Peregrine (New York Review Books Classics)