“Great truths do not take hold of the hearts of the masses. And now, as the world is in error, how shall I, though I know the true path, how shall I guide? If I know that I cannot succeed and yet try to force success, this world would be but another source of error. Better then to desist and strive no more. But if I do not strive, who will?”

“Men of the world who value the Way all turn to books. But books are nothing more than words. Words have value; what is of value in words is meaning. Meaning has something it is pursuing, but the thing that it is pursuing cannot be put into words and handed down. The world values words and hands down books but, though the world values them, I do not think them worth valuing. What the world takes to be values is not real value.”

“And how do I know that the hate of death is not like a man who has lost his home when young and does not know where his home is to return to?”

“I cannot tell if what the world considers ‘happiness’ is happiness or not. All I know is that when I consider the way they go about attaining it, I see them carried away headlong, grim and obsessed, in the general onrush of the human herd, unable to stop themselves or to change their direction. All the while they claim to be just on the point of attaining happiness.”

“Happiness is the abscence of the striving for happiness.”

“Where can I find a man who has forgotten words? He is the one I would like to talk to.”

“There is the globe,The foundation of my bodily existence.It wears me out with work and duties,It gives me rest in old age,It gives me peace in death.For the on who supplied me with what I needed in lifeWill also give me what I need in death.”