“Don’t return to your native town:you can’t teach the truth there.By the village stream an old womanis calling you by your childhood name.”

“Chanting is no more holy than listening to the murmur of a stream, couting prayer beads no more scared than simply breathing, religious robed no more spiritual than work clothes.”

“Before the sparrow arrived, you had almost stopped thinking about flight. Then, last winter, it soared through the sky and landed in front of you, or more precisely on the windowsill of the covered balcony adjoining your bedroom. You knew the grimy window panes were caked with dead ants and dust, and smelt as sour as the curtains. But the sparrow wasn’t put off. It jumped inside the covered balcony and ruffled its feathers, releasing a sweet smell of tree bark into the air. Then it flew into your bedroom, landed on your chest and stayed there like a cold egg.”

“What is firmly rooted cannot be pulled out.”

“Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.”

“Where is that man who has forgotten words that I may have a word with him?”

“Pursue that which is not meddlesome.”