Human Stain

““It is easy, when you are young, to believe that what you desire is no less than what you deserve, to assume that if you want something badly enough, it is your God-given right to have it.””

“The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free.”

“Intelligence is not measured by how much you know, but by how much you have the capacity to learn.”

“How long have you been holding those words in your head, hoping to use them?”

“What makes earth feel like hell is our expectation that it should feel like heaven.”

“The ultimate meditation is: surrender to reality. The more you fight, the more you are in conflict with it, the more you will be a loser. In deep surrender, the ego disappears. And when the ego is not there, for the first time you become aware of that which has always been there.”

“I don’t hate you.. I just don’t like that you exist.”

“Impermanence is something many people struggle with understanding and accepting. The ego explicitly rebels against this truth, attempting to cling to what it values. Anything that is lost is mourned, anything that is desired causes suffering until it is obtained. See that this endless clinging to what is changeful is both futile and a cause of suffering. Nothing is permanent. Everything you love and hold dear will at some point be destroyed. See that you are now beautiful with what youth remains to you, age will take it from you. See that you have health, sickness will take it from you. See that your possessions are with you, time will take them from you. See that you are alive, death will take that from you. Knowing the temporary nature of things, cherish them while they are here. Do not fall into despair that you cannot keep anything. It was never yours to keep. Instead, appreciate that it is here at all. Stop taking everything for granted.”

“I’m very perfectionistic and very lazy, which is a terrible combination.” - Robert Stone

““Some people turn sad awfully young. No special reason, it seems, but they seem almost to be born that way. They bruise easier, tire faster, cry quicker, remember longer and, as I say, get sadder younger than anyone else in the world. I know, for I’m one of them.””