Words&Dirt

“It’s a no-win argument––that business of what we’re born with and what our environment does to us. And it’s a boring argument, because it simplifies the mysteries that attend both our birth and our growth.”

––A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving, pg. 57

“One common misunderstanding is that happiness always means success, that you’ll be happy only when you can keep on extracting more of what you want from life or from other people, be it material goods or interpersonal satisfactions. I’ve come to realize that genuine happiness arises in simply being grateful for whatever actually exists, in just this present moment, and for the innumerable blessings inherited from the past.”

––Meditating Selflessly: Practical Neural Zen, by James H. Austin, pg. 143