Stephen Mitchell > Quotes

“There are two kinds of women: those who marry princes and those who marry frogs. The frogs never become princes, but it is an acknowledged fact that a prince may very well, in the course of an ordinary marrige, gradually, at first almost imperceptibly, turn into a frog. Happy the woman who after twenty-five years still wakes up beside the prince she fell in love with.”
― Stephen Mitchell, The Frog Prince: A Fairy Tale for Consenting Adults

“If good happens, good; if bad happens, good. ”
― Stephen Mitchell, Tao Te Ching: A New English Version

“What we are tempted to call a disaster is sometimes the first, painful stage of a blessing.”
― Stephen Mitchell, The Frog Prince: A Fairy Tale for Consenting Adults

“all streams flow to the sea because it is lower than they are. humility gives it its power. if you want to govern the people, you must place yourself below them. if you want to lead the people, you must learn how to follow them.”
― Stephen Mitchell, Tao Te Ching: A New English Version

“But self-abasement is just inverted egoism. Anyone who acts with genuine humility will be as far from humiliation as from arrogance.”
― Stephen Mitchell, The Book of Job

“The river rises, flows over its banks
and carries us all away, like mayflies
floating downstream: they stare at the sun,
then all at once there is nothing.”
― Stephen Mitchell, The Epic of Gilgamesh

“Children understand that 'once upon a time' refers not only--not even primarily--to the past, but to the impalpable regions of the present, the deeper places inside us where princes and dragons, wizards and talking birds, impassable roads, impossible tasks, and happy endings have always existed, alive and bursting with psychic power.”
― Stephen Mitchell

“What may appear to be proud ungrateful and headstrong fron the outside may from the inside express an unshakable integrity of character. Pride, if it doesn't step over the line into arrogance, is simply an unprejudiced self-esteem. Ingratitude is the appropriate response to a kindness that has hooks on it. Headstrong is another word for trusting your own heart.”
― Stephen Mitchell

“Happily ever after doesn't begin with Once upon a time: it begins with Now.”
― Stephen Mitchell, The Frog Prince: A Fairy Tale for Consenting Adults

“Love softens everything except our sense of integrity.”
― Stephen Mitchell, The Frog Prince: A Fairy Tale for Consenting Adults

“Because she competes with no one, no one can compete with her.”
― Stephen Mitchell, Tao Te Ching

“Gilgamesh, where are you roaming? You will never find the eternal life that you seek. When the gods created mankind, they also created death, and they held back eternal life for themselves alone. Humans are born, they live, then they die, this is the order that the gods have decreed. But until the end comes, enjoy your life, spend it in happiness, not despair. Savour your food, make each of your days a delight, bathe and anoint yourself, wear bright clothes that are sparkling clean, let music and dancing fill your house, love the child who holds you by the hand, and give your wife pleasure in your embrace. That is the best way for a man to live.”
― Stephen Mitchell, The Epic of Gilgamesh

“. . . wishes are like magnifying glasses they enlarge and focus an intention that is already inside us.”
― Stephen Mitchell, The Frog Prince: A Fairy Tale for Consenting Adults

“He doesn't hear but sees the Voice.”
― Stephen Mitchell, The Book of Job

“Whatever thought grips the mind at the time of death is the one which will propel it and decide for it the nature of its future birth. Thus if one wants to attain god after death, one has to think of him steadfastly... This is not as simple as it sounds, for at the time of death the mind automatically flies to the thought of an object (i.e. money, love) which has possessed it during its sojourn in the world. Thus one must think of god constantly.”
― Stephen Mitchell

“The change of language is a change in reality.”
― Stephen Mitchell, The Book of Job

“The physical body is acknowledged as dust, the personal drama as delusion. It is as if the world we perceive through our senses, that whole gorgeous and terrible pageant, were the breath-thin surface of a bubble, and everything else, inside and outside, is pure radiance. Both suffering and joy come then like a brief reflection, and death like a pin.”
― Stephen Mitchell

“When there's no way out, you just follow the way in front of you.”
― Stephen Mitchell

“Knowledge is better than practice;
meditation is better
than knowledge; and best of all
is surrender, which soon brings peace.”
― Stephen Mitchell, The Bhagavad Gita

“Enkidu, my brother, whom I loved so dearly, who accompanied me through every danger-- the fate of mankind has overwhelmed him. For six days I would not let him be buried, thinking, 'If my grief is violent enough, perhaps he will come back to life again.”
― Stephen Mitchell, The Epic of Gilgamesh

“Remember: life is a breath;
soon I will vanish from your sight.
The eye that looks will not see me;
you may search, but I will be gone.
Like a cloud fading in the sky,
man dissolves into death.
He leaves the whole world behind him
and never comes home again.”
― Stephen Mitchell, The Book of Job

“Savor your food, make each of your days a delight, bathe and anoint yourself, wear bright clothes that are sparkling clean, let music and dancing fill your house, love the child who holds you by the hand, and give your wife pleasure in your embrace. That is the best way for a man to live.”
― Stephen Mitchell, Gilgamesh: A New English Version

“I am speechless: what can I answer?
I put hand on my mouth.
I have said too much already;
now I will speak no more.”
― Stephen Mitchell, The Book of Job

“A modern princess—of England, say, or Monaco— serves the purpose of being an adornment in the fantasy life of the public. Consequently, she receives the kind of education that one might think of giving to a particularly splendid papier-mâché angel before putting it at the top of the Christmas tree: an education whose main goal is proficiency in the arts of looking pretty and standing straight. Our century, whatever virtues it may have, is not an optimal time for princesses.

Things were different in the Renaissance. Intelligence had a primary value then. At almost every level of the social order, education was meant to create true amateurs—people who were in love with quality. A gentleman or lady needed to be at least minimally skilled in many arts, because that was considered the fittest way of appreciating the good things in life and honoring the goodness itself. Nor did being well-rounded mean smoothing over your finest points and becoming like the reflection of a smile in a polished teaspoon. Intelligence walked hand in hand with individuality, although having finely sharpened points of view did not, it was felt, require you to poke other people with them. If wit was a rapier, courtesy was the button at the end of the blade.”
― Stephen Mitchell, The Frog Prince: A Fairy Tale for Consenting Adults

“Give evil nothing to oppose and it will disappear by itself.”
― Stephen Mitchell, Tao Te Ching

“The falling of the leaves is the truth. The sweeping is the truth. The wind's blowing them away is the truth. The people's anger also is the truth. If your mind is moving, you can't understand the truth. You must first understand that form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Next, no form, no emptiness. Then you will understand that form is form, emptiness is emptiness. Then all these actions are the truth. And then you will find your true home.”
― Stephen Mitchell, Dropping Ashes on the Buddha: The Teachings of Zen Master Seung Sahn

“When a country is in harmony with the Tao, the factories make trucks and tractors. When a country goes counter to the Tao, warheads are stockpiled outside the cities. There is no greater illusion than fear, no greater wrong than preparing to defend yourself, no greater misfortune than having an enemy. Whoever can see through all fear will always be safe.”
― Stephen Mitchell, Tao Te Ching

“True mastery can be gained by letting things go their own way.”
― Stephen Mitchell, Tao Te Ching

“What is good, what is bad? Who makes good, who makes bad? They cling to their opinions with all their might. But everybody's opinion is different. How can you say that your opinion is correct and somebody else's is wrong? This is delusion.”
― Stephen Mitchell, Dropping Ashes on the Buddha: The Teachings of Zen Master Seung Sahn

“Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt. Chase after money and security and your heart will never unclench. Care about people’s approval and you will be their prisoner. Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.”
― Stephen Mitchell, Tao Te Ching