"Wisdom of the Peaceful Warrior"

"Until we can perceive reality as it is, without all the extras, meanings, and complications, we slumber through our days, dreaming our lives away in a reality of our own creation." (13)

"How different might our own lives look if we could remember that within all the people we meet--no matter how irritating their personalities at any given moment--stirs a soul like our own, yearning for the light?"

"The ignorant are like stones and the wise are like water. Stones do not change, they only break or wear down over time. Yet water remains the same as it adapts perfectly to the shape of its container; even when moving from ice to liquid to gas, its essential nature remains." (32)