Wisdom Quote by Ralph Metzner — Inspiring Words on Life, Love & Wisdom

“The Lacandones have no way of saying 'hello' or 'good-bye'; when they meet they just start talking, and when they depart they just walk away. It's as if the bonds of family and friendship are not disconnected by distance and therefore do not need to be reestablished.”

“Suffering or dissatisfaction is an inevitable feature of all human existence, and craving or desire is at the root of suffering.”

“Wisdom comes from loving instead of fighting, from cooperating instead of competing, from partnership instead of domination, and from honoring and celebrating differences instead of fearing them. When we can dissolve the barriers of separation and conflict among nations, races, and religions, we unleash an unparalleled explosion of creativity in all areas of life.”

“Spirituality is not separate or above nature—the spiritual is the natural. Spiritual practice consists in communing with the living intelligences perceived to be indwelling in nature, with conscious respect and reverence.”

“We have all grown wiser.”

“People talk to old people like they're children.'Oh you're very old aren't you?' Yeah I'm old. I'm not stupid.”

“There is a ground. A knowing, below the feeling, that this day — this particular, unrepeatable, never-to-come-again arrangement of hours — has been given. Not happened. Given. And that the One who gave it is present in every hour of it, available in every moment, closer than the heartbeat.”

“And, at such a time, for a few of us there will always be a tugging at the heart—knowing a precious moment had gone and we not there. We can ask and ask but we can’t have again what once seemed ours for ever—the way things looked, that church alone in the fields, a bed on belfry floor, a remembered voice, a loved face. They’ve gone and you can only wait for the pain to pass.”

“It seems wisest to assume the worst from the beginning...and let anything better come as a surprise.”

“Who was to know what went on in a person's heart? A wise woman kept her own counsel.”