A library of wisdom
Quotes, every concept, every voice
622 hand-picked quotes from the world's wisdom traditions, each linked to its source concept. Filter by concept below, or scroll through the whole library.
“Were it not for shadows, there would be no beauty.”
“We do not dislike everything that shines, but we do prefer a pensive lustre to a shallow brilliance — a murky light that, whether in a stone or an artifact, bespeaks a sheen of antiquity.”
“Wabi-sabi is the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is the beauty of things modest and humble. It is the beauty of things unconventional.”
“Pare down to the essence, but don't remove the poetry. Keep things clean and unencumbered, but don't sterilise.”
“Wabi-sabi is exactly about the great, getting-old universe and our tiny, temporary place within it.”
“All things are impermanent, all things are imperfect, and all things are incomplete. Three simple realities — and wabi-sabi is the grace of living inside them rather than against them.”
“Wabi-sabi reminds us that we are all transient beings on this planet — that our bodies, as well as the material world around us, are in the process of returning to dust.”
“If an object or expression can bring about, within us, a sense of serene melancholy and a spiritual longing, then that object could be said to be wabi-sabi.”
“The crow, having no garments, is never cold. The pheasant, dragging its long tail, is never delayed. Each thing is enough as it is.”
“The thief left it behind — the moon at the window.”
“My hut burned down — now I can see the moon more clearly.”
“An old silent pond. A frog jumps in — the sound of water.”
“The temple bell stops — but the sound keeps coming out of the flowers.”
“Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.”
“The most precious thing in life is its uncertainty.”
“If man were never to fade away like the dews of Adashino, never to vanish like the smoke over Toribeyama, but lingered on forever in the world, how things would lose their power to move us!”
“Are we to look at cherry blossoms only in full bloom, the moon only when it is cloudless? Branches about to blossom, or a garden strewn with faded flowers, are worthier of our admiration.”
“The beauty of a craft lies not in its perfection, but in the honesty of the hand that made it and the use that wears it.”
“Man is most free when his tools are proportionate to his needs.”
“It is the imperfect, the irregular, the momentary, that holds the deepest beauty — for it alone reminds us we are alive and passing.”
“The flower of perfect knowledge blooms in the gap where certainty ends.”
“Nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect. Once you accept this, the world stops being a disappointment and starts being a marvel.”