One great cause of failure is lack of concentration.

Truth comes when your mind and heart are purged of all sense of striving and you are no longer trying to become somebody; it is there when the mind is very quiet, listening timelessly to everything.

Zen is not “attained” by mirror-wiping mediation, but by “self-forgetfulness in the existential 'present' of life here and now.” We do not “come”, we “are.” Don't strive to become, but be.

It's not what you give, it's the way you give it.

Like the cobra, you remain coiled in a loose but compact position and your strike should be felt before it is seen.

You will never get any more out of this life than you expect.

Pessimism blunts the tools you need to succeed.