‎"If my decomposing carcass helps nourish the roots of a juniper tree or the wings of a vulture--that is immortality enough for me. And as much as anyone deserves." E.Abbey

Among politicians and businessmen, *Pragmatism* is the current term for 'To hell with our children.'

A mother's sorrow is more true, honorable, and beautiful than the detachment of the sage.

There is no trajectory so pathetic as that of an artist in decline.

The tragic sense of life: our heroic acceptance of the suffering of others.

Desire, said the Buddha, is the cause of suffering. But without desire, what delight?

There's another disadvantage to the use of the flashlight: like many other mechanical gadgets it tends to separate a man from the world around him. If I switch it on my eyes adapt to it and I can see only the small pool of light it makes in front of me; I am isolated. Leaving the flashlight in my pocket where it belongs, I remain a part of the environment I walk through and my vision though limited has no sharp or definite boundary.