Children understand that 'once upon a time' refers not only--not even primarily--to the past, but to the impalpable regions of the present, the deeper places inside us where princes and dragons, wizards and talking birds, impassable roads, impossible tasks, and happy endings have always existed, alive and bursting with psychic power.
Stephen MitchellThere are two kinds of women: those who marry princes and those who marry frogs. The frogs never become princes, but it is an acknowledged fact that a prince may very well, in the course of an ordinary marrige, gradually, at first almost imperceptibly, turn into a frog. Happy the woman who after twenty-five years still wakes up beside the prince she fell in love with.
Stephen MitchellIf you listen to the traffic with a clear mind, without any concepts, it is not noisy, it is only what it is.
Stephen MitchellWhat we are tempted to call a disaster is sometimes the first, painful stage of a blessing.
Stephen MitchellIt is better to do your own duty badly than to perfectly do an others; when you do your duty, you are naturally free from sin.
Stephen MitchellWhat may appear to be proud ungrateful and headstrong fron the outside may from the inside express an unshakable integrity of character. Pride, if it doesn't step over the line into arrogance, is simply an unprejudiced self-esteem. Ingratitude is the appropriate response to a kindness that has hooks on it. Headstrong is another word for trusting your own heart.
Stephen Mitchell