What we are tempted to call a disaster is sometimes the first, painful stage of a blessing.
Stephen MitchellWhen speech comes from a quiet heart, it has the strength of the orchid, and the fragrance of rock.
Stephen MitchellChildren 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 MitchellBut self-abasement is just inverted egoism. Anyone who acts with genuine humility will be as far from humiliation as from arrogance.
Stephen MitchellWhat people love about life is its miraculous beauty; what they hate about death is the loss and decay around it. Yet losing is not losing, and decay turns into beauty, as beauty turns back into decay. We are breathed in, breathed out. Therefore all you need is to understand the one breath that makes up the world.
Stephen Mitchell