Even the best weapon is an unhappy tool, hateful to living things. So the follower of the Way stays away from it. Weapons are unhappy tools, not chosen by thoughtful people, to be used only when there is no choice, and with a calm, still mind, without enjoyment. To enjoy using weapons is to enjoy killing people, and to enjoy killing people is to lose your share in the common good. It is right that the murder of many people be mourned and lamented. It is right that a victor in war be received with funeral ceremonies.

Progress means nothing to presence.

The creative adult is the child who has survived.

Literacy is so you can read the operating instructions.

There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories.

To have a choice at all is to be privileged.

I do try to separate my personal activism - showing up at a demonstration or something - from what I write.