For I realize today that it is a mortal sin to violate the great laws of nature. We should not hurry, we should not be impatient, but we should confidently obey the eternal rhythm.

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This is true happiness: to have no ambition and to work like a horse as if you had every ambition. To live far from men, not to need them and yet to love them. To have the stars above, the land to your left and the sea to your right and to realize of a sudden that in your heart, life has accomplished its final miracle: it has become a fairy tale.

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When everything goes wrong, what a joy to test your soul and see if it has endurance and courage! An invisible and all-powerful enemy—some call him God, others the Devil, seem to rush upon us to destroy us; but we are not destroyed.

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True teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross; then, having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create their own.

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A man needs a little madness, or else... he never dares cut the rope and be free.

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Happy is the man, I thought, who, before dying, has the good fortune to sail the Aegean sea.

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You can knock on a deaf man's door forever.

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Life is trouble. Only death is not. To be alive is to undo your belt and *look* for trouble.

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You have your brush, you have your colors, you paint the paradise, then in you go.

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I said to the almond tree, 'Sister, speak to me of God.' And the almond tree blossomed.

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