Everyone wants to understand art. Why not try to understand the song of a bird? Why does one love the night, flowers, everything around one, without trying to understand them? But in the case of a painting people have to understand. If only they would realize above all that an artist works of necessity, that he himself is only a trifling bit of the world, and that no more importance should be attached to him than to plenty of other things which please us in the world, though we can't explain them. People who try to explain pictures are usually barking up the wrong tree.

We seek knowledge only because we desire enjoyment, and it is impossible to conceive why a person who has neither desires nor fears would take the trouble to reason.

[I]f a book is well written, I always find it too short.

The main question to a novel is -- did it amuse? were you surprised at dinner coming so soon? did you mistake eleven for ten? were you too late to dress? and did you sit up beyond the usual hour? If a novel produces these effects, it is good; if it does not -- story, language, love, scandal itself cannot save it. It is only meant to please; and it must do that or it does nothing.

These examples suggest what one needs to learn to control attention. In principle any skill or discipline one can master on one's own will serve: meditation and prayer if one is so inclined; exercise, aerobics, martial arts for those who prefer concentrating on physical skills. Any specialization or expertise that one finds enjoyable and where one can improve one's knowledge over time. The important thing, however, is the attitude toward these disciplines. If one prays in order to be holy, or exercises to develop strong pectoral muscles, or learns to be knowledgeable, then a great deal of the benefit is lost. The important thing is to enjoy the activity for its own sake, and to know that what matters is not the result, but the control one is acquiring over one's attention.

We must not only obtain Wisdom: we must enjoy her.

It is indisputable that the being whose capacities of enjoyment are low, has the greatest chance of having them fully satisfied; and a highly endowed being will always feel that any happiness which he can look for, as the world is constituted, is imperfect. But he can learn to bear its imperfections, if they are at all bearable; and they will not make him envy the being who is indeed unconscious of the imperfections, but only because he feels not at all the good which those imperfections qualify. dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, is of a different opinion, it is only because they only know their own side of the question.

The trouble with poetry is it's often written to the sound of a drum only the poet may hear; nonetheless, blessed are those poets who always manage to find unshakeable pleasure in their own works.

Whatever activity one sees in this world, it is discharge of previously charged karma. Man has nothing to do with it. He only does egoism here of, —I did samayik (introspective meditation).' He creates a karmic account! He becomes entrapped! He takes enjoyment from tasting sweetness of subtle pride of doer-ship.

Other's power, other's enjoyments, other's space, people have become the owners of that which does not belong to one's self. If they become the owners of —Self', death is no more; One is himself, the Absolute Supreme Soul.

Don't spend your money on luxuries. Save it and secure a safe future. Don't crave for quick satisfaction.

When a poet digs himself into a hole, he doesn't climb out. He digs deeper, enjoys the scenery, and comes out the other side enlightened.

My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy the ice cream while it's on your plate-that's my philosophy.

Be absolutely determined to enjoy what you do.

Sleep, riches, and health, to be truly enjoyed, must be interrupted.

He scatters enjoyment who can enjoy much.

Do not miss a day's enjoyment or forgo your share of innocent pleasure.

Not what we have, but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.

All animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it.

If I don't enjoy myself now, when shall I?