BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Inspiration Inspiration Quote

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

Alan Watts

Few people did more to popularize Eastern philosophy in the West than the British writer, speaker, and philosopher Alan Watts. From the late 1930s through to the 1970s, Watts wrote more than 20 books and published numerous articles that helped interpret and popularize Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu philosophiesy among a wider Western audience. He became particularly popular in the 1960s, especially among members of the emerging hippie counter culture. In 1957, Watts published his book “The Way of Zen,” from which this quote comes. “It is hard to see how the world can be improved by keeping still,” he wrote. “Yet it should be obvious that action without wisdom, without clear awareness of the world as it really is, can never improve anything.” As Watts points out, sometimes the best way to deal with a go-go-go world is simply to take a break and think deeply rather than acting rashly.

If you look for perfection, you will never be satisfied.

Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy’s landmark novel “Anna Karenina” opens with the line, “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” This phrase sets the scene for the sprawling story, which navigates marriage, faith, society, and, of course, familial dynamics. Excerpted here is a quip spoken by Princess Natalya Lvov as she debates parenting styles with her husband, Prince Arseny Lvov. While her husband prefers to be dutiful and involved to a fault in raising his two sons, Natalya believes children should be left somewhat alone to become who they will be. Natalya’s insistence that the search for faultlessness is a breeding ground for discontentment is a mindset we can transfer to all aspects of life, not just child-rearing. Perfection is impossible to achieve, let alone maintain, and the sooner we acknowledge that fact, the happier we allow ourselves to be.

The seeds of great things are often small.