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When you discard arrogance, complexity, and a few other things that get in the way, sooner or later you will discover that simple, childlike, and mysterious secret known to those of the Uncarved Block: Life is Fun.

Benjamin Hoff

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Benjamin Hoff
Age: 79
Born: 1946
Born: January 1
Author
Composer
Journalist
Photographer
Photojournalist
Writer
Oregon
United States
Simple
Complexity
Way
Block
Things
Mysterious
Discard
Life
Discover
Tao
Later
Childlike
Fun
Taoism
Secret
Arrogance
Known
Sooner

More quotes by Benjamin Hoff

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To Buddha, the second figure in the painting, life on earth was bitter, filled with attachments and desires that led to suffering.
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When we give up our images of self-importance and our ideas of what should be, we can help things become what they need to be.
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Do you really want to be happy? You can begin by being appreciative of who you are and what you've got.
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Everything has its own place and function. That applies to people, although many don't seem to realize it, stuck as they are in the wrong job, the wrong marriage, or the wrong house. When you know and respect your Inner Nature, you know where you belong. You also know where you don't belong.
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As any old Taoist walking out of the woods can tell you, simple-minded does not necessarily mean stupid.
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The wise know their limitations the foolish do not.
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We simply need to believe in the power that's within us, and use it.
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Unfortunately complaining is one thing Eeyores are not afraid to do. They grudgingly carry their thimbles to the Fountain of Life, then mumble and grumble that they weren't given enough.
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Pooh is able to accomplish what he does because he is simpleminded.
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And when you try too hard, it doesn't work. Try grabbing something quickly and precisely with a tensed-up arm then relax and try it again. Try doing something with a tense mind. The surest way to become Tense, Awkward, and Confused is to develop a mind that tries too hard-one that thinks too much.
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Like silence after noise, or cool, clear water on a hot, stuffy day, Emptiness cleans out the messy mind and charges up the batteries of spiritual energy. Many people are afraid of Emptiness, however, because it reminds them of Loneliness.
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A well-frog cannot imagine the ocean, nor can a summer insect conceive of ice. How then can a scholar understand the Tao? He is restricted by his own learning.
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Practically everything from hairstyles to lifestyles is endorsed as some sort of drug to be taken Now for Instant Relief.
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The main problem with this great obsession for saving time is very simple: you can't save time. You can only spend it. But you can spend it wisely or foolishly.
Benjamin Hoff
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Wisdom, Happiness, and Courage are not waiting somewhere out beyond sight at the end of a straight line they're part of a continuous cycle that begins right here. They're not only the ending, but the beginning as well.
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What's that? the Unbeliever asked. Wisdom from the Western Taoist, I said. It sounds like something from Winnie-the-Pooh, he said. It is, I said. That's not about Taoism, he said. Oh, yes it is, I said.
Benjamin Hoff
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I think, therefore I am confused.
Benjamin Hoff
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How can you get very far, If you don't know who you are? How can you do what you ought, If you don't know what you've got? And if you don't know which to do Of all the things in front of you, Then what you'll have when you are through Is just a mess without a clue Of all the best that can come true If you know What and Which and Who.
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Under Confucianism, the use of precisely measured court music, prescribed steps, actions, and phrases all added up to an extremely complex system of rituals, each used for a particular purpose at a particular time.
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It's not surprising, therefore, that the [Bisy] Backson thinks of progress in terms of fighting and overcoming. One of his little idiosyncrasies, you might say. Of course, real progress involves growing and developing, which involves changing inside, but that's something the inflexible Backson is unwilling to do.
Benjamin Hoff