“There is no longer any place for the kind of idealistic philosophy that removes all reality into the celestial realms and makes temporal existence meaningless…  Man needs to find ultimate sense here and now in the ordinary humble tasks and human problems of every day.”
(Thomas Merton)

"People for the most part don't like the truth. They prefer make-believe instead."
(Ajahn Fuang)

You won't find reasonable men on the tops of tall mountains.
(Hunter S. Thompson)

"It's good that most people can't remember their previous lives. Otherwise things would be a lot more complicated than they already are."
(Ajahn Fuang)

"The first sip is joy, the second is gladness, the third is serenity, the fourth is madness, the fifth is ecstasy."
(Jack Kerouac)

"In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone."
(Hunter S. Thompson)

I've spent my life — from my youth to my old age — wandering as an ascetic, climbing mountains and hills, entering forests and jungles, and yet I still have yet to see a tiger eat anyone alive. I've heard reports, but I've never seen it with my own eyes. I have yet to see a snake kill anyone, or a fierce spirit possess anyone and cause that person to die. What I have seen is that the people of this world are suffering, not from being eaten by tigers or bitten by snakes or killed by elephants, but from their own greed, anger, and delusion. Whatever may be making them suffer, greed, anger, and delusion are the things that destroy them. This is why the Buddha taught that fools destroy themselves as they would destroy others. They destroy themselves by acting in evil and corrupt ways, as we see all around us. They're born as human beings just like everyone else, but their behavior isn't like that of other human beings.
(Ajahn Khamdee)