Asian Philosophy Quotes

“How much does he lack himself who must have many things?”
― Sen no Rikyū

“If you write about the Asian culture, be accurate between what is the difference between Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Thai, Taiwanese, Indonesian, and many individual Asian countries' cultures. While there are many similarities, the differences in cultures will set your novel apart from what is an authentic portrayal to what is a westernized version. - Kailin Gow on Asian Portrayals through Literature and Media”
― Kailin Gow

“The apologies, the true sign—that this was not the man you once knew, a man who would never have uttered that word to his son, sorry, and in English, no less. Not because he thought himself infallible, but because of his belief that a family should never have to say sorry, or please, or thank you, for that matter, these things being redundant, being contradictory to the parent-son relationship, needing to remain unstated always, these things being the invisible fabric of what a family is.”
― Charles Yu, Interior Chinatown

“Recovery through sleep isn’t going to happen if the majority of the components of your being aren’t getting enough stimulation or resistance to work against. Your brain may be tired after work, but if your body and emotions haven’t been challenged through the day, they’re going to keep irritating you even if you’re asleep. They don’t need rest; they need work for real recovery to take place.”
― Darrell Calkins, Re:

“Laughter has got to be the single healthiest activity one can perform. Just think how healthy you would be if you could sincerely laugh at that which now oppresses you.”
― Darrell Calkins, Re:

“Well-being, or wholeness, implies integrity and harmony between all existing elements, providing freedom for the whole.”
― Darrell Calkins, Re:

“The typical image of a depressed, lazy and tired person is someone hunched over and inert. Often, the assumption is that if one had more enthusiasm and inspiration, he would then stand up straight and move. In many cases, this equation is backward. But, as with everything related to one’s physicality, balance is the key. An overly erect and rigid posture may convey confidence and power to some, but it also causes a subtle accumulation of tension and rigidity on various levels, including psychological and emotional.”
― Darrell Calkins, Re:

“In my experience, most people are actually seeking recovery from the monotony and anxiety of qualitative repetition. This applies to body, emotions and mind. And that monotony and anxiety involves inertia just as much as over-use, meaning inertia in some areas and over-use in others.”
― Darrell Calkins, Re:

“Physical well-being necessitates listening to what you already know, and then taking it seriously enough to act accordingly. When you wake up and feel the impulse to arch your back, stretch and exhale with a loud sigh, for God’s sake, do it.”
― Darrell Calkins, Re:

“Our lives begin in the everyday and stay in the everyday. Only in the everyday can we begin to create truly great worlds.”
― Michael Puett, The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us About the Good Life

“The essential dynamic underlying almost every elite and esoteric physical art is work with the breath, so there’s information available. I would only add that it’s unfortunate that so much work is done with it, and not much play. Laughter has got to be the single healthiest activity one can perform. Just think how healthy you would be if you could sincerely laugh at that which now oppresses you. I’ve mentioned before that one good measure of someone’s depth of spirituality is how long it takes before they become offended. Imagine laughing hysterically at the criticisms, complaints and impositions you receive. At the least, you’d be breathing well.”
― Darrell Calkins, Re:

“People generally believe that stress is responsible for depletion, but apathy and uninspired systematic repetition are equally responsible. Or rather, systematic repetition produces as much or more stress and anxiety as anything else.”
― Darrell Calkins, Re:

“If you’re ignoring a high percentage of the elements of your entire being, and the range of qualities they can naturally engage, there will be no real recovery or progress until you do. The typical relentless worker is just as lazy as the typical indulgent idler; they’re both just going through the habitual motions. To break the repetitive pattern, and discover more energy and effectiveness, one simply must stretch out in all directions, rotating focus and application of the qualities that make up one’s natural versatility.”
― Darrell Calkins, Re:

“No mundo dos antigos, governar era sinónimo de escutar a voz dos deuses. Naturalmente que, com o seria de esperar, esse sistema acabou por ser abolido. Os reis deixaram de ser assassinados e o poder real transformou-se numa instituição laica e hereditária. E foi assim que as pessoas deixaram de ouvir as vozes dos deuse.”
― Haruki Murakami, 1Q84 #1-2

“Besides having been identified recently as the single most important factor in what men find sexy in women, the list of how correct posture influences internal organs and systems, and also mood and general energy, is very long indeed. Your internal environment depends on the efficiency of the flow of elements within it. Obviously, this includes oxygen, blood, hormones and nutrients, but also all interaction between nerves and the brain. The spine, which is your foundation and support, has a natural position that guarantees the efficiency of movement and interaction of the related elements. Your internal organs are all right alongside the spine and depend on its correct position to function well. Any prolonged restriction or deviation from this natural position will result in some, at least partial, dysfunction. Over a long time, the results can be devastating.”
― Darrell Calkins, Re:

“The human body, like the human mind, is best at versatility and adaptability. This is our greatest skill and our greatest chance to unlock natural potential. What that means in terms of physical movement is that a fairly equal amount of time and effort should be allocated to the widest possible range of activity. That includes strength, flexibility, precision and endurance, but it certainly doesn’t stop there.”
― Darrell Calkins, Re:

“A balanced diet” is not so much about protein/fat/carbohydrate ratios. The real ratios to consider, at least for the typical American or European, are energy consumption/expenditure, pleasure/actual need, food/everything else.”
― Darrell Calkins, Re:

“I look at the idea of rest as rotating one’s qualitative focus, not just doing less or changing activity. The role of rest is recovery. If you keep pushing the same quality button (fast or slow, concentrated or dispersed, hard-working or lazy…) for the same component all the time, of course it’s going to become depleted, just like if you keep working a single muscle in the same fashion or don’t use it at all.”
― Darrell Calkins, Re:

“Knowing the cause of their suffering, the peasant cursed their barbarian emperor in his distant capital in the north. As with any two like things connected by a thread of qui, whereby the actions of one influence the other even at a distance, so an emperor's worthiness determines the fate of the land he rules.”
― Shelley Parker-Chan, She Who Became the Sun

“Onde há luz tem de haver sombra e onde há sombra é forçoso que haja luz. Não existe sombra sem luz, nem luz sem sombra. Num dos seus livros, Karl Jung disse o seguinte acerca da "sombra". É tµao má quanto nós somos positivos...quanto mais tentamos desesperadamente ser bons, maravilhosos e perfeitos, mas a sombra desenvolve uma clara determinação em ser negra, má e destrutiva....a verdade é que tentamos muito para além das nossas forçar tornarmos-nos perfeitos, a sombra desce ao inferno e convertes-se no diabo. Porque do onto de vista da natureza e da verdade é igualmente pecaminoso o factor de alguém tentar tornar-se superior ou inferior a si próprio.”
― Haruki Murakami

“No man is an island entire of itself; we are all a piece of the continent, connected by the stories we share and the bridges we build between cultures.”
― Camellia Yang, The Invisible Third Culture Adult

“Belonging isn't about where you're from; it's about where you're understood, and sometimes, that place doesn't exist on a map.”
― Camellia Yang, The Invisible Third Culture Adult

“They say you die twice: once when you stop breathing, and again when your story is forgotten. But in sharing our stories, we live on in the hearts of others.”
― Camellia Yang, The Invisible Third Culture Adult

“In a world obsessed with borders, I found my home not in places, but in the spaces between them, where cultures converge and identities blur.”
― Camellia Yang, The Invisible Third Culture Adult

“The greatest tragedy of being a Third Culture Adult is not being misunderstood, but never being seen at all.”
― Camellia Yang, The Invisible Third Culture Adult

“Humanity is not defined by the languages we speak or the flags we fly, but by the connections we forge through empathy and understanding.”
― Camellia Yang, The Invisible Third Culture Adult

“Sometimes, the loneliest place is not being far from home, but being surrounded by people who can't see beyond their own borders.”
― Camellia Yang, The Invisible Third Culture Adult

“In the silence between cultures, I found my voice—not as one or the other, but as both and neither, a bridge between worlds.”
― Camellia Yang, The Invisible Third Culture Adult

“To belong everywhere and nowhere at once is both a blessing and a burden, but it is also a reminder that identity is fluid, ever-changing with each new experience.”
― Camellia Yang, The Invisible Third Culture Adult

“The invisible threads that connect us across cultures are stronger than any walls that divide us. It's in those threads that we find our true selves.”
― Camellia Yang, The Invisible Third Culture Adult