Quotations

"Worthy persons deserve to be called so because they are not carried away by the eight winds: prosperity, decline, disgrace, honor, praise, censure, suffering, and pleasure. They are neither elated by prosperity nor grieved by decline. The heavenly gods will surely protect one who is unbending before the eight winds."

— Nichiren, Buddhist monk, born 1222

"That which you give to another will become your own sustenance; if you light a lamp for another, your own way will be lit."

— Nichiren, Buddhist monk, born 1222

"We ordinary people can see neither our own eyelashes, which are so close, nor the heavens in the distance."

— Nichiren, Buddhist monk, born 1222

"Suffer what there is to suffer, enjoy what there is to enjoy. Regard both suffering and joy as facts of life, and continue chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, no matter what happens. How could this be anything other than the boundless joy of the Law?"

— Nichiren, Buddhist monk, born 1222

"Professional golf is the only sport where, if you win 20% of the time, you're the best."

— Jack Nicklaus, American golfer, born 1940

"Forgiveness is the final form of love."

— Reinhold Niebuhr, American theologian, born 1892

"I have always wanted my buildings to be as light as possible, to touch the ground gently, to swoop and soar, and to surprise."

— Oscar Niemeyer, Brazilian architect, born 1907

"I am not attracted to straight angles or to the straight line, hard and inflexible, created by man. I am attracted to free-flowing, sensual curves. The curves that I find in the mountains of my country, in the sinuousness of its rivers, in the waves of the ocean, and on the body of the beloved woman. Curves make up the entire Universe, the curved Universe of Einstein."

— Oscar Niemeyer, Brazilian architect, born 1907

"He who has a why to live can bear almost any how."

— Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher, born 1844

"We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh."

— Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher, born 1844

"There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness."

— Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher, born 1844

"Man is the only animal who has to be encouraged to live."

— Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher, born 1844

"People who have given us their complete confidence believe that they have a right to ours. The inference is false, a gift confers no rights."

— Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher, born 1844

"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."

— Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher, born 1844