verbatim

the majority of the people learned to play freely on the street. They learned social negotiation. They learned unscripted, un-choreographed, unmonitored interaction with people. They fought, they made rules, they made peace, they made friends, they broke up, they made friends again. They developed social muscles. And the majority of these very same people’s children do not play freely on the street. And I think that an adult needs to play freely on the street as well.

“If you see beauty in something, don't wait for others to agree.”

— Jack Elias

“The ability to ask beautiful questions, often in very unbeautiful moments, is one of the great disciplines of a human life. And a beautiful question starts to shape your identity as much by asking it as it does by having it answered. And you don’t have to do anything about it. You just have to keep asking. And before you know it, you will find yourself actually shaping a different life, meeting different people, finding conversations that are leading you in those directions that you wouldn’t even have seen before.”

— David Whyte, On Being interview “The Conversational Nature of Reality”

Perhaps there’s a bravery complex when we’re staring ahead versus at one another, giving ourselves permission to go places we’ve stopped ourselves from going before.

Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.

Consistency, over a long period of time, looks like magic to others.

the palace guards are more powerful than the emperor