The Train

My friend, the train
Forward and Majestic
Overbearing my Journey

Whatever a man knows

Whatever a man knows, whatever is not mere rumbling and roaring that
he has heard, can be said in three words.
-- Kurnberger

Behind a blood-stained curtain

Behind a blood-stained curtain, love has spread its gardens.
Lovers are busy with the beauty of the love that is beyond explanation.
Intellect says: 'The six directions are the limit, there is nothing
beyond them.'
Love says:'There is a road, and I have journeyed on it many times.'
Love detected markets beyond that market.
Intellect says:'Do not set foot on the land of annihilation;
There is nothing there but thorns.'
Love says;'Those thorns you feel are only inside you!
Be silent! remove the thorn of existence from the foot of the heart;
So that you may see the gardens within.'
O Shams of Tabriz! you are the Sun cloaked by the cloud of speech;
When your Sun rose, all the words melted!

(Divan 132:1-3, 6-8)
Rumi

Wisdom and Age

Wisdom doesn't necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up
all by itself.
- Woodrow Wilson

Calm and Strife

The person resolute in the Way must strive not to lose sight of it,
whether in a place of calm or in a place of strife. Beware of clinging
to quiet places and shunning those where there is disturbance. If you
try to take refuge from trouble by running to some quiet place, you
will fall into confusion.

- Daikaku (1213-1279)

Cleverness and Stupidity (oh, and money, too!)

To be clever enough to get all the money, one must be stupid enough to want it.
-- Gilbert K. Chesterton