"Always keep your mind as bright and clear as the vast sky, the great ocean, and the highest peak, empty of all thoughts. Always keep your body filled with light and heat. Fill yourself with the power of wisdom and enlightenment."
- Morihei Ueshiba

"To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one's family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one's own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him."
- Buddha

"If we demand enlightenment, it hides. All that we can do is make ourselves enlightenment-prone. We learn to treasure the possibility of awakening in all moments and circumstances. We learn to simplify and cultivate the receptivity of heart that can be touched by profound understanding. We learn to listen deeply and discover stillness amid the movement in our world."
- Christina Feldman

"If I could define enlightenment briefly, I would say it is "the quiet acceptance of what is."
- Wayne Dyer

"The real meaning of enlightenment is to gaze with undimmed eyes on all darkness."
- Nikos Kazantzakis

"Enlightened space, the place of unconditional love, cannot be achieved until and unless one is willing to be comfortable with paradox and confusion."
- Ralph Walker

"It is not easy to convey, unless one has experienced it, the dramatic feeling of sudden enlightenment that floods the mind when the right idea finally clicks into place. One immediately sees how many previously puzzling facts are neatly explained by the new hypothesis. One could kick oneself for not having the idea earlier, it now seems so obvious. Yet before, everything was in a fog.'
- Francis Crick

Recommended Reading:

The Art of Happiness. By Epicurus. Translation and commentary by George K. Strodach. Penguin Classics, 2012. 272 pages.

The Conquest of Happiness By Bertrand Russell. Introduction by Daniel Dennett. Liveright, 1930, 2013. 224 pages.

Epicurean and Hedonistic Philosophy: Bibliography, Resources, Quotations, Information

Epicureanism: A Very Short Introduction By Catherine Wilson. Oxford University Press, 2016. 144 pages.

The Five Senses and Pleasure

Happiness: A Philosopher's Guide. By Frederic Lenoir. Melville House, 2015. 208 pages.

The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom. By Jonathan Haidt. Basic Books, 2006. 320 pages.

Happiness: A History By Darrin M. McMahon. Grove Press, 2006. 526 pages.

Hedonism: Bibliography, Links, Quotations, Resources, Notes by Mike Garofalo

The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want By Sonja Lyubomirsky. Penguin Books, 2008. 384 pages.

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise Persons

Life's Little Instruction Book By H. Jackson Brown, Jr. Thomas Nelson, Revised edition, 2000. 160 pages.

Nicomachean Ethics By Aristotle. Translated by Christopher Rowe. Commentary and notes by Sarah Broadie. Oxford University Press, 2002. 480 pages.

On Desire: Why We Want What We Want By William B. Irvine. Oxford University Press, 2006. 322 pages.

Pleasures, Desires and Enjoyment: Quotations, Poems, Sayings

Somaesthetics: Body-Mind Practices and Theories

Time and the Art of Living By Robert Grudin. Mariner Books, 1997. Index, 250 pages. ISBN: 978039689814. VSCL.

Epicureanism: Bibliography, Links, Quotations, Resources, Notes by Mike Garofalo

Virtues and a Good Life

Cloud Hands Blog. By Michael P. Garofalo. Over 2,400 indexed posts on well being, philosophy, somaesthetics, taijiquan, qigong, walking, gardening, yoga, Taoism, hedonism, and spirituality. Over 700,000 page views as of 6/1/2016.

Advice Beauty Bibliography Blog Body-Mind Broad Minded Cheerfulness

Contemplation Desires Dharmapada Sutra Education Epicureanism Equanimity Ethics

Feeling Fitness Five Senses Friendship Gardening Generosity Good Life

Happiness Hedonism Hospitality Independence Index Kindness Learning Lifestyle Links

Meditation Memory Mindfulness Moderation Neo-Paganism Open Minded Paramitas

Patience Philosophy Play Pleasures Qigong Reading Secular Self-Reliance

Sensory Pleasures Simplicity Solitude Somaesthetics Spirituality Stoicism Taijiquan

Tao Te Ching Thinking Tolerance Touching Tranquility Vigor Virtues Vision Vitality

Walking Willpower Wisdom Wonder Yoga Zen Precepts