" He was not stupid. It was sheer thoughtlessness. That such remoteness from reality and such thoughtlessness can wreak more havoc than all the evil instincts taken together which, perhaps, are inherent in man - that was, in fact, the lesson one could learn in Jerusalem. But it was a lesson, neither an explanation of the phenomenon nor a theory about it.
I don't believe that there may exist some process of thought lacking of personal experience. All thought is meditation (Nachdenken), thinking as a result of something.
"If you aren't able to tell between a Man and a Hobbit, you have a worse judgement than what I thought. There's the same difference between an apple and a pea."
"That may be so. To a sheep all the other sheep look different without a doubt", said Lindir laughing. "And to the shepherd. But mortals have never been an object of study. [...]".
I forgot many things I thought I knew, and learnt many others that I had forgotten. I can see things at a great distance, and many others, close up, escape my view.
Sooner or later in life everyone discovers that perfect happiness is unrealizable, but there are few who stop to consider the antithesis; that perfect unhappiness is equally unattainable.
I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.
1) Always consider the fact that a great love and great results entail great risk.
2) When you lose, don't lose the lesson...
3) Always follow the 3 "rs": Respect for youself, Respect for others, Responsability for your actions.
4) Remember that not getting what one wants can be a wonderful strike of luck.
5) Learn the rules, so that you may break them appropriately.
6) Don't let a small disagreement damage a great friendship.
7) When you realize you've made a mistake, do immediately something to correct it.
8) Spend some time alone every day.
9) Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
10) Remeber that sometimes silence is the best answer.
11) Live a good, honourable life, so that, when you'll look back in old age, you may enjoy once again.
12) A loving atmosphere in your home must be the foundation to your life.
13) When you find yourself on disagreement with people dear to you, face only the actual problem, without throwing in the past.
14) Share your knowledge. It's a way of reaching immortality.
15) Be kind with the earth.
16) At least once a year, go somewhere you've never been before.
17) Remeber that the best relationship is that in which you love someone more than what you need them.
18) Judge your success in relation to what you had to renounce to achieve it.
No reasoning will help you to overcome the obstacles you've created yourself, you need action. If you continue sitting on the pool-side, dissecting the water temperature, you'll never manage to swim. Look for a springboard, close your eyes and jump. Should you belly-flop don't blame the water or yourself... you've just learnt how to not drown!
Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.
He was wrong, and he knew he had to pay the price. And the price was drinking a cup full of the cruelest of poisons: solitude.