I am working to read a more diverse set of books in 2015. I find myself always trapped in the same genre or mindset of books each year. I expanded a bit last year, but this year I am attempting to find the hidden gems or at least more of them mixed in with the other ones that I simply love to read.
One book that I started with to move in this direction is, The Quotable Krishnamurti, which is a collection of ideas from Jiddu Krishnamurti. Krishnamurti is a very interesting person that I knew nothing about until just a few days ago. Take time to look him up.
In order to not burn out with super dense text, I started with this collection of his insights before jumping into his books.
What I loved about this book is that they were categorized by topic. More importantly, the quotes challenged my thinking. I did not agree with all of his ideas. For example, I do not agree with his outlook on ambition, but it makes sense and forces me to think through my opinions.
This is a book that is worth your time to explore. Below are some quotes that really stood out to me. Meanwhile, I am tracking down his books and will be reading through his work more thoroughly to put these quotes into proper context.
“Action is always in the present, and is therefore immediate.”
“Ambition breeds mediocrity, for ambition is the fulfillment of the self through action, through the group, through idea.”
“Balance is nonacquisitiveness.”
“When you compare yourself with others, it is to justify or condemn what you do, and then you are not thinking at all.”
“Clarity cannot be given by another.”
“In education there is neither the teacher nor the taught, there is only learning; the educator is learning, as the student is.”
“It is not our problems which set man against man, but our ideas about them. Problems bring us together, but ideas separate us.”
“Ignorance is one thing, and the state of not knowing is quite another; the two are in no way connected. You may be very learned, clever, efficient, talented, and yet be ignorant.”
“Knowledge is always of the past.”
If interested in tracking this down, you can buy it from my Amazon Affiliate link which all money goes to building a school with Pencils of Promise
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