In an age of acceleration, nothing can be more exhilarating than going slow. Pico Iyer More Quotes by Pico Iyer More Quotes From Pico Iyer Writing of every kind is a way to wake oneself up and keep as alive as when one has just fallen in love. Pico Iyer alive writing way The average American teenager sends or receives 75 text messages a day, though one girl in Sacramento managed to handle an average of 10,000 every 24 hours for a month. Pico Iyer teenager girl average Just as there are many more Californians now to be found in the temples of Kyoto or the villages of Bali or the mountains of the Himalayas than ever before, what is also exciting is that one can just go downtown Santa Barbara and find ayurvedic medicine, Thai restaurants, and Japanese cars in abundance. Pico Iyer santa-barbara kyoto medicine The central paradox of the machines that have made our lives so much brighter, quicker, longer and healthier is that they cannot teach us how to make the best use of them; the information revolution came without an instruction manual. Pico Iyer machines information use The ultimate purpose of Zen,' I remembered the roshi telling me, 'is not in the going away from the world but in the coming back. Zen is not just a matter of gaining enlightenment; it's a matter of acting in a world of love and compassion. Pico Iyer going-away compassion love In the end, we need two things to lead a balanced life - a sense of the world and a sense of ourselves; it's like breathing in and breathing out. And if you can only get to know the world by stepping out, and losing yourself in experience, you can only get to know the self by stepping back, and finding yourself in contemplation. One without the other leads to a kind of madness. Pico Iyer breathing self motivational Living here in California, I think one of the scariest things about California is the fact that it is rewriting its script and changing constantly and so many people don't know who they will be and who they will be with a year from now. Pico Iyer california years thinking Hello Kitty will never speak. Pico Iyer kitties hello speak American dreams are strongest in the hearts of those who have seen America only in their dreams. Pico Iyer dream heart america Its no coincidence that the word holiday suggests a holy day, or that the longest book in the Torah concerns the Sabbath. If you wish to advance in any sphere, the best way is to take a retreat. Pico Iyer holy-days holiday book What we have to do is act as clearly and with as pure motivation as is possible now, and that will sow the seeds for good action maybe in the twenty-second century. Pico Iyer motivation twenties action In the past, Ive visited remote places - North Korea, Ethiopia, Easter Island - partly as a way to visit remote states of mind: remote parts of myself that I wouldnt ordinarily explore. Pico Iyer easter islands past The beauty of being foreign is that it snaps you awake. Pico Iyer snaps awake I exult in the fact I can see everywhere with a flexible eye; the very notion of home is foreign to me, as the state of foreignness is the closest thing I know to home. Pico Iyer eye home facts To this day, at my relatively advanced age, I still don't have a place I can really call home. I've never bought property. I just move between temporary base camps. I know that the very notion of home, of having a family or community, is a hard one for me to embrace. Pico Iyer community home moving For centuries, Cubas greatest resource has been its people. Pico Iyer cuba century people Not many years ago, it was access to information and movement that seemed our greatest luxury; nowadays its often freedom from information, the chance to sit still, that feels like the ultimate prize. Stillness is not just an indulgence for those with enough resources its a necessity for anyone who wishes to gather less visible resources. Pico Iyer luxury silence years The open road is the school of doubt in which man learns faith in man. Pico Iyer doubt men school America has a hold on imaginations that no other country does. I think that is partly because it is an immigrant country and there is still a kind of innocence in America that translates very well everywhere in the world. Pico Iyer country america thinking Perhaps the greatest danger of our global community is that the person in LA thinks he knows Cambodia because he's seen The Killing Fields on-screen, and the newcomer from Cambodia thinks he knows LA because he's seen City of Angels on video. Pico Iyer angel cities thinking
