The Eeyore Educational System sees childhood as a waste of time, a luxury that society cannot afford . . . Put children in school at the earliest age possible; load them down with homework; take away their time, their creativity, their play, their power; then plug them into machines.

Benjamin Hoff

Categorized in : Children Education Creativity

Lots of people talk to animals... Not very many listen, though... That's the problem.

Benjamin Hoff

dog inspiring love

Do you really want to be happy? You can begin by being appreciative of who you are and what you've got.

Benjamin Hoff

taoism cheer-up want

A clever mind is not a heart. Knowledge doesn't really care, wisdom does.

Benjamin Hoff

clever mind heart

If people were superior to animals, they'd take good care of them," said Pooh.

Benjamin Hoff

nature animal people

But isn't the knowledge that comes from experience more valuable than the knowledge that doesn't? It seems fairly obvious to some of us that a lot of scholars need to go outside and sniff around - walk through the grass, talk to the animals. That sort of thing.

Benjamin Hoff

tao-of-pooh animal needs

Things just happen in the right way, at the right time. At least when you let them, when you work with circumstances instead of saying, 'This isn't supposed to be happening this way,' and trying harder to make it happen some other way.

Benjamin Hoff

tao-of-pooh trying way

When you discard arrogance, complexity, and a few other things that get in the way, sooner or later you will discover that simple, childlike, and mysterious secret known to those of the Uncarved Block: Life is Fun.

Benjamin Hoff

block fun life

The surest way to become Tense, Awkward, and Confused is to develop a mind that tries too hard - one that thinks too much.

Benjamin Hoff

awkward confused thinking

The main problem with this great obsession for saving time is very simple: you can't save time. You can only spend it. But you can spend it wisely or foolishly.

Benjamin Hoff

saving problem simple

By the time it came to the edge of the Forest, the stream had grown up, so that it was almost a river, and, being grown-up, it did not run and jump and sparkle along as it used to do when it was younger, but moved slowly. For it knew now where it was going, and it said to itself, There is no hurry. We shall get there some day.

Benjamin Hoff

rain rivers running

Enjoy the simple, the natural and the plain. Along with that comes the ability to do things spontaneously and have them work.

Benjamin Hoff

simplicity simple tao-of-pooh

The masters of life know the way, for they listen to the voice within them, the voice of wisdom and simplicity, the voice that reasons beyond cleverness and knows beyond knowledge.

Benjamin Hoff

simplicity voice way

Like silence after noise, or cool, clear water on a hot, stuffy day, Emptiness cleans out the messy mind and charges up the batteries of spiritual energy. Many people are afraid of Emptiness, however, because it reminds them of Loneliness.

Benjamin Hoff

loneliness spiritual people

Wisdom, Happiness, and Courage are not waiting somewhere out beyond sight at the end of a straight line; they're part of a continuous cycle that begins right here. They're not only the ending, but the beginning as well.

Benjamin Hoff

lines sight waiting

"Rabbit's clever," said Pooh thoughtfully. "Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit's clever." "And he has Brain." "Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit has Brain." There was a long silence. "I suppose," said Pooh, "that that's why he never understands anything."

Benjamin Hoff

humor clever funny

You'd be surprised how many people violate this simple principle every day of their lives and try to fit square pegs into round holes, ignoring the clear reality that Things Are As They Are.

Benjamin Hoff

squares simple reality

Thousands of years ago, man lived in harmony with the rest of the natural world. Through what we would today call Telepathy, he communicated with animals, plants, and other forms of life-none of which he considered "beneath" himself, only different, with different jobs to perform. He worked side by side with earth angels and nature spirits, with whom he shared responsibility for taking care of the world.

Benjamin Hoff

angel responsibility jobs

The Universe knows what it's doing. So don't develop a big ego, and don't be afraid.

Benjamin Hoff

ego bigs knows

While Eeyore frets ... ... and Piglet hesitates ... and Rabbit calculates ... and Owl pontificates ...Pooh just is.

Benjamin Hoff

rabbits owl piglet

The wise know their limitations; the foolish do not.

Benjamin Hoff

wise foolish tao-of-pooh