For Zen students, a weed is a treasure.
Shunryu SuzukiRead
Each of you is perfect the way you are ... and you can use a little improvement.
Interpretation
What this quote means
We are all unique and valuable, yet there is always room for growth.
This quote emphasizes the idea that every individual possesses inherent worth and perfection in their own right, while simultaneously acknowledging the potential for personal growth and self-improvement. It highlights the balance between self-acceptance and the pursuit of becoming a better version of oneself.
Themes
Self-ImprovementAcceptanceGrowthPerfectionIndividuality
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about self-acceptance and growth.
More from Shunryu Suzuki
All quotes βIf you take pride in your attainment or become discouraged because of your idealistic effort, your practice will confine you by a thick wall.
Shunryu SuzukiRead
As long as you seek for something, you will get the shadow of reality and not reality itself.
Shunryu SuzukiRead
No teaching could be more direct than just to sit down.
Shunryu SuzukiRead
Everything is perfect, but there is a lot of room for improvement.
Shunryu SuzukiRead
When you do not realize that you are one with the river, or one with the universe, you have fear. Whether it is separated into drops or not, water is water. Our life and death are the same thing. When we realize this fact, we have no fear of death anymore.
Shunryu SuzukiRead
Similar quotes
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He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world's believing him. This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions.
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Humility responds to God's will-to the fear of His judgments and to the needs of those around us. To the proud, the applause of the world rings in their ears; to the humble, the applause of heaven warms their hearts. Someone has said, "Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man."
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What difference would a clear vision of my principles, values, and ultimate objectives make in the way I spend my time?
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Be deaf, be blind, be dead to gossip, and it will grow disgusted with you and select a more sensitive victim.
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Pray as if everything depended on God, and work as if everything depended upon man.
Francis SpellmanRead