We are like children building a sand castle. We embellish it with beautiful shells, bits of driftwood, and pieces of colored glass. The castle is ours, off limits to others. We’re willing to attack if others threaten to hurt it. Yet despite all our attachment, we know that the tide will inevitably come in and sweep the sand castle away. The trick is to enjoy it fully but without clinging, and when the time comes, let it dissolve back into the sea.


Pema Chödrön

  Email Quote to Friends   Link to Quote   Create Short URL  Publish Text About This Quote   Share on Facebook, Twitter, and more
  See Recommended Quotes For You

Related

I like to open for a band as it brings on sort of a challenge and it makes things more interesting. ...
KELLY JONES
I wondered if the fire had been out to get me. I wondered if all fire was related, like Dad said all...
JEANNETTE WALLS
35. God is entitled to a portion of our income—not because He needs it but because we need to give...
JAMES C. DOBSON
That's why we seize the moment try to freeze it and own it, squeeze it and hold it.
EMINEM
Children make prayers so thoughtlessly, building them up like sand castles—and they are always sur...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
Each of us views life through a different lens. What we think is colored by the baggage we carry, an...
LAURIE BUCHANAN, PHD
If we all look at life we think how nice, then we look at death and everybody goes oh you can say th...
GARY F EVANS...
Tell your story to the universe and Let your actions speak LOVE.' No matter what it is.
NAPZ CHERUB PELLAZO
Integrity is not everything, but it is the only thing that matters.
JEFFREY FRY
We're doomed to repeat the past no matter what. That's what it is to be alive. It's pretty dense kid...
KURT VONNEGUT
To stand on the
brink of what is coming, feeling eager, optimistic anticipation—with no feeli...
ASK AND IT IS GIVEN
Time determines the occurrence of possibilities and impossibilities, but God determines the time for...
ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH
A beach is not only a sweep of sand, but shells of sea creatures, the sea glass, the seaweed, the in...
HENRY GRUNWALD
Friendship is a double-edged sword one side it can be great and true but the other side it spells be...
GARY F EVANS...
Texas was settled by people who were willing to fence in their property and protect it. We take seri...
AL GREEN
In the first year, it looked as if we were really gonna aim for the highest thing possible. And then...
PAUL GOLDBERGER
When I die it will be game over,... but I know one life is short, to be selfish is not the best deci...
DEYTH BANGER
Orion is above the horizon now, and near it Jupiter, brighter than it will ever be ... But i expect ...
THOMAS HARRIS
37. It is better to be single and unhappy than unhappily married.
JAMES C. DOBSON
None of this was what held Yeva's gaze. Because in the bottom of the valley, straddling the river ne...
MEAGAN SPOONER
The unfortunate thing is that, sometimes, we slip, but, fortunately, consciously or unconsciously, w...
ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH
How should I know?" said Alice, surprised at her own courage. "It's no business of mine."
The Q...
LEWIS CARROLL
The Biggest Threat to our Democracy, Freedoms and Future is Leadership that fosters and Appeases the...
MICHAEL HARRIS
When Dad wasn’t telling us about all the amazing things he had already done, he was telling us abo...
JEANNETTE WALLS
You release the pain of the past and press on. It's a new day, and God is doing a new thing. He want...
CRAIG GROESCHEL
If we're honest with ourselves, most of us know the one thing we lack.
CRAIG GROESCHEL
The more we give, the more we reap the benefits of feeling good in helping others. We are all capabl...
ANGIE KARAN
Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it
SARA SHEPARD
Being clingy may work for puppies, but not for you.
OSCAR AULIQ-ICE
PEACE IS THE OBJECTIVE TO WAR, BUT THE BLOOD RUNNETH STILL
NATALIE URQUIETA
I'm constantly pitching one episode where we see life through Castle's eyes. I think Castle&...
NATHAN FILLION
I wouldn't like to live in a castle now, but I'd enjoy a visit to Restormel in Cornwall in i...
JO BEVERLEY
We should not blame people by the mistakes of others.
DANIEL MELGAçO
After walking the Royal Mile, we visit Edinburgh Castle. Overlooking the city from the grassy hillto...
JACQUELINE E. SMITH
A couple of customers interrupted [...] who wanted to know if we had some YA book about ants and ali...
SHAUN DAVID HUTCHINSON
Yes, your home is your castle, but it is also your identity and your possibility to be open to other...
DAVID SOUL
Congratulations, to the people which made gotham series, still need some more and extra work!
DEYTH BANGER
To have the cognitive abilities to do research and development is vital to a forever expanding world...
GARY F EVANS...
The first and foremost human right or fundamental right is the right to exist.
APURVA GAGLANI
If we ever put research into what the subconscious is we could probably come to the conclusion that ...
GARY F EVANS...
i know im not the girl you wanted. not the one you want to hear from. but what you see is what you g...
SIMI GREWAL
The king may rule the kingdom, but it's the queen who moves the board.
D.M. TIMNEY
Don't you ever get the feeling that all your life is going by and you're not taking advantage of it?...
ERNEST HEMINGWAY
People become more ignorant when it comes to religion.
DANIEL MELGAçO
Be kind. We never know what people are going through. Give grace and mercy because one day your circ...
GERMANY KENT
If you love someone you must set them free like the wind and give them the respect they deserve.If y...
GARY F EVANS...
If the seed doesn't get planted, it can't become a toxic thornbush. We must guard our minds and our ...
CRAIG GROESCHEL
You know, I don't think my music is important, I don't think it's changing the world, I ...
SUFJAN STEVENS
One of the aspects of White Castle that makes us unique is we like to have fun with our menu and our...
JAMIE RICHARDSON
Everyone is the Umbrella Man and he is everyone. Every cough, sneeze, smile and wave means both ever...
CRAIG CLEVENGER
Name the fears that are holding you back. It's the equivalent of flooding the boogeyman with light.
GINA GREENLEE
We are far from perfect but willing to be different.
CRAIG GROESCHEL
Braque was like some hilltop castle that Picasso was constantly besieging. He invests it, bombards i...
JULIAN BARNES
The love you get, is equal to the love you give.
BEN OAK
In the journey of life, certain paths may seem to be leading nowhere because of a mountain or hill o...
ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH
Empathy is the new measurement of everything. It doesn't matter what religion you have, what God you...
C. JOYBELL C.
Clay in the hands of a good potter suffers so many good turns, but in the end, we see its real and t...
ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH
We may claim to believe in God, but we don't want to believe so much that it makes us different.
CRAIG GROESCHEL
Kindness is universal. Sometimes being kind allows others to see the goodness in humanity through yo...
GERMANY KENT
Maybe you've never fallen into a frozen stream. Here's what happens.
1. It is cold. So cold tha...
MAUREEN JOHNSON
Do not let the tears fool you. She lied and cheated once, she will again. Your call to continue with...
TREVON CLARK
I don't think man and woman should be compared, You don't compare things that complete one another.
FAITH N.
Those who want to hear from you will let you hear from them.
TREVON CLARK
My mother hums a haunting melody, one that I think she made up. She used to sing it to us when she w...
SUSAN EE
I think that many people will intentionally overlook all of the lifeless facts about their relations...
C. JOYBELL C.
2. Overcommitment and time pressure are the greatest destroyers of marriages. It takes time to devel...
JAMES C. DOBSON
The entire time we playing, the current had gently moved us downstream with the tide. We were drifti...
CRAIG GROESCHEL
Rise up & attack the day with Passion. The struggle you're in today is developing the strength y...
NAPZ CHERUB PELLAZO
All that the spider needs to complete its web is step taking
ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH
The answer isn't more time but a greater awareness of the time we have.
CRAIG GROESCHEL
May I never neither turn left nor turn right in my journey of life, but may I go straight to Christ ...
ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH
The universe is so vast, so immense, we can never expect to explore it all. It is in effect, not so ...
CHRISTINA ENGELA
The shoes always tell the story,' said the shoe poet.
'Not always,' I countered.
'Yes, alw...
RUTA SEPETYS
Using assistive technology with your child prevents your child from missing out on content solely be...
SANDRA K. COOK
We may not get to choose how we die, but we can chose how we live.
The universe may for...
SHAUN DAVID HUTCHINSON
Dreams are hopeful because they exist as pure possibility. Unlike memories, which are fossils, long ...
SHAUN DAVID HUTCHINSON
Time is a teacher which in the end it kills all it's students. (Synchronicity 2015 Film)
DEYTH BANGER
The difference between the New Castle tournament last year and this year was having a lot more exper...
MARCO CORONA
When We have Patience in our minds and Love in our hearts, Nothing appears to be impossible or unrea...
PHILIP T.M
It's not worth it to build castles on the sand if they get destroyed by the waves of reality.
MLADEN ĐORđEVIć
The saying sell all your belongings & give to the poor simply means "Redirect your mind to the verit...
DAVID ATTA (A.K.A DAVIED ATTLARS & MR DAIN)
Life can only be understood looking backward. It must be lived forward.
ERIC ROTH
You're afraid of getting hurt like I'm afraid to die. It doesn't mean I'm not going to live every da...
VI KEELAND
Wesley Rush doesn't chase girls, but I'm chasing you.
KODY KEPLINGER
I turn and kick with the first one and feel myself being lifted and thrown towards the beach. It's l...
MARK SMITH
What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough ...
DOUGLAS ADAMS
One of the things Ford Prefect had always found hardest to understand about humans was their habit o...
DOUGLAS ADAMS
Love you! Girl, you're in the very core of my heart. I hold you there like a jewel. Didn't I promise...
L.M. MONTGOMERY
It's a lie to think that you are not good enough. It's a lie to think that you are not beautiful. It...
DISON ARNIBAL
It is a lie.
ARTHUR MILLER
We had to hustle to get Santa's castle out of there. We did it the day after Christmas.
LINDA MCINTOSH
So, tomorrow, I'm leaving. And I'm not going to let that happen again with anyone else. I'm going to...
STEPHEN CHBOSKY
We have tears in our eyes
As we wave our goodbyes,
We so loved being with you, we three. ROALD DAHL
I don't spend a lot of time asking "WHY?" Instead I focus on what I should do now or how I should re...
JEFF DIXON-THE KEY TO THE KINGDOM
The battle is not physical, it is spiritual and your mind is the battleground. Keep your mind pure a...
JEANETTE CORON
Then there is the other secret. There isn't any symbolysm [sic]. The sea is the sea. The old man is ...
ERNEST HEMINGWAY
This is the land of Narnia,' said the Faun, 'where we are now; all that lies between the lamp-post a...
C.S. LEWIS
A big sacrifice is coming, and you won't have the courage to make it. That will cost you dearly. It ...
RICK RIORDAN
When you give, you will be blessed. When you give, it will be given back to you.
CRAIG GROESCHEL
Idealism is like a castle in the air if it is not based on a solid foundation of social and politica...
CLAUDE MCKAY

More Pema Chödrön

You are the sky. Everything else – it’s just the weather.
PEMA CHöDRöN
As human beings, not only do we seek resolution, but we also feel that we deserve resolution. Howeve...
PEMA CHöDRöN
We have a choice. We can spend our whole life suffering because we can't relax with how things reall...
PEMA CHöDRöN
WE ALREADY HAVE everything we need. There is no need for self-improvement. All these trips that we l...
PEMA CHöDRöN
If someone comes along and shoots an arrow into your heart, it’s fruitless to stand there and yell...
PEMA CHöDRöN
Rather than letting our negativity get the better of us, we could acknowledge that right now we feel...
PEMA CHöDRöN
The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is t...
PEMA CHöDRöN
PATIENCE is the antidote to anger, a way to learn to love and care for whatever we meet on the path.
PEMA CHöDRöN
What we call obstacles are really the way the world and our entire experience teach us where we’re...
PEMA CHöDRöN
When we touch the center of sorrow, when we sit with discomfort without trying to fix it, when we st...
PEMA CHöDRöN
We insist on being Someone, with a capital S. We get security from defining ourselves as worthless o...
PEMA CHöDRöN
…feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, i...
PEMA CHöDRöN
The greatest obstacle to connecting with our joy is resentment.
PEMA CHöDRöN
Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equ...
PEMA CHöDRöN
We habitually erect a barrier called blame that keeps us from communicating genuinely with others, a...
PEMA CHöDRöN
If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.
PEMA CHöDRöN
To lead a life that goes beyond pettiness and prejudice and always wanting to make sure that everyth...
PEMA CHöDRöN
When we resist change, it’s called suffering. But when we can completely let go and not struggle a...
PEMA CHöDRöN
In meditation we discover our inherent restlessness. Sometimes we get up and leave. Sometimes we...
PEMA CHöDRöN
People get into a heavy-duty sin and guilt trip, feeling that if things are going wrong, that means ...
PEMA CHöDRöN
I realized that it is these two things that staying with regrets offers: It can become the seed of c...
PEMA CHöDRöN
The difference between theism and nontheism is not whether one does or does not believe in God. . . ...
PEMA CHöDRöN
Without giving up hope—that there’s somewhere better to be, that there’s someone better to be�...
PEMA CHöDRöN
Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth
PEMA CHöDRöN
Life is glorious, but life is also wretched. It is both. Appreciating the gloriousness inspires us, ...
PEMA CHöDRöN
Affirmations are like screaming that you're okay in order to overcome this whisper that you're not.....
PEMA CHöDRöN
Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.
PEMA CHöDRöN
Patience is the training in abiding with the restlessness of our energy and letting things evolve at...
PEMA CHöDRöN
Everything is fresh, the essence of realization.
PEMA CHöDRöN
The Buddha taught that we're not actually in control, which is a pretty scary idea. But when you...
PEMA CHODRON
According to the Buddhist belief, you can go on and on indefinitely, so you see your life as just a ...
PEMA CHODRON
As soon as you begin to believe in something, then you can no longer see anything else. The truth yo...
PEMA CHODRON
Lean into the sharp points and fully experience them. The essence of bravery is being without self-d...
PEMA CHODRON
We can learn to rejoice in even the smallest blessings our life holds. It is easy to miss our own go...
PEMA CHODRON
It's also helpful to realize that this very body that we have, that's sitting right here right now.....
PEMA CHODRON
I equate ego with trying to figure everything out instead of going with the flow. That closes your h...
PEMA CHODRON
If right now our emotional reaction to seeing a certain person or hearing certain news is to fly int...
PEMA CHODRON
Sometimes people's spiritual ideas become fixed and they use them against those who don't sh...
PEMA CHODRON
The still lake without ripples is an image of our minds at ease, so full of unlimited friendliness f...
PEMA CHODRON
What's encouraging about meditation is that even if we shut down, we can no longer shut down in igno...
PEMA CHODRON
When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it's bot...
PEMA CHODRON
A further sign of health is that we don't become undone by fear and trembling, but we take it as a m...
PEMA CHODRON
Compassionate action involves working with ourselves as much as working with others.
PEMA CHODRON
Rejoicing in the good fortune of others is a practice that can help us when we feel emotionally shut...
PEMA CHODRON
As for the way the inner inhabitants are created, if the obliteration [of sentient beings] occurs th...
PEMA LUNGTOK GYATSO