The Still Vortex

1. In the steady gaze of certain people, you will never perceive the turmoil that churns within—the agitation with which they await the very person they themselves once dismissed from their life. Thus there is no greater folly than to judge a human being.

2. Whoever takes time to be lifted onto one's shoulders deserves to stay there; there is no fear of tumbling down in haste.

3. Believe neither what a man says before union nor what a woman says during it.

4. It is better to learn swimming by drinking water with each gulp than to make love the same way. The second wastes no time, at least!

5. A man pays money to own a body; a woman gives her body to gain companionship.

6. Those who suspect others greatly will, in time, begin to doubt even their own disquiet.

7. The only truth in a human life is death—the journey into solitude. Yet people spend their lives not practicing solitude but deepening their affection for others.

8. Even if sin and virtue required no reckoning, still some would commit sin all their days, while others would quietly do good of their own accord.

9. If a person could know beforehand what their relatives would do and say in their absence after death, they would not wish to live another moment for the happiness of others.

10. Certain emotions sometimes wash away even the harshest realities and move on.