Rigidity Quotes

“If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Moving, be like water. Still, be like a mirror. Respond like an echo.”
― Bruce Lee, Tao of Jeet Kune Do

“Disorder is inherent in stability. Civilized man doesn't understand stability. He's confused it with rigidity. Our political and economic and social leaders drool about stability constantly. It's their favorite word, next to 'power.'

'Gotta stabilize the political situation in Southeast Asia, gotta stabilize oil production and consumption, gotta stabilize student opposition to the government' and so forth.

Stabilization to them means order, uniformity, control. And that's a half-witted and potentially genocidal misconception. No matter how thoroughly they control a system, disorder invariably leaks into it. Then the managers panic, rush to plug the leak and endeavor to tighten the controls. Therefore, totalitarianism grows in viciousness and scope. And the blind pity is, rigidity isn't the same as stability at all.

True stability results when presumed order and presumed disorder are balanced. A truly stable system expects the unexpected, is prepared to be disrupted, waits to be transformed.”
― Tom Robbins, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

“Obviously, a rigid, blinkered, absolutist world view is the easiest to keep hold of, whereas the fluid, uncertain, metamorphic picture I've always carried about is rather more vulnerable. Yet I must cling with all my might to … my own soul; must hold on to its mischievous, iconoclastic, out-of-step clown-instincts, no matter how great the storm. And if that plunges me into contradiction and paradox, so be it; I've lived in that messy ocean all my life. I've fished in it for my art. This turbulent sea was the sea outside my bedroom window in Bombay. It is the sea by which I was born, and which I carry within me wherever I go.”
― Salman Rushdie

“I lose faith in mathematics, logical and rigid. What with those that even zero doesn’t accept?”
― Dejan Stojanovic, The Shape

“Life's purpose is realization of life,
Beyond the narrowness of yesterday.
Instead of waiting for a fictitious future,
Life is whatever you make of it today.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Mucize Misafir Merhaba: The Peace Testament

“Rigidity is the greatest impediment to growth.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavictor: Kanima Akiyor Kainat

“Bravery without benevolence is imbecility, Reason without affection is yet more rigidity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Rowdy Scientist: Handbook of Humanitarian Science

“What the heart doesn't feel,
the eyes cannot see.
And there is no greater obstacle
to vision than rigidity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Insan Himalayanoğlu: It's Time to Defect

“When you are humble and simple, the entire world knocks on your door to bask in your light. But when you are too full of yourself, one after another you'll keep losing life's most priceless treasures - those that really matter.

अहं ब्रह्माण्डस्मि।
意識は宇宙です。
의식은 우주다.
Eres conciencia, eres el cosmos.
Gönül görmezse göz de görmez.

To put all this plainly - consciousness contains the cosmos. Once you feel this in your heart, all the answers, all the solutions, all the light will boldly pour out of your nerves and veins like monsoon rain.

But one thing you must remember -
what the heart doesn't feel,
the eyes cannot see.
And there is no greater obstacle
to vision than rigidity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Insan Himalayanoğlu: It's Time to Defect

“He was entirely free of what De Gaulle called, in the kitchen Latin of Molière, paralysus respectus, the kind of awed rigidity that seemed to get hold of every Frenchman in the general’s presence.”
― Romain Gary, The Gasp

“Detachment is excuse of the spineless,
Distance is excuse for the dead.
Come close, let's get ruined together!
Why do you stay afar, obeying the dead!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iman Insaniyat, Mazhab Muhabbat: Pani, Agua, Water, It's All One

“I am the oath of a world divine,
I am the promise of a planet pious.
My piety is not rooted in dead routine,
But in a humane mix of reason and warmth.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iman Insaniyat, Mazhab Muhabbat: Pani, Agua, Water, It's All One

“Rigidity invites vulnerability; flexibility breeds adaptability.”
― Aloo Denish Obiero

“Rigidity is the symptom of a limited mind, and was far too typical of many in the so-called intelligentsia of my day. They mistook fixed ideas for thought.”
― Margaret Atwood, Old Babes in the Wood: Stories

“Rigidity can lead to vulnerability, flexibility allows for adaption to life changing circumstances.”
― Aloo Denish Obiero

“Sonnet 1480

If you can't say anything but
my religion says this,
my religion says that,
I got no interest in hearing you.

If you can't say anything but
science says this,
science says that,
I got no interest in hearing you.

If you can't say anything but
philosophy says this,
philosophy says that,
I got no interest in hearing you.

If you can't say anything but
psychology says this,
psychology says that,
I got no interest in hearing you.

If you can't utter a single word
without parroting second-hand thought,
my phone deserves more attention than you.
But grow up and muster one original idea,
I'll put aside my writing to listen to you.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Dervis Vadisi: 100 Promissory Sonnets

“Defend principle, not prejudice.
Support reformation, not rigidity.
Be responsible, not reckless.
Support correction, not conformity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yüz Şiirlerin Yüzüğü (Ring of 100 Poems, Bilingual Edition): 100 Turkish Poems with Translations

“Know your roots, know your nature,
Step out of your tribal stretcher.
You got a mind full of atomic light,
Where did you lose your himalayan vigor!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tum Dunya Tek Millet: Greatest Country on Earth is Earth

“We look for roots in dead men's custom, while we should be looking among the living.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“Dead Men's Tale (The Sonnet)

They say, time and tide wait for none,
Lest the bird learns it can fly.
The best way to control apes is,
To make them feel guilty for their light.

They say, dead men tell no tale, and yet,
We live our lives based on dead men's tale.
It is okay to tell tales if it enhances sight,
But not the kind that produces a walking hell.

There is no divide when we are alive,
Divisions exist only in kingdom of the dead.
We are divided because we are dead,
Come to life, and all divides will be deleted.

Let us write a new tale with the spirit of life.
Instead of celebrating death,
let's celebrate each other's light.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“They say, dead men tell no tale, and yet, we live our lives based on dead men's tale.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“To learn from yesterday is growth,
To be stuck in yesterday is decay.
To look for a better future is vision,
To be stuck there only causes dismay.

Glance at the past, aim for the future,
But keep your feet grounded in present.
Learn from history, envision the destiny,
‘N dive in today with your sweat valiant.

Memory is meant to give you ground,
Not to impede in your prosperity.
Vision is to embolden your footsteps,
Not to disconnect you from reality.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Honor He Wrote: 100 Sonnets For Humans Not Vegetables

“Consciousness not Compost (The Sonnet)

Owning brand new devices counts for nothing,
if your mind belongs brutally to the stoneage.
It's okay to carry trinkets as heirloom,
but consciousness is no object of heritage.

To make heritage out of consciousness
is to make garbage out of consciousness.
To make tradition out of stagnation
is to make fertilizer out of living veins.

What's in your head, fervor or fertilizer!
What are you, consciousness or compost!
Buy some flowers for your ancestral graves,
but never become compost to get their praise!”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Divine Refugee

“To make heritage out of consciousness
is to make garbage out of consciousness.
To make tradition out of stagnation
is to make fertilizer out of living veins.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Divine Refugee

“What's in your head, fervor or fertilizer!
What are you, consciousness or compost!
Buy some flowers for your ancestral graves,
but never become compost to get their praise!”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Divine Refugee

“To make tradition out of stagnation is to make fertilizer out of living veins.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Divine Refugee

“To make heritage out of consciousness
is to make garbage out of consciousness.
To make tradition out of stagnation
is to make fertilizer out of living veins.

What's in your head, fervor or fertilizer!
What are you, consciousness or compost!
Buy some flowers for your ancestral graves,
but never become compost to get their praise!”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Divine Refugee

“Resisting change is like holding your breath; eventually, you must let go to survive.”
― Aloo Denish Obiero

“In a world of flexible spine and rigid mind, muster an unbending spine with expanding mind.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Neurosonnets: The Naskar Art of Neuroscience

“Brain is there to think first, then take a side, but society teaches you to pick a side first, then think alike. In a world of flexible spine and rigid mind, muster an unbending spine with expanding mind.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Neurosonnets: The Naskar Art of Neuroscience