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Stephen Vincent Benét

Stephen Vincent Benét (22 July 1898 – 13 March 1943) was an American author, poet, short story writer and novelist.

Quotes

I shall not lie easy at Winchelsea. You may bury my body in Sussex grass, You may bury my tongue at Champmédy. I shall not be there. I shall rise and pass. Bury my heart at Wounded Knee.'''
 * '''I shall not rest quiet in Montparnasse.
 * "American Names" (1931)

Young Adventure (1918)

 * Full text online at Project Gutenberg

The Quality of Courage

Slashing the torn shoes from my feet, And all the air was bitter sleet. And all the land was cramped with snow, Steel-strong and fierce and glimmering wan, Like pale plains of obsidian. — '''And yet I strove — and I was fire And ice — and fire and ice were one In one vast hunger of desire.'''
 * The iron ice stung like a goad,

'''The fight was done. Even gods tire Of fighting...''' My way was the wrong. Now I should drift and drift along To endless quiet, golden peace... And let the tortured body cease. '''And then a light winked like an eye. . . . And very many miles away '''A girl stood at a warm, lit door, Holding a lamp. Ray upon ray It cloaked the snow with perfect light. And where she was there was no night Nor could be, ever.''' God is sure, And in his hands are things secure.
 * Was it not better so to lie?

The lovely laughter of that face''', Like a clear brook most full of light, Or olives swaying on a height, So silver they have wings, almost; '''Like a great word once known and lost And meaning all things.''' Nor her voice A happy sound where larks rejoice, Her body, that great loveliness, The tender fashion of her dress, I may not paint them. '''These I see, Blazing through all eternity, A fire-winged sign, a glorious tree!'''
 * '''It is not given me to trace

The bitter thing that I must do. There could be no surrender now; Though Sleep and Death were whispering low.
 * She stood there, and at once I knew

I took the wrong way. Good and well, At least my feet sought out not Hell!
 * Life was a storm to wander through.

Save dimly.''' The ice glared like fire, A long bright Hell of choking cold, And each vein was a tautened wire, Throbbing with torture — and I crawled. My hands were wounds. So I attained The second Hell.
 * '''I crawled. I could not speak or see

That I had gained.''' Once more I lay Before the long bright Hell of ice. And still the light was far away. There was red mist before my eyes Or I could tell you how I went Across the swaying firmament, A glittering torture of cold stars, And how I fought in Titan wars... And died... and lived again upon The rack... and how the horses strain When their red task is nearly done. . . '''I only know that there was Pain, Infinite and eternal Pain. And that I fell — and rose again.'''
 * '''I stumbled, slipped... and all was gone

No pain at all. Rest, like a goad, Spurred my eyes open — and light broke Upon them like a million swords: And she was there. There are no words. '''Heaven is for a moment's span. And ever.'''
 * There was no pain when I awoke,

Hidden in grey Eternity, I shall attain, with burning feet, To you and to the mercy-seat! The ages crumble down like dust, Dark roses, deviously thrust And scattered in sweet wine — but I, I shall lift up to you my cry, And kiss your wet lips presently Beneath the ever-living Tree. '''
 * '''Oh dear and laughing, lost to me,

Somewhere, in Heaven she walks that road. Somewhere... in Heaven... she walks... that... road...
 * This in my heart I keep for goad!

The Lover in Hell

From the black pools of seething oil...'''
 * '''Eternally the choking steam goes up

Look up. There's one blue patch no smoke dares touch. Sky, clear, ineffable, alive with light, Always the same... Before, I never knew Rest and green peace.
 * For ever... well... it droops the mouth. Till I

All passionate desires, the eloquent thunder Of new, glad suns, shouting aloud for joy''', Over fresh worlds and clean, trampling the air Like stooping hawks, to the long wind of horns, Flung from the bastions of Eternity... And she is the low lake, drowsy and gentle, And good words spoken from the tongues of friends, And calmness in the evening, and deep thoughts, Falling like dreams from the stars' solemn mouths. All these.
 * '''She is all peace, all quiet,

Winged Man
The dawn, a crimson cataract, burst through the eastern gates, The cliffs were robed in scarlet, the sands were cinnabar, Where first two men spread wings for flight and dared the hawk afar.
 * The moon, a sweeping scimitar, dipped in the stormy straits,

Yet forever, yea, forever we shall see thee rising thus, See the first supernal glory, not the ruin hideous.
 * Icarus, Icarus, though the end is piteous,

In those far, terrific regions where the cold comes down like Death Gleams the red glint of his pinions, smokes the vapor of his breath. Floating downward, very clear, still the echoes reach the ear Of a little tune he whistles and a little song he sings, Mounting, mounting still, triumphant, on his torn and broken wings!
 * On the highest steeps of Space he will have his dwelling-place,

Litany for Dictatorships (1935)

 * Full text online

The fosterless, the simple, the oppressed, The ghosts in the burning city of our time… '''
 * '''For all those beaten, for the broken heads,

And for those who were not courageous But were beaten nevertheless.''' For those who spit out the bloody stumps of their teeth Quietly in the hall, Sleep well on stone or iron, watch for the time And kill the guard in the privy before they die, Those with the deep-socketed eyes and the lamp burning.
 * '''For those who still said "Red Front" or "God save the Crown!"

For those living through the months and years Enduring, watching, hoping''', going each day To the work or the queue for meat or the secret club, Living meanwhile, begetting children, smuggling guns, And found and killed at the end like rats in a drain.
 * '''For those slain at once.

And for those, humble and stupid, who had no plan But were denounced, but were angry, but told a joke, But could not explain, but were sent away to the camp, But had their bodies shipped back in the sealed coffins, "Died of pneumonia." "Died trying to escape."
 * For those who planned and were leaders and were beaten

For a peppermint-star and the praise of the Perfect State, For all those strangled, gelded or merely starved To make perfect states'''; for the priest hanged in his cassock, The Jew with his chest crushed in and his eyes dying, The revolutionist lynched by the private guards To make perfect states, in the names of the perfect states.
 * '''For those denounced by their smug, horrible children

And the knock at the door, and they look at each other quickly And the woman goes to the door with a stiff face, Smoothing her dress. "We are all good citizens here. We believe in the Perfect State."
 * Talking so quietly; when they hear the cars

But nobody knew next day what the trouble was And a man must go to his work.''' So I didn't see him For three days, then, and me near out of my mind And all the patrols on the streets with their dirty guns And when he came back, he looked drunk, and the blood was on him.
 * '''We heard the shots in the night

For the children taught to keep quiet, the old children, The children spat-on at school. For the wrecked laboratory, The gutted house, the dunged picture, the pissed-in well The naked corpse of Knowledge flung in the square And no man lifting a hand and no man speaking.'''
 * '''For the women who mourn their dead in the secret night,

For the ropes that choke, the manacles that bind, The huge voice, metal, that lies from a thousand tubes And the stuttering machine-gun that answers all.'''
 * '''For the cold of the pistol-butt and the bullet's heat,

Without name, without resurrection, without stars, His dark head heavy with death and his flesh long sour With the smell of his many prisons — John Smith, John Doe, John Nobody — oh, crack your mind for his name! Faceless as water, naked as the dust, Dishonored as the earth the gas-shells poison And barbarous with portent. '''This is he. This is the man they ate at the green table Putting their gloves on ere they touched the meat. This is the fruit of war, the fruit of peace, The ripeness of invention, the new lamb, The answer to the wisdom of the wise. And still he hangs, and still he will not die And still, on the steel city of our years The light falls and the terrible blood streams down.'''
 * For the man crucified on the crossed machine guns

We thought, because we had power, we had wisdom. We thought the long train would run to the end of Time. We thought the light would increase. Now the long train stands derailed and the bandits loot it. Now the boar and the asp have power in our time. Now the night rolls back on the West and the night is solid. Our fathers and ourselves sowed dragon's teeth. Our children know and suffer the armed men.'''
 * '''We thought we were done with these things but we were wrong.

The Devil and Daniel Webster (1937)

 * Full text online at Project Gutenberg Australia

Yes, Dan'l Webster's dead — or, at least, they buried him. But every time there's a thunderstorm around Marshfield, they say you can hear his rolling voice in the hollows of the sky.''' And they say that if you go to his grave and speak loud and clear, "Dan'l Webster — Dan'l Webster!" the ground'll begin to shiver and the trees begin to shake. And after a while you'll hear a deep voice saying, "Neighbor, how stands the Union?" Then you better answer the Union stands as she stood, rock-bottomed and copper-sheathed, one and indivisible, or he's liable to rear right out of the ground. At least, that's what I was told when I was a youngster.
 * '''It's a story they tell in the border country, where Massachusetts joins Vermont and New Hampshire.

 * A man with a mouth like a mastiff, a brow like a mountain and eyes like burning anthracite — that was Dan'l Webster in his prime. And the biggest case he argued never got written down in the books, for he argued it against the devil, nip and tuck and no holds barred. And this is the way I used to hear it told.

 * If two New Hampshiremen aren't a match for the devil, we might as well give the country back to the Indians.

 * When the first wrong was done to the first Indian, I was there. When the first slaver put out for the Congo, I stood on her deck. Am I not in your books and stories and beliefs, from the first settlements on? Am I not spoken of, still, in every church in New England? 'Tis true the North claims me for a Southerner and the South for a Northerner, but I am neither. I am merely an honest American like yourself — and of the best descent — for, to tell the truth, Mr. Webster, though I don't like to boast of it, my name is older in this country than yours.
 * Mr. Scratch

For it was him they'd come for, not only Jabez Stone. He read it in the glitter of their eyes and in the way the stranger hid his mouth with one hand. And if he fought them with their own weapons, he'd fall into their power; he knew that, though he couldn't have told you how.''' It was his own anger and horror that burned in their eyes; and he'd have to wipe that out or the case was lost. He stood there for a moment, his black eyes burning like anthracite. And then he began to speak.
 * Finally, it was time for him to get up on his feet, and he did so, all ready to bust out with lightning and denunciations. But before he started he looked over the judge and jury for a moment, such being his custom. And he noticed the glitter in their eyes was twice as strong as before, and they all leaned forward. Like hounds just before they get the fox, they thickened as he watched them. '''Then he saw what he'd been about to do, and he wiped his forehead, as a man might who's just escaped falling into a pit in the dark.

And he began with the simple things that everybody's known and felt — the freshness of a fine morning when you're young, and the taste of food when you're hungry, and the new day that's every day when you're a child. He took them up and he turned them in his hands. They were good things for any man. But without freedom, they sickened.''' And when he talked of those enslaved, and the sorrows of slavery, his voice got like a big bell. He talked of the early days of America and the men who had made those days. It wasn't a spread-eagle speech, but he made you see it. '''He admitted all the wrong that had ever been done. But he showed how, out of the wrong and the right, the suffering and the starvations, something new had come. And everybody had played a part in it, even the traitors.'''
 * He started off in a low voice, though you could hear every word. They say he could call on the harps of the blessed when he chose. And this was just as simple and easy as a man could talk. But he didn't start out by condemning or reviling. '''He was talking about the things that make a country a country, and a man a man.

The fire began to die on the hearth and the wind before morning to blow. The light was getting gray in the room when Dan'l Webster finished. And his words came back at the end to New Hampshire ground, and the one spot of land that each man loves and clings to. He painted a picture of that, and to each one of that jury he spoke of things long forgotten. For his voice could search the heart, and that was his gift and his strength. And to one, his voice was like the forest and its secrecy, and to another like the sea and the storms of the sea; and one heard the cry of his lost nation in it, and another saw a little harmless scene he hadn't remembered for years. But each saw something. '''And when Dan'l Webster finished he didn't know whether or not he'd saved Jabez Stone. But he knew he'd done a miracle. For the glitter was gone from the eyes of the judge and jury, and, for the moment, they were men again, and knew they were men.'''
 * Then he turned to Jabez Stone and showed him as he was — an ordinary man who'd had hard luck and wanted to change it. And, because he'd wanted to change it, now he was going to be punished for all eternity. And yet there was good in Jabez Stone, and he showed that good. He was hard and mean, in some ways, but he was a man. There was sadness in being a man, but it was a proud thing too. And he showed what the pride of it was till you couldn't help feeling it. Yes, even in hell, if a man was a man, you'd know it. And he wasn't pleading for any one person any more, though his voice rang like an organ. He was telling the story and the failures and the endless journey of mankind. They got tricked and trapped and bamboozled, but it was a great journey. And no demon that was ever foaled could know the inwardness of it — it took a man to do that.

 * Perhaps 'tis not strictly in accordance with the evidence … but even the damned may salute the eloquence of Mr. Webster.
 * Mr. Scratch

 * He knew that once you bested anybody like Mr. Scratch in fair fight, his power on you was gone. And he could see that Mr. Scratch knew it too.

 * A soul. A soul is nothing. Can you see it, smell it, touch it? No.

 * You will have money and all that money can buy.

By the Waters of Babylon (1937)

 * First published as "The Place of the Gods" in The Saturday Evening Post (31 July 1937), Benét changed the title when selecting works for the anthology Thirteen O'Clock: Stories of Several Worlds (1937) - Full text online at Wikilivres · Full text online at Fadedpage

 * The north and the west and the south are good hunting ground, but it is forbidden to go east. It is forbidden to go to any of the Dead Places except to search for metal and then he who touches the metal must be a priest or the son of a priest. Afterwards, both the man and the metal must be purified. These are the rules and the laws; they are well made. It is forbidden to cross the great river and look upon the place that was the Place of the Gods — this is most strictly forbidden. We do not even say its name though we know its name. It is there that spirits live, and demons — it is there that there are the ashes of the Great Burning. These things are forbidden — they have been forbidden since the beginning of time.

 * If the hunters think we do all things by chants and spells, they may believe so — it does not hurt them. I was taught how to read in the old books and how to make the old writings — that was hard and took a long time. My knowledge made me happy — it was like a fire in my heart. Most of all, I liked to hear of the Old Days and the stories of the gods.

Sometimes signs are sent by bad spirits. I waited again on the flat rock, fasting, taking no food. I was very still — I could feel the sky above me and the earth beneath. I waited till the sun was beginning to sink. Then three deer passed in the valley going east — they did not mind me or see me. There was a white fawn with them — a very great sign.
 * I went fasting, as is the law. My body hurt but not my heart. When the dawn came, I was out of sight of the village. I prayed and purified myself, waiting for a sign. The sign was an eagle. It flew east.

I go into the Dead Places but I am not slain. I take the metal from the Dead Places but I am not blasted. I travel upon the god-roads and am not afraid.
 * My people are the Hill People. They are the men.

 * Never have I been so much alone — I tried to think of my knowledge, but it was a squirrel's heap of winter nuts. There was no strength in my knowledge any more and I felt small and naked as a new-hatched bird — alone upon the great river, the servant of the gods.

 * How shall I tell what I saw? The towers are not all broken — here and there one still stands, like a great tree in a forest, and the birds nest high. But the towers themselves look blind, for the gods are gone. I saw a fishhawk, catching fish in the river. I saw a little dance of white butterflies over a great heap of broken stones and columns. I went there and looked about me — there was a carved stone with cut — letters, broken in half. I can read letters but I could not understand these. They said UBTREAS. There was also the shattered image of a man or a god. It had been made of white stone and he wore his hair tied back like a woman's. His name was ASHING, as I read on the cracked half of a stone. I thought it wise to pray to ASHING, though I do not know that god.

 * I went north — I did not try to hide myself. When a god or a demon saw me, then I would die, but meanwhile I was no longer afraid. My hunger for knowledge burned in me — there was so much that I could not understand.

Why should I lie about it? I am a priest and the son of a priest. If there are spirits, as they say, in the small Dead Places near us, what spirits must there not be in that great Place of the Gods? And would not they wish to speak? After such long years? I know that I felt myself drawn as a fish is drawn on a line. I had stepped out of my body — I could see my body asleep in front of the cold fire, but it was not I. I was drawn to look out upon the city of the gods. It should have been dark, for it was night, but it was not dark. Everywhere there were lights — lines of light — circles and blurs of light — ten thousand torches would not have been the same. The sky itself was alight — you could barely see the stars for the glow in the sky. I thought to myself "This is strong magic" and trembled. There was a roaring in my ears like the rushing of rivers. Then my eyes grew used to the light and my ears to the sound. I knew that I was seeing the city as it had been when the gods were alive.
 * Now I tell what is very strong magic. I woke in the midst of the night. When I woke, the fire had gone out and I was cold. It seemed to me that all around me there were whisperings and voices. I closed my eyes to shut them out. Some will say that I slept again, but I do not think that I slept. I could feel the spirits drawing my spirit out of my body as a fish is drawn on a line.

 * '''When gods war with gods, they use weapons we do not know. It was fire falling out of the sky and a mist that poisoned. It was the time of the Great Burning and the Destruction. They ran about like ants in the streets of their city — poor gods, poor gods!

 * I knew then that they had been men, neither gods nor demons. It is a great knowledge, hard to tell and believe. They were men — they went a dark road, but they were men.

 * I have been in the Place of the Gods and seen it! Now slay me, if it is the law — but still I know they were men.

Nevertheless, we make a beginning.''' it is not for the metal alone we go to the Dead Places now — there are the books and the writings. They are hard to learn. And the magic tools are broken — but we can look at them and wonder. At least, we make a beginning. And, when I am chief priest we shall go beyond the great river. We shall go to the Place of the Gods — the place newyork — not one man but a company. We shall look for the images of the gods and find the god ASHING and the others — the gods Lincoln and Biltmore and Moses. But they were men who built the city, not gods or demons. They were men. I remember the dead man's face. '''They were men who were here before us. We must build again.'''
 * '''It is better the truth should come little by little. I have learned that, being a priest. Perhaps, in the old days, they ate knowledge too fast.

Toward the Century of the Common Man (1942)

 * Closing speech written by Benét, for use in the radio play Toward the Century of the Common Man written primarily by a George Faulkner, broadcast on the NBC radio network for United Nations Flag Day (14 June 1942). Later published in We Stand United and Other Radio Scripts (1945).

For Liberty can be lost by the practical men whose hearts are too shrunken to contain it. Liberty can be bartered away by the greedy minds who cannot see beyond their own day. Liberty can be stolen away by the robber and the brute. But Liberty grows like grass in the hearts of the common people, from the blood of their martyrs. And the tyrants rage and are gone, but the dream and the deed endure — and I endure. It is I who command men and win battles. I have called them forth in the past, I am calling them forth today. I call the brave to the battle-line, I call the sane to the council — I call the free millions of earth to the century ahead — the century of the common man, established by you, the people.' For this world cannot endure, half slave and half free!'' My name is FREEDOM and my command today is ... Unite! '''
 * We had a rock to defend, and we defended it. And the name of that rock is Liberty, and in that name I speak.

Prayer (1942)

 * Written by Benét at the request of the Librarian of Congress Archibald MacLeish, to be read by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, after the United Nations Flag Day broadcast of Toward the Century of the Common Man on the NBC radio network (14 June 1942), for which Benét also wrote the closing speech. FDR introduced this prayer with the statement: "The brazen tyrannies pass. Man marches forward toward the light. I am going to close by reading you a prayer that has been written for the United Nations on this day." This prayer was later published in War Messages of Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 8, 1941 to October 12, 1942 (1942) and We Stand United and Other Radio Scripts (1945).

Grant us victory over the tyrants who would enslave all free men and nations.''' Grant us faith and understanding to cherish all those who fight for freedom as if they were our brothers. Grant us brotherhood in hope and union, not only for the space of this bitter war, but for the days to come which shall and must unite all the children of earth.
 * '''God of the free, we pledge our hearts and lives today to the cause of all free mankind.

'''The spirit of man has awakened and the soul of man has gone forth. Grant us the wisdom and the vision to comprehend the greatness of man's spirit, that suffers and endures so hugely for a goal beyond his own brief span.''' Grant us honor for our dead who died in the faith, honor for our living who work and strive for the faith, redemption and security for all captive lands and peoples. Grant us patience with the deluded and pity for the betrayed. And grant us the skill and valor that shall cleanse the world of oppression and the old base doctrine that the strong must eat the weak because they are strong. '''Yet most of all grant us brotherhood, not only for this day but for all our years — a brotherhood not of words but of acts and deeds. We are all of us children of earth — grant us that simple knowledge.''' If our brothers are oppressed, then we are oppressed. If they hunger, we hunger. If their freedom is taken away, our freedom is not secure. Grant us a common faith that man shall know bread and peace — that he shall know justice and righteousness, freedom and security, an equal opportunity and an equal chance to do his best, not only in our own lands, but throughout the world. And in that faith let us march toward the clean world our hands can make. Amen.
 * Our earth is but a small star in the great universe. Yet of it we can make, if we choose, a planet unvexed by war, untroubled by hunger or fear, undivided by senseless distinctions of race, color or theory. Grant us that courage and foreseeing to begin this task today that our children and our children's children may be proud of the name of man.

A Child is Born (1942)

 * A Child is Born : A Drama of The Nativity, first broadcast as part of the anthology series Cavalcade of America on the NBC radio network (21 December 1942)

Just where and how things happen in our play, Set the bare stage with words instead of props And keep on talking till the curtain drops.''' … It's an old task — old as the human heart, Old as those bygone players and their art Who, in old days when faith was nearer earth, Played out the mystery of Jesus' birth In hall or village green or market square For all who chose to come and see them there, And, if they knew that King Herod, in his crown, Was really Wat, the cobbler of the town, And Tom, the fool, played Abraham the Wise, They did not care. They saw with other eyes. '''The story was their own — not far away, As real as if it happened yesterday''', Full of all awe and wonder yet so near, A marvelous thing that could have happened here In their own town — a star that could have blazed On their own shepherds, leaving them amazed, Frightened and questioning and following still To the bare stable — and the miracle.
 * '''I'm your narrator. It's my task to say
 * Narrator

The voices speak to you across the air To say that once again a child is born. A child is born.'''
 * '''The time is — time. The place is anywhere.
 * Narrator

The conquest of kings, But in the bare stable He shall judge all things.'''
 * '''He shall not come to conquest,
 * Innkeeper's wife, singing a song of prophecies

Seekers of some vague kingdom in the stars — They hide out in the hills and stir up trouble, Call themselves prophets, too, and prophesy That something new is coming to the world, The Lord knows what! '''Well, it's a long time coming, And, meanwhile, we're the wheat between the stones.'''
 * Outcasts of war, misfits, rebellious souls,
 * Innkeeper

Something I've dreamt about in some deep sleep, Truer than any waking''', Heard about, long ago, so long ago, In sunshine and the summer grass of childhood, When the sky seems so near. I do not know its shape, its will, its purpose And yet all day its will has been upon me, More real than any voice I ever heard, More real than yours or mine or our dead child's, More real than all the voices there upstairs, Brawling above their cups, more real than light. And there is light in it and fire and peace, Newness of heart and strangeness like a sword, And all my body trembles under it, And yet I do not know.
 * '''I'm waiting. … For something new and strange,
 * Innkeeper's wife

I am expectant as a runner is Before a race, a child before a feast day, A woman at the gates of life and death, Expectant for us all, for all of us Who live and suffer on this little earth With such small brotherhood. '''Something begins. Something is full of change and sparkling stars. Something is loosed that changes all the world.'''
 * I am not tired.
 * Innkeeper's wife

Starlit and sunlit, something walks abroad In flesh and spirit and fire. Something is loosed to change the shaken world.
 * Something begins, begins;
 * Innkeeper's wife

And do not always see The vision when it comes, the shining change, Or, if we see it, do not follow it, Because it is too hard, too strange, too new, Too unbelievable, too difficult, Warring too much with common, easy ways''', And now I know this, standing in this light, Who have been half alive these many years, Brooding on my own sorrow, my own pain, Saying "I am a barren bough. Expect Nor fruit nor blossom from a barren bough."
 * '''God pity us indeed, for we are human,
 * Innkeeper's wife

Minute by minute, day by dragging day, In all the thousand, small, uncaring ways, The smooth appeasing compromises of time, Which are King Herod and King Herod's men, Always and always. Life can be Lost without vision but not lost by death, Lost by not caring, willing, going on Beyond the ragged edge of fortitude To something more — something no man has ever seen.''' You who love money, you who love yourself, You who love bitterness, and I who loved and lost and thought I could not love again, And all the people of this little town, '''Rise up! The loves we had were not enough. Something is loosed to change the shaken world, And with it we must change!'''
 * '''Life is not lost by dying! Life is lost
 * Innkeeper's wife

Something uncouth and bold and terrifying, And yet, I'll tell you this: '''It won't be till each one of us is willing, Not you, not me, but every one of us, To hang upon a cross for every man Who suffers, starves and dies, Fight his sore battles as they were our own, And help him from the darkness and the mire, That there will be no crosses and no tyrants, No Herods and no slaves.'''
 * I see that I've said something you don't like,
 * Dismas, the thief

And, if it finds no earth, it cannot grow.''' We are his earth, the mortal and the dying, Led by no star — the sullen and the slut, The thief, the selfish man, the barren woman, Who have betrayed him once and will betray him, Forget his words, be great a moment's space Under the strokes of chance, And then sink back into our small affairs. And yet, unless we go, his message fails.
 * '''We are the earth his word must sow like wheat
 * Innkeeper's wife

Not as a coin that may be spent or lost But as a living fire within the heart, Never quite quenched — because '''he brings to all, The thought, the wish, the dream of brotherhood, Never and never to be wholly lost, The water and the bread of the oppressed, The stay and succor of the resolute, The harness of the valiant and the brave, The new word that has changed the shaken world. And, though he die, his word shall grow like wheat And every time a child is born, In pain and love and freedom hardly won, Born and gone forth to help and aid mankind, There will be women with a right to say "Gloria, gloria in excelsis deo! A child is born!"'''
 * He brings man's freedom in his hands,
 * Innkeeper's wife

title: Stephen Vincent Benét


text:
Thích Nhất Hạnh

Thích Nhất Hạnh (born as Nguyễn Xuân Bảo; 11 October 1926 – 22 January 2022) was an expatriate Vietnamese Buddhist monk, peace activist, and prolific author in both Vietnamese and English. Nhất Hạnh is most commonly referred to as Thích Nhất Hạnh, in which the Vietnamese title Thích (釋), derived from "Thích Ca" or "Thích Già" (釋迦) and applied to all Vietnamese Buddhist monks and nuns, means "of the Shakya (Shakyamuni Buddha) clan".

Quotes

 * When I  was  in  Vietnam,  so  many  of  our  villages  were  being  bombed. Along with my  monastic  brothers and  sisters, I had to decide  what  to do. Should we  continue to practice in our  monasteries, or  should we leave  the meditation halls in order to  help the people who  were suffering under the bombs? After careful reflection, we decided to do both—to go out and help people  and  to  do  so  in  mindfulness.  We  called  it  engaged  Buddhism. Mindfulness must be engaged. Once there is seeing, there  must  be  acting. …We  must  be  aware  of  the  real  problems  of  the  world.  Then,  with mindfulness, we  will  know  what  to  do  and  what  not  to  do  to  be  of  help. p. 91
 * Peace is every  step:  The  path  of  mindfulness  in  everyday  life. (1991)

 * Birds' songs express joy, beauty, and purity, and evoke in us vitality and love. So many beings in the universe love us unconditionally. The trees, the water, and the air don't ask anything of us; they just love us. Even though we need this kind of love, we continue to destroy them. By destroying the animals, the air, and the trees, we are destroying ourselves.
 * Love in Action: Writings on Nonviolent Social Change (1993), p. 131

 * If you see someone who is trying to shoot, to destroy, you have to do your best in order to prevent him or her to do so. You must. But you must do it out of your compassion, of your willingness to protect, and not out of anger. That is the key. If you need to use force, you have to use it, but you have to make sure that you act out of compassion and a willingness to protect, not out of anger.
 * PBS interview (2003)

 * When you understand the roots of anger in yourself and in the other, your mind will enjoy true peace, joy and lightness
 * Teachings on Love (2005) Full Circle Publishing ISBN 81-7621-167-2

 * When you feel anger arising, remember to return to your breathing and follow it. The other person may see that you are practicing, and she may even apologize.
 * Teachings on Love (2005) Full Circle Publishing ISBN 81-7621-167-2

 * Your first love has no beginning or end. Your first love is not your first love, and it is not your last. It is just love. It is one with everything.
 * Cultivating the Mind of Love (2005) Full Circle Publishing ISBN 81-216-0676-4

depends on the quality of the seeds that lie deep in our consciousness.'''
 * '''The quality of our life
 * Understanding Our Mind (2006) Parallax Press ISBN 978-81-7223-796-7

contains past and future. The secret of transformation, is in the way we handle this very moment.'''
 * '''The present moment
 * Understanding Our Mind (2006) Parallax Press ISBN 978-81-7223-796-7

Seeds can produce formations. Formations can produce seeds. Formations can produce formations.'''
 * '''Seeds can produce seeds
 * Understanding Our Mind (2006) Parallax Press ISBN 978-81-7223-796-7

 * Undoubtedly, even for enlightened men, however determined they may be, it is very difficult to go against the system. The question posed today is what must we do to prevent ourselves from being taken over by the system? Engaging in political or economic conflict does not seem to be the answer.
 * Zen Keys (1994), p. 150

 * One included all, and all were contained in one.
 * Old Path White Clouds : Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha (1991) Parallax Press ISBN 81-216-0675-6

 * The leaf and his body were one. Neither possessed a separate permanent self. Neither could exist independently from the rest of the universe.
 * Old Path White Clouds : Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha (1991)

 * Contemplating the bowl, it is possible to see the interdependent elements which give rise to the bowl.
 * Old Path White Clouds : Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha (1991) Parallax Press ISBN 81-216-0675-6

 * Freedom from suffering is a great happiness.
 * Old Path White Clouds : Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha (1991) Parallax Press ISBN 81-216-0675-6

 * The Buddha also counseled the monks and nuns to avoid wasting any precious time by engaging in idle conversation, oversleeping, pursuing fame and recognition, chasing after desires, spending time with people of poor character, and being satisfied with only a shallow understanding of the teaching.
 * Old Path White Clouds : Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha (1991) Parallax Press ISBN 81-216-0675-6

 *  The same clouds that Buddha had seen were in the sky. Each serene step brought to life the old path and white clouds of the Buddha. The path of Buddha was beneath his very feet.
 * Old Path White Clouds : Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha (1991) Parallax Press ISBN 81-216-0675-6

 *  Venerable Svasti and the young buffalo boys were rivers that flowed from that source. Wherever the rivers flowed, the Buddha would be there.
 * Old Path White Clouds : Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha (1991) Parallax Press ISBN 81-216-0675-6

 * If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. If we really know how to live, what better way to start the day than with a smile? Our smile affirms our awareness and determination to live in peace and joy. The source of a true smile is an awakened mind.
 * Peace Is Every Step : The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life (1992) Bantam reissue ISBN 0553351397

 * The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth in the present moment, to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now.
 * Touching Peace (1992), p. 1. Parallax Press ISBN 0-938077-57-0

 * In order to rally people, governments need enemies. They want us to be afraid, to hate, so we will rally behind them. And if they do not have a real enemy, they will invent one in order to mobilize us.
 * Quoted in Engaged Buddhist Reader: Ten Years of Engaged Buddhist Publishing (1996) by Arnold Kotler, p. 106

 * To think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth. The problem is to see reality as it is. A pessimistic attitude can never create the calm and serene smile which blossoms on the lips of Bodhisattvas and all those who obtain the way.
 * The Miracle of Mindfulness (1999)

 * Reality is reality. It transcends every concept. There is no concept which can adequately describe it, not even the concept of interdependence.
 * The Miracle of Mindfulness (1999)

 * Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the whole earth revolves—slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future. Live the actual moment. Only this actual moment is life.
 * The Miracle of Mindfulness (1999)

 * It's wonderful to be alive and to walk on earth.
 * Talk at Stonehill College (2002)

 * You are a miracle, and everything you touch could be a miracle.
 * Episode of the National Public Radio program Speaking of Faith : "Brother Thay: A Radio Pilgrimage with Thich Nhat Hanh" (2003)

 * If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all generations of your ancestors. All of them are alive in this moment. Each is present in your body. You are the continuation of each of these people.
 * Quoted in A Lifetime of Peace : Essential Writings by and About Thich Nhat Hanh (2003) edited by Jennifer Schwamm Willis, p. 141

 * We have more possibilities available in each moment than we realize.
 * As quoted in Visions from Earth (2004) by James Miller

 * Children understand very well that in each woman, in each man, in each child, there is capacity of waking up, of understanding, and of loving. Many children have told me that they cannot show me anyone who does not have this capacity. Some people allow it to develop, and some do not, but everyone has it. This capacity of waking up, of being aware of what is going on in your feelings, in your body, in your perceptions, in the world, is called Buddha nature, the capacity of understanding and loving. Smiling is very important. If we are not able to smile, then the world will not have peace. It is not by going out for a demonstration against nuclear missiles that we can bring about peace. It is with our capacity of smiling, breathing, and being peace that we can make peace.
 * Being Peace (2005)

 * Your true home is in the here and the now. It is not limited by time, space, nationality, or race. Your true home is not an abstract idea. It is something you can touch and live in every moment. With mindfulness and concentration, the energies of the Buddha, you can find your true home in the full relaxation of your mind and body in the present moment. No one can take it away from you. Other people can occupy your country, they can even put you in prison, but they cannot take away your true home and your freedom.
 * "Returning Home", Shambhala Sun (March 2006)

 * Mr. President, I think that if you could allow yourself to cry like I did this morning, you will also feel much better. It is our brothers that we kill over there. They are our brothers, God tells us so, and we also know it. They may not see us as brothers because of their anger, their misunderstanding, and their discrimination. But with some awakening, we can see things in a different way, and this will allow us to respond differently to the situation. I trust God in you; I trust Buddha nature in you.
 * Letter to  President  G.W.  Bush, (8 August 2006) Retrieved  from: http://plumvillage.org/letters-from-thay/letter-to-president-g-w-bush-august-8-2006/

 * We are committed to respecting the right of others to be different, to choose what to believe and how to decide. We will, however, learn to  help others let  go  of  and transform fanaticism  and  narrowness through  loving  speech and compassionate dialogue” p. 104
 * Chanting from  the  heart:  Buddhist  ceremonies  and  daily  practices (2007)

 * Going vegetarian may be the most effective way to fight global warming. Buddhist practitioners have practiced vegetarianism over the last 2000 years. We are vegetarian with the intention to nourish our compassion towards the animals. Now we also know that we eat vegetarian in order to protect the earth...
 * "Letter from Thay", Blue Cliff Monastery (12 October 2007)

 * Love is the capacity to take care, to protect, to nourish. If you are not capable of generating that kind of energy toward yourself — if you are not capable of taking care of yourself, of nourishing yourself, of protecting yourself — it is very difficult to take care of another person.
 * Quoted on his official website (30 December 2008)

Being Peace (1987)
(full text online pdf)
 * Life is filled with suffering, but it is also filled with many wonders, such as the blue sky, the sunshine, and the eyes of a baby. To suffer is not enough. We must also be in touch with the wonders of life. They are within us and all around us, everywhere, anytime.

 * If we are not happy, if we are not peaceful, we can't share peace and happiness with others, even those we love, those who live under the same roof. If we are peaceful, if we are happy, we can smile and blossom like a flower, and everyone in our family, our entire society, will benefit from our peace.

 * We are so busy we hardly have time to look at the people we love, even in our own household, and to look at ourselves. Society is organized in a way that even when we have some leisure time, we don't know how to use it to get back in touch with ourselves. We have millions of ways to lose this precious time-we turn on the TV, or pick up the telephone, or start the car and go somewhere. We are not used to being with ourselves, and we act as if we don't like ourselves and are trying to escape from ourselves.

 * Meditation is to be aware of what is going on-in our bodies, in our feelings, in our minds, and in the world. Each day 40,000 children die of hunger. The superpowers now have more than 50,000 nuclear warheads, enough to destroy our planet many times. Yet the sunrise is beautiful, and the rose that bloomed this morning along the wall is a miracle. Life is both dreadful and wonderful. To practice meditation is to be in touch with both aspects. Please do not think we must be solemn in order to meditate.  In fact, to meditate well, we have to smile a lot.

 * If a child smiles, if an adult smiles, that is very important. If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.

 * From time to time, to remind ourselves to relax, to be peaceful, we may wish to set aside some time for a retreat, a day of mindfulness, when we can walk slowly, smile, drink tea with a friend, enjoy being together as if we are the happiest people on Earth. This is not a retreat, it is a treat.

 * During walking meditation, during kitchen and garden work, during sitting meditation, all day long, we can practice smiling. At first you may find it difficult to smile, and we have to think about why. Smiling means that we are ourselves, that we have sovereignty over ourselves, that we are not drowned in forgetfulness. This kind of smile can be seen on the faces of Buddhas and bodhisattvas.

 * I would like to offer one short poem you can recite from time to time, while breathing and smiling:
 * Breathing in, I calm my body.
 * Breathing out, I smile.
 * Dwelling in the present moment
 * I know this is a wonderful moment.

 * "Breathing in, I calm my body." Reciting this line is like drinking a glass of ice water-you feel the cold, the freshness, permeate your body. When I breathe in and recite this line, I actually feel the breathing calming my body, calming my mind. "Breathing out, I smile." You know the effect of a smile. A smile can relax hundreds of muscles in your face, and relax your nervous system. A smile makes you master of yourself. That is why the Buddhas and bodhisattvas are always smiling. When you smile, you realize the wonder of the smile.

 * We tend to be alive in the future, not now. We say, "Wait until I finish school and get my Ph.D. degree, and then I will be really alive." When we have it, and it wasn't easy to get, we say to ourselves, "I have to wait until I have a job in order to be really alive." And then after the job, a car. After the car, a house. We are not capable of being alive in the present moment. We tend to postpone being alive to the future, the distant future, we don't know when. Now is not the moment to be alive. We may never be alive at all in our entire life. Therefore, the technique, if we have to speak of a technique, is to be in the present moment, to be aware that we are here and now, and the only moment to be alive is the present moment.

 * Even though life is hard, even though it is sometimes difficult to smile, we have to try. Just as when we wish each other "Good morning," it must be a real "Good morning." Recently, one friend asked me, "How can I force myself to smile when I am filled with sorrow? It isn't natural." I told her she must be able to smile to her sorrow, because we are more than our sorrow. A human being is like a television set with millions of channels. If we turn the Buddha on, we are the Buddha. If we turn sorrow on, we are sorrow. If we turn a smile on, we really are the smile. We can't let just one channel dominate us.

 * The Buddha said, "Sometime, somewhere you take something to be the truth. If you cling to it so much, when the truth comes in person and knocks at your door, you will not open it." Guarding knowledge is not a good way to understand. Understanding means to throw away your knowledge. You have to be able to transcend your knowledge the way people climb a ladder. If you are on the fifth step of a ladder and think that you are very high, there is no hope for you to climb to the sixth. The technique is to release. The Buddhist way of understanding is always letting go of our views and knowledge in order to transcend. This is the most important teaching.

 * If you are a mountain climber or someone who enjoys the countryside, or the green forest, you know that the forests are our lungs outside of our bodies. Yet we have been acting in a way that has allowed two million square miles of forest land to be destroyed by acid rain. We are imprisoned in our small selves, thinking only of the comfortable conditions for this small self, while we destroy our large self.

 * One day I suddenly saw that the sun is my heart, my heart outside of this body. If my body's heart ceases to function I cannot survive; but if the sun, my other heart, ceases to function, I will also die immediately. We should be able to be our true self. That means we should be able to be the river, we should be able to be the forest, we should be able to be a citizen of any country in the world. We must do this to understand, and to have hope for the future. That is the nondualistic way of seeing.

 * During the war in Vietnam, we young Buddhists organized ourselves to help victims of the war rebuild villages that had been destroyed by the bombs. Many of us died during service, not only because of the bombs and the bullets, but because of the people who suspected us of being on the other side. We were able to understand the suffering of both sides, the communists and the anti-communists. We tried to be open to both, to understand this side and to understand that side, to be one with them. That is why we did not take a side, even though the whole world took sides. We tried to tell people our perception of the situation: that we wanted to stop the fighting. But the bombs were so loud. Sometimes we had to burn ourselves alive to get the message across, but even then the world couldn't hear us.

 * There is a lot of anger, frustration, and misunderstanding in the peace movement. The peace movement can write very good protest letters, but they are not yet able to write a love letter. We need to learn to write a letter to the Congress or to the president of the United States that they will want to read, and not just throw away. The way you speak, the kind of understanding, the kind of language you use should not turn people off. The president is a person like any of us.

 * If you want to have a statue or a painting of a Buddha, please be choosy. Many times I see Buddhas who are not relaxed and peaceful. The artists who make them do not practice breathing, smiling. Be choosy if you ask a Buddha to come home. A Buddha should be smiling, happy, beautiful, for the sake of our children. If they look at the Buddha and don't feel refreshed and happy, then it is not a good statue. If you don't find a beautiful Buddha, wait, and have a flower instead. A flower is a Buddha. A flower has Buddha nature.

 * I know of families where children go into a room like that after breakfast, sit down and breathe ten times, in-out-one, in-out-two, in-out-three, ten times, and then they go to school. This is a very beautiful practice. If your child doesn't wish to breathe ten times, how about three times? Beginning the day with being a Buddha is a very nice way to start the day.

 * If we are a Buddha in the morning and we try to nourish the Buddha throughout the day, we may be able to come home at the end of a day with a smile - the Buddha is still there. When you become agitated, you do not have to do or say anything. Just follow your breathing and walk slowly into that room. The "room" for breathing also symbolizes our own inner Buddha Land, so we can enter it whenever we need to, even if we are not at home.

 * I have a friend who, whenever he becomes agitated, enters the breathing room in his home. He sits down respectfully, breathes in and out three times, invites the bell to sound, and recites the gatha. Immediately he feels better. If he needs to sit longer, he stays there. From time to time, while his wife is preparing dinner, she hears the sound of the bell, and it reminds her to be mindful in her work. At such times, she deeply appreciates her husband. "He is so wonderful, quite different from others. He knows how to deal with anger." If she has been irritated, her own resentment subsides. Sometimes she stops cutting vegetables and goes into the breathing room to sit with him. This picture is so lovely, more beautiful than an expensive painting.

 * Doing things in this way has a good effect on everyone, teaching by example, not just with words. When your child is agitated, you don't have to say, "Go to that room!" You can take his or her hand and walk together into the room for breathing, and sit quietly together. This is the best education for peace. It is really beautiful to begin the day by being a Buddha. Each time we feel ourselves about to leave our Buddha, we can sit and breathe until we return to our true self.

 * There are three things I can recommend to you: arranging to have a breathing room in your home, a room for meditation; practicing breathing, sitting, for a few minutes every morning at home with your children; and going out for a slow walking meditation with your children before going to sleep, just ten minutes is enough. These things are very important. They can change our civilization.

The Sun My Heart (1996)

 * "The Sun My Heart" in Engaged Buddhist Reader (1996) edited by Arnold Kotler, p. 162

When we look at green vegetables, we should know that it is the sun that is green and not just the vegetables. The green color in the leaves of the vegetables is due to the presence of the sun. '''Without the sun, no living being could survive. Without sun, water, air, and soil, there would be no vegetables. The vegetables are the coming-together of many conditions near and far.'''
 * We have to remember that our body is not limited to what lies within the boundary of our skin. Our body is much more immense. We know that if our heart stops beating, the flow of our life will stop, but we do not take the time to notice the many things outside of our bodies that are equally essential for our survival. If the ozone layer around our Earth were to disappear for even an instant, we would die. If the sun were to stop shining, the flow of our life would stop. The sun is our second heart, our heart outside of our body. It gives all life on Earth the warmth necessary for existence. Plants live thanks to the sun. Their leaves absorb the sun's energy, along with carbon dioxide from the air, to produce food for the tree, the flower, the plankton. And thanks to plants, we and other animals can live. All of us—people, animals, plants, and minerals—"consume" the sun, directly and indirectly. We cannot begin to describe all the effects of the sun, that great heart outside of our body.

 * There is no phenomenon in the universe that does not intimately concern us, from a pebble resting at the bottom of the ocean, to the movement of a galaxy millions of light years away. Walt Whitman said, "I believe a blade of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars...." These words are not philosophy. They come from the depths of his soul. He also said, "I am large, I contain multitudes." This might be called a meditation on "interfacing endlessly interwoven." All phenomena are interdependent. When we think of a speck of dust, a flower, or a human being, our thinking cannot break loose from the idea of unity, of one, of calculation. We see a line drawn between one and many, one and not one. But if we truly realize the interdependent nature of the dust, the flower, and the human being, we see that unity cannot exist without diversity. Unity and diversity interpenetrate each other freely. Unity is diversity, and diversity is unity. This is the principle of interbeing.

 * If you are a mountain climber or someone who enjoys the countryside or the forest, you know that forests are our lungs outside of our bodies. Yet we have been acting in a way that has allowed millions of square miles of land to be deforested, and we have also destroyed the air, the rivers, and parts of the ozone layer. We are imprisoned in our small selves, thinking only of some comfortable conditions for this small self, while we destroy our large self. If we want to change the situation, we must begin by being our true selves. To be our true selves means we have to be the forest, the river, and the ozone layer. If we visualize ourselves as the forest, we will experience the hopes and fears of the trees. If we don't do this, the forests will die, and we will lose our chance for peace. When we understand that we inter-are with the trees, we will know that it is up to us to make an effort to keep the trees alive.

 * We should bow deeply before the orchid and the snail and join our palms reverently before the monarch butterfly and the magnolia tree. The feeling of respect for all species will help us recognize the noblest nature in ourselves.

It also depends on us. Our way of walking on the Earth has a great influence on animals and plants. We have killed so many animals and plants and destroyed their environments. Many are now extinct. In turn, our environment is now harming us. '''We are like sleepwalkers, not knowing what we are doing or where we are heading. Whether we can wake up or not depends on whether we can walk mindfully on our Mother Earth. The future of all life, including our own, depends on our mindful steps.'''
 * All life is impermanent. We are all children of the Earth, and, at some time, she will take us back to herself again. We are continually arising from Mother Earth, being nurtured by her, and then returning to her. Like us, plants are born, live for a period of time, and then return to the Earth. When they decompose, they fertilize our gardens. Living vegetables and decomposing vegetables are part of the same reality. Without one, the other cannot be. After six months, compost becomes fresh vegetables again. Plants and the Earth rely on each other. Whether the Earth is fresh, beautiful, and green, or arid and parched depends on the plants.
 * The statement "The future of all life, including our own, depends on our mindful steps." and much of the theme of this essay also occur later in his writings, including The World We Have : A Buddhist Approach to Peace and Ecology (2008), Ch. 1 : The Bells of Mindfulness, p. 3

Our ecology should be a deep ecology—not only deep, but universal. There is pollution in our consciousness. Television, films, and newspapers are forms of pollution for us and our children. They sow seeds of violence and anxiety in us and pollute our consciousness, just as we destroy our environment by farming with chemicals, clear-cutting the trees, and polluting the water. We need to protect the ecology of the Earth and the ecology of the mind, or this kind of violence and recklessness will spill over into even more areas of life.
 * Birds' songs express joy, beauty, and purity, and evoke in us vitality and love. So many beings in the universe love us unconditionally. The trees, the water, and the air don't ask anything of us; they just love us. Even though we need this kind of love, we continue to destroy them. By destroying the animals, the air, and the trees, we are destroying ourselves. We must learn to practice unconditional love for all beings so that the animals, the air, the trees, and the minerals can continue to be themselves.
 * Our Earth, our green beautiful Earth is in danger, and all of us know it. Yet we act as if our daily lives have nothing to do with the situation of the world. If the Earth were your body, you would be able to feel many areas where she is suffering. Many people are aware of the world's suffering, and their hearts are filled with compassion. They know what needs to be done, and they engage in political, social, and environmental work to try to change things. But after a period of intense involvement, they become discouraged, because they lack the strength needed to sustain a life of action. Real strength is not in power, money, or weapons, but in deep, inner peace. If we change our daily lives—the way we think, speak, and act—we change the world. The best way to take care of the environment is to take care of the environmentalist.

Life is one. We do not need to slice it into pieces and call this or that piece a "self." What we call a self is made only of non-self elements.''' When we look at a flower, for example, we may think that it is different from "non-flower" things. But when we look more deeply, we see that everything in the cosmos is in that flower. Without all of the non-flower elements — sunshine, clouds, earth, minerals, heat, rivers, and consciousness — a flower cannot be. That is why the Buddha teaches that the self does not exist. We have to discard all distinctions between self and non-self.
 * '''Self, person, living being, and life span are four notions that prevent us from seeing reality.

 * We think that we have been alive since a certain point in time and that prior to that moment, our life did not exist. This distinction between life and non-life is not correct. Life is made of death, and death is made of life. We have to accept death; it makes life possible. The cells in our body are dying every day, but we never think to organize funerals for them. The death of one cell allows for the birth of another. Life and death are two aspects of the same reality. We must learn to die peacefully so that others may live. This deep meditation brings forth non-fear, non-anger, and non-despair, the strengths we need for our work. With non-fear, even when we see that a problem is huge, we will not burn out. We will know how to make small, steady steps. If those who work to protect the environment contemplate these four notions, they will know how to be and how to act.

 * The tenth penetration is, "All times penetrate one time. One time penetrates all times — past, present, and future. In one second, you can find the past, present, and future." In the past, you can see the present and the future. In the present, you can find the past and future. In the future, you can find the past and present. They "inter-contain" each other. Space contains time, time contains space. In the teaching of interpenetration, one determines the other, the other determines this one. When we realize our nature of interbeing, we will stop blaming and killing, because we know that we inter-are.
 * Thích Nhất Hạnh here quotes and interprets the "Ten Penetrations" of the Avatamsaka Sutra

 * Interpenetration is an important teaching, but it still suggests that things outside of one another penetrate into each other. Interbeing is a step forward. We are already inside, so we don't have to enter. In contemporary nuclear physics, people talk about implicit order and explicit order. In the explicit order, things exist outside of each other — the table outside of the flower, the sunshine outside of the cypress tree. In the implicit order, we see that they are inside each other — the sunshine inside the cypress tree. Interbeing is the implicit order. To practice mindfulness and to look deeply into the nature of things is to discover the true nature of interbeing. There we find peace and develop the strength to be in touch with everything. With this understanding, we can easily sustain the work of loving and caring for the Earth and for each other for a long time.

The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation (1999)

 * People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes. All is a miracle.
 * Page 12
 * Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts. Whenever your mind becomes scattered, use your breath as the means to take hold of your mind again.
 * Page 15

 * To think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth. The problem is to see reality as it is.
 * Page 52
 * Feelings, whether of compassion or irritation, should be welcomed, recognized, and treated on an absolutely equal basis; because both are ourselves. The tangerine I am eating is me. The mustard greens I am planting are me. I plant with all my heart and mind. I clean this teapot with the kind of attention I would have were I giving the baby Buddha or Jesus a bath. Nothing should be treated more carefully than anything else. In mindfulness, compassion, irritation, mustard green plant, and teapot are all sacred.
 * Page 61

Quotes about Nhat Hanh

 * He has immense presence and both personal and Buddhist authority. If there is a candidate for "Living Buddha" on earth today, it is Thich Nhat Hanh.
 * Richard Baker, as quoted in Going Home: Jesus and Buddha as Brothers (2000)

 * He oversees several retreat centers in America and Europe where his disciples engage in the practice of a "New Age"-style Zen and rituals created by him that do not have any affinity with or any foundation in traditional Vietnamese Buddhist practices.
 * A. W. Barber and C. Nguyen, in "Vietnamese Buddhism in North America, Tradition and Acculturation" (1998), in The Faces of Buddhism in America (1998) by C. S. Prebish and K. K. Tanaka, p. 131, ISBN 0-520-21301-7

 * A great spiritual leader whose influence can help us find a living peace in everything we do. Thich Nhat Hanh's words connect inner peace with the need for peace in the world in a compelling way.
 * Natalie Goldberg, author of Wild Mind

 * [Thich Nhat Hanh] shows us the connection between personal inner peace and peace on earth.
 * Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama in "Anger", in Wisdom For Cooling the Flames

 * Another great teacher of mine (even though we have not met) is the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. And he says in The Raft Is Not the Shore that "great humans bring with them something like a hallowed atmosphere, and when we seek them out, then we feel peace, we feel love, we feel courage." His words appropriately define what it was like for me to be in the presence of Paulo. I spend hours alone with him, talking, listening to music, eating ice cream at my favorite cafe. Seriously, Thich Nhat Hanh teaches that a certain milieu is born at the same time as a great teacher. And he says: “When you [the teacher] come and stay one hour with us, you bring that milieu...It is as though you bring a candle into the room. The candle is there; there is a kind of light-zone you bring in. When a sage is there and you sit near him, you feel light, you feel peace.”
 * bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom (1994)

 * One of the things he says is that we don't know how to feel peace. We don't understand the joy that is peace. We think that it's boring. And that is an aesthetic and a social perception. He is dealing with many of these same problems we are facing, and I just know he has some answers.
 * 1991 interview in Conversations with Maxine Hong Kingston (1998)

 * Thich Nhat Hanh is a real poet.
 * Robert Lowell, quoted in Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals, 1962-1966 (1999)

 * Our actions are our only true belongings, counsels Thich Nhat Hanh.
 * Cherríe Moraga A Xicana Codex of Changing Consciousness (2011)

 * Thich Nhat Hanh writes with the voice of the Buddha.
 * Sogyal Rimpoche, quoted in Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals, 1962-1966 (1999)

 * Thích Nhất Hạnh is an influential religious innovator, who has actively adapted and transformed Buddhist ideas and practices to make them more suitable for Western religious markets. He has succeeded admirably: he is undoubtably one of the best-known and most popular Buddhist leaders in the world today, and his notion of "mindfulness" has spread far beyond the limits of religion proper, to the point it has become a buzzword used regularly in lifestyle magazines and management courses. … Nevertheless, the statement that Thích Nhất Hạnh's ideas "do not have any affinity with or any foundation in traditional Vietnamese Buddhist practices" is arguably too simplistic. In particular, his notion of "engaged Buddhism" … reflects a longer tradition of Buddhist social and political activism, in Vietnam and elsewhere in Asia.
 * Aike P. Rots (in response to remarks in 1998 of A. W. Barber and C. Nguyen), in "Re-Enchantment Restricted: Popular Buddhism and Politics in Vietnam Today", in Buddhist Modernities: Re-inventing Tradition in the Globalizing Modern World (2017) edited by Hanna Havnevik, Ute Hüsken, Mark Teeuwen, Vladimir Tikhonov, Koen Wellens

 * May we let the sadness come and teach us how to live. Let it be the mud for the lotus, as Thay [Thich Nhat Hanh] says. Let us sit with it and let it pass through us so that it might be transformed to something like love.
 * Ocean Vuong attributed in Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility edited by Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young Lutunatabua (2023)

Nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize

 * Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter of nomination of Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize (25 January 1967) at Hartford-HWP Archives

This would be a notably auspicious year for you to bestow your Prize on the Venerable Nhat Hanh. Here is an apostle of peace and non-violence, cruelly separated from his own people while they are oppressed by a vicious war which has grown to threaten the sanity and security of the entire world.
 * I do not personally know of anyone more worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize than this gentle Buddhist monk from Vietnam.

 * I know Thich Nhat Hanh, and am privileged to call him my friend...

 * Thich Nhat Hanh offers a way out of this nightmare, a solution acceptable to rational leaders. He has traveled the world, counseling statesmen, religious leaders, scholars and writers, and enlisting their support. His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Thích Nhất Hạnh


text:
Talk:Thích Nhất Hạnh

Having started this page, I have lots of quotes from my notebook that are not attributed yet. I'll start hunting down the sources and change those as I get them. Looking forward to seeing more contributions here. Nightngle 16:47, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

Clean up
I deleted the "clean up" tag. I sincerely believe that I've cleaned up the issues noted. However, if any issues remain, please help me by letting me know what those are specifically so I can fix them. Thanks! :) Nightngle 15:35, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Image attribution
The image used is a press release photo from the Plum Village website, they ask that any use of the image be accompanied by the phrase "Courtesy of Plum Village Practice Center, France". If this is not acceptable on Wikiquote, then the image will need to be removed. Thank you. Nightngle 20:58, 7 February 2007 (UTC)
 * This is fine to have, but it doesn't mean we can't also include a quote in the caption, along with the citation. ~ UDScott 21:01, 7 February 2007 (UTC)
 * No problem, you and the other person had deleted the attribution. Having both is fine, but it has to have the attribution. Also, the title of the page is "Nhat Hanh" (as is the wikipedia page), not "Thich Nhat Hanh". His religious "title" does not need to be in the title. Nightngle 21:19, 7 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I think you're missing something with how the link works -- when it is posted as Thich Nhat Hanh, the first part (Nhat Hanh) is what links to the Wikipedia page, and the second part (Thich Nhat Hanh) is just what is displayed. Usually we display more of a person's name (for example if someone is named John Jacob Smith, we would set it up as John Jacob Smith ) ~ UDScott 21:26, 7 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Do you commonly display a person's religious title? I've been told this is a no-no on Wikipedia, maybe it's different here. It also strikes me as looking inconsistant to have the title be "Nhat Hanh", then the first line be "Thich Nhat Hanh". While he is commonly referred to as Thich Nhat Hanh, he even signs his name "Nhat Hanh", which is why I started the page as "Nhat Hanh" and the Wikipedia article is also "Nhat Hanh" Thanks Nightngle 21:49, 7 February 2007 (UTC)
 * In the end, I don't have a preference one way or the other. I was just assuming that since Wikipedia used the full "Thich Nhat Hanh" in its introduction to him (its introductory text, not the title of the article), we would too (which is the usual way we list people). But you make a good point that this isn't really his full name, but rather it is a religious title. I would say that it should be whatever he is best known as, but since you probably know more about him than I do, I will defer to your judgment. Good dialogue -- I just wanted to ensure that this page was done just as others have been. ~ UDScott 22:10, 7 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the info, Scott - I think I've looked at the Wikipedia site so many times, it didn't register that that page had "Thich Nhat Hanh" in the first line (there was some controversy about using the title ages ago). I've changed the Wikipedia article and will go ahead and change this too for consistency sake. I think the comment about him being commonly known as Thich Nhat Hanh takes care of the issue with the explaination that Thich is essentially a religious title. I've noticed that other religious leaders (like Rick Warren and Martin Luther King, Jr don't use their religious title in the fist line, either, so I don't want to have an inconsistency that seems to favor non-Christian religious leaders. Thanks again for the dialogue, it's good to be sure the pages are as good as they can be. :) Nightngle 22:56, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Unsourced
Wikiquote no longer allows unsourced quotations, and they are in process of being removed from our pages (see Wikiquote:Limits on quotations); but if you can provide a reliable, precise and verifiable source for any quote on this list please move it to Nhat Hanh. --Antiquary 18:21, 5 June 2009 (UTC)
 * The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers. https://books.google.com/books?id=1dhgYD22jFIC&lpg=PA20&dq=When%20mindfulness%20embraces%20those%20we%20love%2C%20they%20will%20bloom%20like%20flowers.&pg=PA20#v=onepage&q&f=false

 * People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle.

 * Life can be found only in the present moment. The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life.

 * Live your daily life in a way that you never lose yourself. When you are carried away with your worries, fears, cravings, anger, and desire, you run away from yourself and you lose yourself. The practice is always to go back to oneself.

 * When we come into contact with the other person, our thoughts and actions should express our mind of compassion, even if that person says and does things that are not easy to accept. We practice in this way until we see clearly that our love is not contingent upon the other person being lovable.

 * There is no enlightenment outside of daily life.

 * Reconciliation is to understand both sides; to go to one side and describe the suffering being endured by the other side, and then go to the other side and describe the suffering being endured by the first side.

 * In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change.

 * The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions.

 * If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.

 * And once we have the condition of peace and joy in us, we can afford to be in any situation. Even in the situation of hell, we will be able to contribute our peace and serenity. The most important thing is for each of us to have some freedom in our heart.

 * I would not look upon anger as something foreign to me that I have to fight...I have to deal with my anger with care, with love, with tenderness, with nonviolence.

 * In April, we cannot see sunflowers in France, so we might say the sunflowers do not exist. But the local farmers have already planted thousands of seeds, and when they look at the bare hills, they may be able to see the sunflowers already. The sunflowers are there. They lack only the conditions of sun, heat, rain and July. Just because we cannot see them does not mean that they do not exist.

 * True love is made up of understanding.

 * If I had to choose between Buddhism and peace, I would choose peace.

 * Whatever you can do, do it today and then old age will be a delicious fruit.

 * Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.

title: Talk:Thích Nhất Hạnh


text:
User:Саша Стефановић

 * w:sr:User:Саша Стефановић

title: User:Саша Стефановић


text:
User:Nightngle

Hi! I'm Cheryl and have been doing some edits on Wikipedia, but am new here. I just started a page for Thich Nhat Hanh, and will continue to work on that to improve it. It's been marked for "clean up", so anyone who can provide me with what specifically is not "clean" about it, that would be great. While I do want to fix the "attributed" quotes with their sources, the other nuances of a proper page escape me at this point. I'm happy to learn, though, so let me know! Thanks Nightngle 17:12, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

title: User:Nightngle


text:
User talk:Nightngle

Discussion is a good thing :) Nightngle 17:13, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

Hi. Welcome to English Wikiquote. Enjoy! —LrdChaos 18:13, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
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 * Thanks for the welcome and the suggestions! Nightngle 15:37, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

title: User talk:Nightngle


text:
User:Istartfires~enwikiquote

Favourite Quotes

 * What's good isn't original, and what's original isn't good - Samuel Johnson

 * If you see a man opening a car door for a woman, it means one of two things: it's either a new woman or a new car! - Prince Philip

 * Life isn't like coursework baby - it's one damn essay crisis after another! - Boris Johnson

 * [Boris on exams] You need the fear to push up your brain's RPM, and it is only when the flywheel is humming that you suddenly see the connections, and problems disappear; and there comes a magic moment when the clouds in your head all part at once, and you can see straight up to the stars.

 * When one burns ones bridges what a pretty fire it makes Dylan Thomas

 * "You are put on this earth to piss around. Don't let anyone tell you anything different" - Kurt Vonnegut

 * [Woman to Winston Churchill] Sir, you are drunk!
 * [Churchill] Madam, you are ugly. But in the morning, I shall be sober.

title: User:Istartfires~enwikiquote


text:
User talk:Computerjoe

Hi. Welcome to English Wikiquote. Enjoy! —LrdChaos 18:13, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
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title: User talk:Computerjoe


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User talk:Chabber

Hi. Welcome to English Wikiquote. Enjoy! —LrdChaos 18:13, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
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title: User talk:Chabber


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User talk:Ancap~enwikiquote

Hi. Welcome to English Wikiquote. Enjoy! —LrdChaos 18:13, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
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Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Ancap. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Ancap~enwikiquote that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name.

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Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 23:18, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 05:41, 19 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Ancap~enwikiquote


text:
User talk:The libertine

Hi. Welcome to English Wikiquote. Enjoy! —LrdChaos 18:13, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
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title: User talk:The libertine


text:
User talk:Саша Стефановић

Hi. Welcome to English Wikiquote. Enjoy! —LrdChaos 18:13, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
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Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Sasa Stefanovic. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Sasa Stefanovic~enwikiquote that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

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Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 23:35, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Саша Стефановић


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User:Josiah Rowe

See Wikipedia:User:Josiah Rowe

title: User:Josiah Rowe


text:
User talk:Josiah Rowe

Please leave messages at Wikipedia:User talk:Josiah Rowe.

Welcome
Hi. Welcome to English Wikiquote. Enjoy!
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By the way, I realize that you are an experienced Wikipedia user, but we leave these welcome messages for all newly registered users, so they have ready links to some Wikiquote-specific information when they work here. No implication of "newbie" status is intended. ☺ ~ Jeff Q (talk) 07:42, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

title: User talk:Josiah Rowe


text:
James Dickey

James Lafayette Dickey (2 February 1923 – 19 January 1997) was a popular American poet and novelist. He was appointed the eighteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1966.

The Whole Motion; Collected Poems, 1945-1992 (1992)

 * Drunk on the wind in my mouth, Wringing the handlebar for speed, Wild to be wreckage forever.
 * Cherrylog Road (l. 106–108).

 * Dust fanned in scraped puffs from the earth Between his arms, and blood turned his face inside out, To demonstrate its suppleness Of veins, as he perfected his role.
 * The Performance (l. 13–16).

 * It was something like love From another world that seized her From behind, and she gave, not lifting her head Out of dew, without ever looking, her best Self to that great need.
 * The Sheep Child (l. 31–35).

 * I saw for a blazing moment The great grassy world from both sides, Man and beast in the round of their need.
 * The Sheep Child (l. 41–43).

 * I have just come down from my father. Higher and higher he lies Above me in a blue light Shed by a tinted window.
 * The Hospital Window (l. 1–4).

 * With the plane nowhere and her body taking by the throat The undying cry of the void falling living beginning to be something That no one has ever been and lived through screaming without enough air.
 * Falling (l. 9–11).

 * She is watching her country lose its evoked master shape watching it lose And gain get back its houses and peoples watching it bring up Its local lights single homes lamps on barn roofs.
 * Falling (l. 66–68).

 * Here they are. The soft eyes open. If they have lived in a wood It is a wood. If they have lived on plains It is grass rolling Under their feet forever.
 * The Heaven of Animals (l. 1–6).

 * These hunt, as they have done But with claws and teeth grown perfect, More deadly than they can believe.
 * The Heaven of Animals (l. 20–22).

 * Those that are hunted Know this as their life, Their reward: to walk Under such trees in full knowledge Of what is in glory above them, And to feel no fear.
 * The Heaven of Animals (l. 29–34).

Quotes about James Dickey

 * When I went to college (from 1959 to 1963), there were no women's studies courses, no anthologies that stressed a female heritage, no public women's movement. Poetry meant Yeats, Lowell, James Dickey. Without even realizing it, I assumed that the voice of the poet had to be male.
 * Erica Jong "Blood and Guts: The Tricky Problem of Being a Woman Writer in the Late Twentieth Century" in The Writer on Her Work edited by Janet Sternburg (2000)

title: James Dickey


text:
User talk:68.39.174.238

Welcome to Wikiquote, the free compendium of quotations! You don't have to log in to read or edit articles on Wikiquote, but creating an account is quick, free and non-intrusive, requires you to provide no personal information, and gives you many benefits, including:
 * The use of a username of your choice
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 * Your own user page
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 * The use of your own personal watchlist to which you can add articles that interest you
 * The ability to rename pages
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 * The eligibility to become an administrator
 * The right to be heard in formal votes and elections, and on pages like votes for deletion

Click here to create an account. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 20:17, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

Edit summaries
I noticed that some of the summaries from edits by this IP address have been more conversational than informative. While such comments can be amusing, please consider that the main purpose of edit summaries is to help editors, when reviewing page changes, to find likely points at which information was added, deleted, or otherwise changed. For instance, "I can't help if" gives no indication that the quote "I've invented a device called 'the basement'" was added. Something like "+invented basement" would be much more useful. Just a thought. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 20:22, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

 * I've found it helps when people get too hasty with the "Rollback" button to put something in there that makes them stop and look at what the edit was. 68.39.174.238 13:28, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

 * Personally, I don't think one should be using a rollback (as opposed to a manual revision) unless one has actually examined the changes. Edit summaries are not reliable enough to use as a basis for rollback. What they are good for is saving time trying to find a particular change. It doesn't always work, of course, but it saves an awful lot of time when it does. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 17:30, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your contributions to This Hour Has 22 Minutes
Thanks for contributing to This Hour Has 22 Minutes. If you were a registered User I could have thanked you through thanks. Cheers, Ottawahitech (talk) 21:59, 1 January 2021 (UTC)

title: User talk:68.39.174.238


text:
Wikiquote:Votes for deletion archive/Vectorman, Vector Man and Vector-Man

 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: delete. — LrdChaos 20:16, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

Vectorman, Vector Man and Vector-Man
At this time, these pages are identical. The pages seem to be intended to be quotes from the videogame Vectorman, which has a decent Wikipedia page, but none of the quotes on the page are remotely memorable or worth including (granted, including lots of non-memorable quotes is a problem for many of the other video game pages here as well, but those usually just need to have those trimmed out, leaving the quotes that are unique to the game). —LrdChaos 14:30, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Vote closed. Result: delete (seven votes to delete, no dissent). —LrdChaos 20:16, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

 * Delete. —LrdChaos 14:30, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete "Vectorman" unless the unoriginal quotes are removed and legitimate, non-trivial quotes are added. If so, redirect "Vector Man" to it; otherwise, delete "Vector Man", too. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 14:44, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Also delete or redirect "Vector-Man" per above. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 17:11, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete per Jeff. If the article is improved, redirect the duplicate article Vector-Man to it as well as Vector Man. -- Robert 14:59, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete. There is yet another page, Vector-Man, which I have now added to this nomination for deletion. - InvisibleSun 15:04, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete all three. 121a0012 21:22, 8 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete 'em all and let God sort 'em out - If this is the game I'm thinking of, you're not going to get any worthwhile quotes from it. - Koweja 02:13, 9 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete all three, unless valid quotes can be found. If so, consolidate onto one page and add redirects. ~ UDScott 13:13, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.