"Men have to descend from their pedestal and learn how to be more
broadminded and spiritual."
- Indra Devi
"Without an open-minded mind, you can never be a great success."
- Martha Stewart
"It is increasingly important to be open-minded."
- Tucker Carlson
"The art of healing comes from nature, not from the physician. Therefore
the physician must start from nature, with an open mind."
- Philipus Aureolus Paracelsus
"If the individual is to be happy in the contemporary order, he must be
open-minded with respect to new values and new arrangements."
- Thomas Cochrane
"Truth is, I'll never know all there is to know about you just as you will never
know all there is to know about me. Humans are by nature too complicated to be
understood fully. So, we can choose either to approach our fellow human
beings with suspicion or to approach them with an open mind, a dash of optimism
and a great deal of candour."
- Tom Hanks
"There will always be a frontier where there is an open mind and a willing
hand."
- Charles Kettering
"An artist's duty is rather to stay open-minded and in a state where he can
receive information and inspiration. You always have to be ready for that little
artistic Epiphany."
- Nick Cave
"People are very open-minded about new things - as long as they're exactly like
the old ones."
- Charles Kettering
"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on
coming along and trying to put things in it."
- Terry Pratchett
"Dogmatists are less useful that dogs."
- Mike Garofalo,
Pulling Onions
"I try to keep an open mind but I'm so tired of the mediocrity."
- Clea Duvall
"A liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a
quarrel."
- Robert Frost
"The
narrow-minded who undertake any work will never be satisfied. They cannot
understand the actions of those who are large hearted and broad-minded."
- Sri Sathya Sai Baba
"By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out."
"I have a very open mind. I believe that there's a spirit world. I
believe that there's a lot of stuff out there that we don't know about, don't
want to understand, and sometimes we don't want to understand it."
- Anthony Head
"As scientists, we keep an open mind, but we have to base our ideas about the
past on archaeological evidence."
- Zahi Hawass
"Broad-minded is just another way of saying a fellow is too lazy
to form and opinion."
- Will Rogers
"You have to be willing to accept the information, you have to be willing to
work hard. You have to be motivated to go to practice with an open mind.
You have to be willing to be criticized. Only you can do those things."
- Brandi Chastain
"Believe in yourself, not only in swimming, but in life itself. You always
have to have fun. You have to have an open mind. If you're not
enjoying it, don't do it. Life's too short."
- Debbie Meyer
"The world is full of people who have never, since childhood, met an open
doorway with an open mind."
- E. B. White
"The broad-minded see the truth in different religions; the
narrow-minded see only the differences."
- A Chinese Proverb
"Nothing makes a man more broad-minded than adversity."
- Will Rogers
"If we keep an open mind, too much is likely to fall into it."
"Always keep an open mind and a compassionate heart."
- Phil Jackson
"You've got to keep an open mind."
- Chris Wallace
"The human body and mind are tremendous forces that are continually amazing
scientists and society. Therefore, we have no choice but to keep an open
mind as to what the human being can achieve."
- Evelyn Glennie
"There exist limitless opportunities in every industry. Where there is an
open mind, there will always be a frontier."
- Charles Kettering
Openness
Nothing is meant to be. There is no predestination.
In ancient texts, the idea of predestination is very strong, but the usage of
the term is purely metaphorical. People in the past used the word to express
feelings of affinity for a place, a time, or for others. But nothing of the
future is set. There is no cosmic puppeteer at work. We are solely
responsible for our own actions. It is true that we can become mired in
circumstances so strong and so far-reaching that they will continue to have
ramifications far into the future. For example, if we construct circumstances
right, such as starting an organization to help others, then the good will last
for a long time. However, if we fall far into debt and do nothing to help
ourselves, then the bad will also last a long time. Yet in both cases, our
lasting situations are results of our own actions. This is not destiny. It is
causality.
Causality is from the past, and nothing is acting from the future. There
is no script, no pattern to walk into. Everything has to be
created, and we are the artists.
Those who follow Tao endeavor to have as few restrictions placed upon them as
possible. By completing each action, they minimize causality. By living fully in
the present, they absorb the best of what each day has to offer. By
understanding that there is no literal destiny, fate, or predestination, they
keep the future as free and open as possible. That is truly the openness of
life.
- By Deng Ming-Dao, 365 Tao: Daily Meditations, April 30
Virtues and a Good Life
Compiled by Mike Garofalo
E-Mail
Last Updated: October 11, 2015.
First published online on March 10, 2006.
Green Way Research, Red Bluff, California