God, how impossible life is without money. Nothing can ever overcome it, it's everything when it's anything. How can I write in peace with endless worries of money, money, money? (“Disappearing Act”)

Richard Matheson
About This Quote

A Buddhist monk of the Zen school of Buddhism found that he could not write in peace when he was worried about money. He decided that he would ask his spirit helper, called a "spirit helper," to help him with this problem. He did so by writing down the following poem: "Spirit helper, how can I write in peace? Money, money, money. How can I write in peace with endless worries of money, money, money?" But when he read it through, he discovered an error--he had written the poem backwards.

So he had to start over again. After writing down the poem twice more, he realized that the words had been reversed. He then re-read the poem and reversed the words again to give them their correct order.

The result was effective--the monk wrote in peace while still worrying about money.

Source: Collected Stories, Vol. 1

Some Similar Quotes
  1. This is what love does: It makes you want to rewrite the world. It makes you want to choose the characters, build the scenery, guide the plot. The person you love sits across from you, and you want to do everything in your power to... - David Levithan
  2. Some moments are nice, some arenicer, some are even worthwritingabout. - Charles Bukowski
  3. Living with him is like being told a perpetual story: his mind is the biggest, most imaginative I have ever met. I could live in its growing countries forever. - Sylvia Plath
  4. There comes a time in your life when you have to choose to turn the page, write another book or simply close it. - Shannon L. Alder
  5. When you're missing a peice of yourself, aching, gut wrenching emptiness begins to take over. Until you find the link that completes your very soul, the feeling will never go away. Most people find a way to fill this void, material possessions, a string of... - Jennifer Salaiz
More Quotes By Richard Matheson
  1. Heaven would never be heaven without you.
  2. Thank you...for gracing my life with your lovely presence, for adding the sweet measure of your soul to my existence.
  3. Let this hell be our heaven.
  4. But now, in the final hours, even hope had vanished. Yet he could smile. At a point without hope he had found contentment. He knew he had tried and there was nothing to be sorry for. And this was complete victory, because it was a...
  5. If men only felt about death as they do about sleep, all terrors would cease.. . Men sleep contentedly, assured that they will wake the following morning. They should feel the same about their lives.
Related Topics