Quotes from Richard Bach - Johnathan Livingston Seagull, an ageless book.
“See here, Jonathan,” said his father, not unkindly. “Winter isn’t far away. Boats will be few, and the surface fish will be swimming deep. If you must study, then study food, and how to get it. This flying business is all very well, but you can’t eat a glide, you know. Don’t you forget that the reason you fly is to eat.”
“Come along then.” said Jonathan. “Climb with me away from the ground, and we’ll begin.”
“You don’t understand my wing. I can’t move my wing.”
“Maynard Gull, you have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand in your way.It is the Law of the Great Gull, the Law that Is.”
“Are you saying I can fly?”
“I say you are free.”
"The same rule holds for us now, of course: we choose our next world through what we learn in this one. Learn nothing, and the next is the same as this one, all the same limitations and lead weights to overcome.”
"When you have come to the edge of all the light you have
And step into the darkness of the unknown
Believe that one of the two will happen to you
Either you'll find something solid to stand on
Or you'll be taught how to fly!"
"Most gulls don’t bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight – how to get from shore to food and back again. For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating."
“Don't believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding, find out what you already know, and you'll see the way to fly.”
“Bad things are not the worst things that can happen to us. 'Nothing' is the worst thing that can happen to us!”
“A cloud does not know why it moves in just such a direction and at such a speed...It feels an impulsion...this is the place to go now. But the sky knows the reasons and the patterns behind all clouds, and you will know, too, when you lift yourself high enough to see beyond horizons.”
“Every person, all the events of your life, are there because you have drawn them there. What you choose to do with them is up to you.”
