When I'm sad or down I recall this letter that Einstein once wrote to a young musician who was feeling desolate: "Read no newspapers, try to find a few friends who think as you do, read the wonderful writers of earlier times, Kant, Goethe, Lessing, and the classics of other lands, and enjoy the natural beauties of Munich's surroundings. Make believe all the time that you are living, so to speak, on Mars among alien creatures and blot out any deeper interest in the actions of those creatures. Make friends with a few animals. Then you will become a cheerful man once more and nothing will be able to trouble you. Bear in mind that those who are finer and nobler are always alone--and necessarily so--and that because of this they can enjoy the purity of their own atmosphere. I shake your hand in heartfelt comradeship, E." Also by Einstein: "In order to be an immaculate member of a flock of sheep, one must, above all, be a sheep oneself."AND "One is born into a herd of buffaloes and must be glad if one is not trampled underfoot before one's time." * * * "Does this path have a heart? All paths are the same; they lead nowhere. They are paths going through the bush, or into the bush. In my own life, I could say I have travelled long, long paths, but I am not any- where. My benefactor's question has meaning now. Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn't. One makes for a joyful journey, as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong, the other weakens you." Don Juan Matus--"The Teachings of Don Juan" by Carlos Castaneda
