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Master the Art of Living

August 30, 2006 by  

Here is a quote I have hanging on my home office wall. It ties in perfectly with my philosophy of work life integration.

MASTER THE ART OF LIVING

The person who is a master in the art of living makes little
distinction between their work and their play,
their labor and their leisure, their mind and their body,
their education and their recreation,
their love and their religion.

They hardly know which is which.
They simply pursue their vision of excellence and grace in whatever they do,
leaving others to decide whether they are working or playing.

To them, they are always doing both.

From the Zen Buddhist text

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  • lois bugg shadrick

    I’m not sure this is from a zen Buddhist text. I thought so but have found it attributed to James A. Michner. Can you verify? I fisrt heard it at a Landmark Education Seminar and the also gave credit to Zen text.

    see:

    http://thinkexist.com/quotation/the_master_in_the_art_of_living_makes_little/295791.html

    thanks

  • lois bugg shadrick

    I’m not sure this is from a zen Buddhist text. I thought so but have found it attributed to James A. Michner. Can you verify? I fisrt heard it at a Landmark Education Seminar and the also gave credit to Zen text.

    see:

    http://thinkexist.com/quotation/the_master_in_the_art_of_living_makes_little/295791.html

    thanks

  • lois bugg shadrick

    I’m not sure this is from a zen Buddhist text. I thought so but have found it attributed to James A. Michner. Can you verify? I fisrt heard it at a Landmark Education Seminar and the also gave credit to Zen text.

    see:

    http://thinkexist.com/quotation/the_master_in_the_art_of_living_makes_little/295791.html

    thanks

  • lois bugg shadrick

    I’m not sure this is from a zen Buddhist text. I thought so but have found it attributed to James A. Michner. Can you verify? I fisrt heard it at a Landmark Education Seminar and the also gave credit to Zen text.

    see:

    http://thinkexist.com/quotation/the_master_in_the_art_of_living_makes_little/295791.html

    thanks

  • http://www.youcanworkfromanywhere.com/ Jason Montero

    Hey Lois,

    I think we can safely say that this is a James A. Michner quote.

    I have also seen this quote most frequently attributed to him – but I have never been able to verify a specific writing or interview or speech from which it comes. So now I’ve begun to wonder if Michner wrote a secret Zen text!

  • http://www.youcanworkfromanywhere.com/ Jason Montero

    Hey Lois,

    I think we can safely say that this is a James A. Michner quote.

    I have also seen this quote most frequently attributed to him – but I have never been able to verify a specific writing or interview or speech from which it comes. So now I’ve begun to wonder if Michner wrote a secret Zen text!

  • http://www.youcanworkfromanywhere.com/ Jason Montero

    Hey Lois,

    I think we can safely say that this is a James A. Michner quote.

    I have also seen this quote most frequently attributed to him – but I have never been able to verify a specific writing or interview or speech from which it comes. So now I’ve begun to wonder if Michner wrote a secret Zen text!

  • http://www.youcanworkfromanywhere.com Jason Montero

    Hey Lois,

    I think we can safely say that this is a James A. Michner quote.

    I have also seen this quote most frequently attributed to him – but I have never been able to verify a specific writing or interview or speech from which it comes. So now I’ve begun to wonder if Michner wrote a secret Zen text!

  • anyone

    It really doesn’t matters who wrote it, the significant is that it was thought of.

  • anyone

    It really doesn’t matters who wrote it, the significant is that it was thought of.

  • anyone

    It really doesn’t matters who wrote it, the significant is that it was thought of.

  • anyone

    It really doesn’t matters who wrote it, the significant is that it was thought of.

  • Pingback: A Master in the Art of Living Makes Little Distinction Between His Work and His Play. James Michener? Zen Buddhist saying? L. P. Jacks? « Quote Investigator

  • mcdefcon1

    This is a quote from François-René de Chateaubriand wiki says he was “a French writer, politician and diplomat. He is considered the founder of Romanticism in French literature.”

    possible of course that he lifted it

  • http://www.unleashingthetiger.com Dean Carlton

    Try this article:
    http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/08/27/master/

    “The earliest instance of the quote located by QI occurs in the 1932 book “Education through Recreation” by Lawrence Pearsall Jacks.”

    So they reckon it was not Michener!

    This quote has been with me for almost 25 years – 20 of which I really thought it WAS from a Zen text! Got over the disappointment, as ‘Anyone’ said, doesn’t matter, still means the same!

    • http://TheAnywhereOffice.com/ Phil Montero

      Thanks for the detective work on the quote Dean  and sharing the link.  And yes it is the spirit of the quote that matters most . . .

  • Pingback: 5 Tips for Clearing Digital Clutter – A Zen Approach | The Anywhere Office