Wisdom It always pleased the Master to hear people recognize their ignorance. "Wisdom tends to grow in proportion to one’s awareness of one’s ignorance," he claimed. When asked for an explanation, he said, "When you come to see you are not as wise today as you thought you were yesterday, you are wiser today." Manipulation The Master sat through the complaints a woman had against her husband. Finally he said, "Your marriage would be a happier one, my dear, if you were a better wife." "And how could I be that?" "By giving up your efforts to make him a better husband." Genius A writer arrived at the monastery to write a book about the Master. "People say you are a genius. Are you?" he asked. "You might say so," said the Master, none too modestly. "And what makes one a genius?" "The ability to recognize." "Recognize what?" "The butterfly in a caterpillar; the eagle in an egg; the saint in a selfish human being." – Anthony de Mello