You don’t have to go out the door
to know what goes on in the world.
You don’t have to look out the window
to see the way of heaven.
The farther you go,
the less you know.
So the wise soul
doesn’t go, but knows;
doesn’t look, but sees;
doesn’t do, but gets it done.
— Tao Te Ching, Chapter 47, tr. Ursula K. LeGuin
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To go down into the depths you don’t need to travel far; you can do it in your own backgarden.
— Wittgenstein, Culture and Value
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A man of true wisdom, with nothing but his senses and a soul that’s never sad, can enjoy the entire spectacle of the world from a chair, without knowing how to read and without talking to anyone.
— Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet
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Most of our perceptions depend on our own minds and not on material objects. Fools perceive almost nothing because they are empty-headed, and their hearts are cramped. But great minds discover within themselves a great number of external matters; they have neither to read, travel, listen, nor labor, to discover the loftiest truths; they have but to fall back on themselves, and, so to speak, turn over their own thoughts.
— Vauvenargues, Reflections and Maxims: Complete Edition