'Talk does not cook rice'. That Asian aphorism, carried across centuries and continents, coyly offers wisdom, with a knowing smile, capped off with wink.

'Kick the World, Break Your Foot' offers hundreds of these timeless nuggets of advice, adorned with wit and brevity. They variously offer piercing admonishment, cautious, and encouragement, yet always with a nod to human nature's endearing quirks. Like this: Straightened too much / crooked as ever. The Buddha himself would hear the voice of his wise grandma saying, sonny, you make something worse by trying to fix it.

The more prescient the advice, the harder it can be to accept. (Who wants to be told they've been doing something badly?) But the wisdom of these haiku-like aphorisms is passed along as gently and softly as the brushstrokes of a master Asian watercolorist. So, advice may never be more welcome than when you browse this collection of ageless gems.