I’ll be happy when . . . I’m married to the right person
- Novelty in relationships is like a drug . . . the beginnings of relationships hold a million surprises.
- The decline of passionate love — like growing up or growing old — is simply part of being human.
- The importance of touch is undeniable, yet it is remarkably undervalued.
- Flourishing relationships have been revealed to be those in which the couple responds actively and constructively — that is, with interest and delight — to each other’s windfalls and successes.
- In sum appreciating, validating, and capitalizing on our partner’s good news is an effective strategy to bolster our relationship and thereby to intensify the pleasure and satisfaction we obtain from it — in short to preclude hedonic adaptation.
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I can’t be happy when . . . my relationship has fallen apart
- True forgiveness has been found to reduce grievances, minimize intrusive negative, angry, or depressive thoughts, bolster optimistic thinking, foster contentment with life, promote commitment and satisfaction in a marriage, improve physical health, and even boost productivity at work.
- But if all the signs indicate that your partner feels no remorse and will misbehave again, then forgiving will not be the divine thing to do.
- After divorce, you will cope and grow.
- Children do better when able (via divorce) to escape their parents’ fighting, screaming, and the pressure to take sides.
- Before making any pivotal decision, you need to consider how much of your marital unhappiness is due to you, how much of it is due to your spouse, how much of it is due to dynamics within your marriage, and how much of it is due to circumstances beyond your control.
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I’ll be happy when… I have kids
- Having children is costly, exhausting, stressful, and emotionally draining.
- Marital satisfaction soars after the last child leaves the home.
- Daily hassles will make you unhappier than major traumas.
- Putting our emotional upheavals into words helps us make sense of them, accommodate to them and begin to move past them.
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Can’t be happy when . . . I don’t have a partner
- Married women spend less time alone than their unmarried peers and more time having sex, but they also spend less time with friends, less time reading or watching TV, and more time doing chores, preparing food, and tending to children.
- Newlyweds derive a happiness boost from getting married that lasts an average of about two years.
- The happiness myth that you can only be happy with a partner is as powerful as it is wrong.
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I’ll be happy when . . . I find the right job
- Two thirds of the benefits of a raise in income are erased after just one year.
- As we obtain less and less pleasure from our new position, another critical thing occurs — our expectations rise.
- Make occasional visits to your friends’, acquaintances’, or former colleagues’ places of business and unobtrusively compare them to yours.
- Keep a gratitude journal — a list in your head, on paper, or in your smartphone — that regularly helps you contemplate the positive aspects of your job.
- When it comes to our performance and specific accomplishments at work, we should always aim high.
- When we ask ourselves the question, ‘How good, successful, smart, affable, prosperous, ethical am I?’ those of us who typically rely on our own internal objective standards are happiest.
- Understand that everyone becomes habituated to the novelty, excitement, and challenges of a new job or venture.
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I can’t be happy when . . . I’m broke
- Income and happiness are indeed significantly correlated, although the relationship isn’t super strong.
- The link between money and happiness is a great deal stronger for poor people than richer ones. That is, when our basic needs for adequate food, safety, health care, and shelter aren’t met, an increase in income makes a much larger difference for us than when we are relatively comfortable. Another way to put it is that money makes us happier if it keeps us from being poor.
- Growing evidence reveals that it is experiences–not things–that make us happy.
- Spend your money on many small pleasures rather than a few big ones.
- Instead of brooding about our misfortune, we can focus on the ways that we could be happy with less and spend money right.
- Homeowners are less happy than renters.
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I’ll be happy when . . . I’m rich
- Human beings are programmed to desire, not appreciate, and to strive for more, not be content with what they have.
- The more money we have, the more we get used to it, and the more we want.
- Spend money on others, not yourself.
- Spend money to give you time.
- The key to buying happiness is not in how successful we are, but what we do with it; It’s not how high our income is, but how we allocate it.
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I can’t be happy when . . . the test results were positive
- The scientific evidence delivers three kernels of wisdom– first, that short bursts of gladness, tranquility, or delight are not trivial at all; second, that it is frequency, not intensity, that counts; and 3rd, most of us seem not to know this.
- Take at least one step each week in the direction that helps you attain purpose in your life and secures your legacy.
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I can’t be happy when . . . I know I’ll never play shortstop for the Yankees
- Coming to terms with our regrets can also bolster our sense of humor, strengthen our compassion toward those who have suffered, and imbue us with profound gratitude.
- Stop comparing.
- We shouldn’t expect perfection – not expect always to be right and not dwell on self-blame when a choice is not ideal.
- Aim for options that are good enough rather than perfect.
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I can’t be happy when . . . the best years of my life are over
- Older people are actually happier and more satisfied with their lives than younger people.
- Knowing that our time on earth is limited, combined with the increased maturity and social skills that come with every decade, motivates us to maximize our well-being and to control our emotions more successfully.
https://wisdomtrove.com/wp-content/uploads/formidable/2/myths-happiness.jpeg 455 300 Graeme https://wisdomtrove.com/wp-content/uploads/logo-test-300x37.png Graeme2021-10-18 08:15:222021-10-18 08:18:34The Myths of Happiness (Sonja Lyubomirsky)About comedy
- Success is the enemy of comedy.
- The Four Levels of Comedy: Make your friends laugh, Make strangers laugh, Get paid to make strangers laugh, and Make people talk like you because it’s so much fun.
- The whole object of comedy is to be yourself and the closer you get to that, the funnier you will be.
- The hardest thing in comedy is to have the biggest laugh at the end, and it’s the most satisfying thing.
- Comedy is just complaining in an entertaining way, Enterplaining.
- Well, all comedy starts with anger. You get angry, and its never for a good reason, right? You know its not a good reason. And then you try and work it from there.
- The greatest thing about being a comedian is knowing other comedians. And you get to talk to them. Its the most fun.
- You know, crankiness is at the essence of all comedy.
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On a lighter note
- The best revenge is living well.
- I am speechless: I have no speech
- Yes, freckles’ ugly cousin.
- Economy is essential to all good art.
- I love advertising because I love lying.
- I love the day date. No wine, no shower.
- Maybe if we lie down our brains will work.
- All I ever wanted to do is make people laugh.
- You know why fish are so thin? They eat fish.
- You’ll fold faster than Superman on laundry day
- If someone’s lying, are their pants really on fire
- People who read the tabloids deserve to be lied to.
- There is no such thing as fun for the whole family.
- I had a dream last night that a hamburger was eating me.
- People on dates shouldn’t even be allowed out in public.
- Boy, I miss the days they made toys that could kill a kid.
- Sex to save the friendship? Well if we have to we have to.
- I can’t eat chicken and look at strippers at the same time.
- In my world, the wronger something feels, the righter it is.
- I don’t return fruit. Fruit’s a gamble. I know that going in.
- I prefer the old theaters because the audience is… trapped.
- Folks who go through the tabloids ought to have to be lied to.
- Men don’t care what’s on TV. They only care what else is on TV.
- She said I wasn’t sponge-worthy. Wouldn’t waste a sponge on me.
- Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason.
- Comedy is just complaining in an entertaining way, Enterplaining.
- That’s why breakups take two or three times- to build up immunity.
- The IRS! They’re like the Mafia, they can take anything they want!
- When you look annoyed all the time, people think that you’re busy.
- I think it’s funny to be delicate with subjects that are explosive.
- I wonder if illiterate people get the full effect of alphabet soup?
- If I want a long, boring story with no point to it, I have my life.
- Work is the least important thing and family is the most important.
- People have an infinite attention span if you are entertaining them.
- After you get a job and before you have to do it. Nothing beats that.
- I love how you just make coffee and then somehow something gets done.
- I wonder is illiterate people know the full meaning of alphabet soup?
- Cry when you get a Golden Globe. Then you can get an Oscar nomination.
- People don’t turn down money! It’s what separates us from the animals.
- There’s more to life than making shallow, fairly obvious observations.
- When you interrupt, you’ve stopped listening. People need to be heard.
- Writer’s block is a phony, made up, BS excuse for not doing your work.
- Having fun is a very particular skill. And not everyone has that skill.
- Men like a ref decision because they just want to get back to the game.
- Do you think it’s effeminate for a man to put clothes in a gentle cycle?
- People don’t just bump into each other and have sex. This isn’t Cinemax.
- I admire the hell out of her. You can’t have sex with someone you admire.
- If people would only look to the cookie, all our problems would be solved.
- Fatherhood makes you cute. Women find bumbling fathers cute and attractive.
- Your blessing in life is when you find the torture you’re comfortable with.
- A really hard laugh is like sex-one of the ultimate diversions of existence.
- Having a 2 year old is like having a blender that you don’t have the top for.
- I’m in the unfortunate position of having to consider other people’s feelings
- I don’t want to hear the specials. If they’re so special, put ’em on the menu.
- If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right.
- Make no mistake about why these babies are here – they are here to replace us.
- What’s the deal with lampshades? I mean if it’s a lamp, why do you want shade?
- There’s a tremendous power and energy in sharing your life with another person.
- A chef who doesn’t wash his hands is like a cop who steals. It’s a cry for help.
- A two-year-old is kind of like having a blender, but you don’t have a top for it.
- That’s the true spirit of Christmas; people being helped by people other than me.
- There is nothing more rewarding than completing a goal you have set for yourself.
- To me, if life boils down to one thing, it’s movement. To live is to keep moving.
- I was the best man at the wedding… If I’m the best man, why is she marrying him?
- If you go to a bad movie, it’s two hours. If you’re in a bad movie, it’s two years.
- Did you know that the original title for War and Peace was War, What Is It Good For?
- My parents didn’t want to move to Florida, but they turned sixty and that’s the law.
- Most people, you do a TV series, it ends three, four, five years later; it’s a relic.
- On the side of box of my superman costume it actually said – ‘Do not attempt to fly!’
- There’s no way that moving in with your parents is a sign that your life is on track.
- Ever noticed that no matter what happens in one day, it exactly fits in the newspaper?
- I have a nice bookshelf in my office, but not my house. I’m crass, but not that crass.
- I love a good nap. Sometimes it’s the only thing getting me out of bed in the morning.
- What’s the point of dating without games? How do you know if you’re winning or losing?
- When someone does a small task beautifully, their whole environment is affected by it.
- No encounter, mouth open up … that is how the drug businesses see the general public.
- Pay attention; don’t let life go by you. Fall in love with the back of your cereal box.
- Who goes on vacation without a job? What do you need a break from getting up at eleven?
- A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking.
- And that’s when I realized, when you’re a kid you don’t need a costume, you ARE superman.
- Introducing ‘Lite’: the new way to spell ‘Light’; but with twenty per cent fewer letters.
- I can’t go to a bad movie by myself. What, am I gonna make sarcastic remarks to strangers?
- Everybody lies about sex. People lie during sex. If it weren’t for lies, there’d be no sex.
- I like to try anything… You have to do the experiments to find out what the formulas are.
- I’ll tell you one thing, since I’m married, single people look absolutely ridiculous to me.
- If you’ve got a bloodstain on your T-shirt, maybe dirty laundry isn’t your biggest problem.
- I like any cereal. I like the idea of just eating and drinking with one hand without looking.
- Once you start doing only what you’ve already proven you can do, you’re on the road to death.
- It’s hard to do nothing because you tend to do something and then you have to drop everything.
- Sex, that’s meaningless, I can understand that, but dinner; that’s heavy. That’s like an hour.
- Twitter is good. Why say a lot to a few people when you can say virtually nothing to everyone?
- Well, sometimes we do actually have to get up early, but a man will always trade sleep for sex.
- Of course, everyone wants to be healthy. The amusing thing is no one’s really sure how to do it.
- I’ve compiled a book from the Internet. It’s a book of quotations attributed to the wrong people.
- How long do you have to wait for a guy to come out of a coma before you ask his ex-girlfriend out?
- Sometimes I think more creativity is put into muffin recipes than into the rest of society combined.
- Hey! What’s the deal with decaf? How do they get the caffeine out of there and then where does it go?
- I always did well on the essay questions. Just put everything you know on there, maybe you’ll hit it.
- I’ve been car crazy my whole life, since I was nine years old. It’s just something I’m very aware of.
- You know how your charger for your phone? It’s like if you had a charger for your whole body and mind
- Just what is the handicapped parking situation at the Special Olympics? Is it still just the two spaces?
- Why do I always have the feeling that everybody’s doing something better than me on Saturday afternoons?
- Nothing in life is fun for the whole family. There are no massage parlors with ice cream and free jewelry.
- Why is it illegal to park in a handicapped parking space but okay to go the bathroom in a handicapped stall?
- There’s no downside to fame and people who whine about it make me sick. It’s the greatest thing in the world.
- The big advantage of a book is that it’s very easy to rewind. Close it and you’re right back at the beginning.
- I have no plants in my house. They won’t live for me. Some of them don’t even wait to die, they commit suicide.
- I like staying in hotels. I like their tiny soap. I like to pretend it’s regular-sized and my muscles are huge.
- If airline seat cushions are such great flotation devices, why don’t you ever see anyone take one to the beach?
- It’s amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper.
- The padded outfits, the bad scripts, the phony-looking sets… he dealt with it all. He had to. He was Superman.
- You know you’re getting old when you get that one candle on the cake. It’s like, ‘See if you can blow this out.’
- The less you know about a field, the better your odds. Dumb boldness is the best way to approach a new challenge.
- The peak of being a fan is a hotdog and a beer and a seat at the game. There’s nothing above that. Nothing above it.
- What could possess anyone to throw a party? I mean, to have a bunch of strangers treat your house like a hotel room.
- Where lipstick is concerned, the important thing is not color, but to accept God’s final word on where your lips end.
- Women go after doctors like men go after models. They want someone with knowledge of the body. We just want the body.
- I mean, she’s giving and caring and genuinely concerned about the welfare of others. I can’t be with someone like that.
- Celebrity is no different from any other energy. It’s a force for good or evil. It’s no different from money. It’s power.
- Being a good husband is like being a good stand-up comic – you need ten years before you can even call yourself a beginner.
- You can tell what was the best year of your father’s life, because they seem to freeze that clothing style and ride it out.
- I won’t do something unless I can get at least two or three good laughs out of it. If I can’t, it’s not gonna make the team.
- Magazines are another medium I love, because 95% is simply based on ‘How the hell are we going to fill all this blank space?
- We got the hot fudge on the bottom…. that allows you to control the fudge distribution while you’re eating your ice cream.
- What’s the deal with Ovaltine? It comes in a round container, you put it in a round glass, why don’t they call it Roundtine?
- Men want the same thing from their underwear that they want from women: a little bit of support, and a little bit of freedom.
- When men are growing up and they’re reading about Batman, Spiderman, Superman … those are not fantasies … they’re options.
- Why would you want to work for a living if you could just joke around? Being a celebrity expands your commercial possibilities.
- The first real thought that I had of something that I might do was to write for car magazines, because I always had a car thing.
- I think that you think that a certain something is not all that it could be, when, in fact, it is all that it should be, and more!
- Looking at cleavage is like looking into the sun. You don’t stare at it. It’s too risky. You get a sense of it, then you look away.
- The advice I would give [the younger me]—or any young person—would be “Keep your head up in failure and your head down in success.”
- Looking at cleavage is like looking at the sun. You don’t stare at it, it’s too risky. You get a sense of it and then you look away.
- The only way a show works is you find people who you think are qualified and talented and you give them a chance to do what they do.
- The greatest Jewish tradition is to laugh. The cornerstone of Jewish survival has always been to find humor in life and in ourselves.
- If you want to make a person feel better after they sneeze, you shouldn’t say ‘God bless you.’ You should say, ‘You’re so good looking!
- What is it about sleep that makes you so thirsty? Do dreams require liquid? It’s not like I’m running a marathon, I’m just lying there.
- Why does McDonald’s have to count every burger that they sell? What is their ultimate goal? Do they want cows to surrender voluntarily?
- I will never understand the bathrooms in this country. Why is it that the doors on the stalls do not come all the way down to the floor?
- The truth is, I had always wanted to be a comedian, but I really didn’t have that kind of personality, and it’s a terrifying thing to say.
- I’ll tell you what the big advantage of homosexuality is: if you’re going out with someone your size, right there you double your wardrobe.
- Hey! So what’s the deal with brunch? I mean that if it’s a combination of breakfast and lunch, how comes there’s no ‘lupper’ or no ‘linner’?
- Our good time is sitting in a coffee shop with a newspaper, writing a line on the back of a napkin. That is the most fun comedians ever have
- Hey, how come people don’t have dip for dinner? Why is it only a snack, why can’t it be a meal, you know? I don’t understand stuff like that.
- There is no more embarrassing thing in my life than the fact that I have actually uttered the phrase, ‘I would like to order the Ginsu Knife.’
- What is this obsession people have with books? They put them in their houses like they’re trophies. What do you need it for after you read it?
- What is this obsession people have with books? They put them in their houses—like they’re trophies. What do you need it for after you read it?
- Anyone who would laugh at a recital is probably some sort of lunatic anyway. I mean, only a sick, twisted mind could be that rude and ignorant.
- Dogs have no money. Isn’t that amazing? They’re broke their entire lives. But they get through. You know why dogs have no money? .. No Pockets.
- I feel like humor is the answer to everything. If you have a little bit of humor in the shaker and you can sprinkle that on, that’s your answer.
- I can walk through a hotel lobby and watch people at the desk and see what they’re doing. People don’t look at me. They don’t even know I’m there.
- I think vacations are mostly completely stupid. Going to have coffee with a friend, you’re probably going to have more fun than if you go to Aruba.
- See, the thing of it is, there’s a lot of ugly people out there walking around but they don’t know they’re ugly because nobody actually tells them.
- There are more social skills required to talk one-on-one [than to an audience]. You don’t have to be socially fluid to talk to two thousand people.
- We sold ‘Seinfeld’ all over the world but it was a very specific kind of show. In some countries it went down really well, in others they hated it.
- Breaking up is like knocking over a Coke machine. You can’t do it in one push; you got to rock it back and forth a few times, and then it goes over.
- Men, as an organization, are getting more women than any other group working anywhere in the world. Wherever women are, we have men looking into it.
- We’re all trying to get to the same island — whether you swim, fly, surf, or skydive, it doesn’t matter. What matters is when the red light goes on.
- Pain is usually represented by lightning attacking the guy. Glowing redness is also popular. Sometimes parts of the guy would just burst into flames.
- What’s with this weird hotel custom of leaving a piece of chocolate on the pillow? I awoke thinking my brain had hemorrhaged some sort of fecal matter.
- Marriage is like a game of chess except the board is flowing water, the pieces are made of smoke and no move you make will have any effect on the outcome.
- Actually, the only memory I have of being a Cub Scout was trying to get my hat back. That was all I did. Run back and forth at my bus stop going “Quit it.”
- The Beatles created something that never trailed off. What a gift that was to their fans. If you’re into the Beatles, you loved them from beginning to end.
- What I don’t understand is how women can pour hot wax on their bodies, let it dry, then rip out every single hair by its root and still be scared of spiders.
- I’d like to do one of those jumps they do in the movies; in a car, over a bridge, in the air with a huge explosion. It would be a final moment of entertainment.
- You don’t even really need a place. But you feel like you’re doing something. That is what coffee is. And that is one of the geniuses of the new coffee culture.
- It’s like having… you know, your phone has a charger, right? It’s like having a charger for your whole body and mind. That’s what Transcendental Meditation is!
- I have a problem with that silver medal. It’s like, ‘Congratulation s, you almost won. Of all the losers, you’re the number one loser. No one lost ahead of you.’
- It’s like having… you know, your phone has a charger, right? It’s like having a charger for your whole body and mind. That’s what Transcendental Meditation is!
- That’s the most comfortable place for me. In the beginning, yes, I was nervous going on stage. I was not a natural performer. I really had to acquire that skill.
- I wrote an article on a new Porsche for ‘Automobile Magazine.’ I knew the editor, and she asked me to write this article. So I’m more proud of that than anything.
- The Four Levels of Comedy: Make your friends laugh, Make strangers laugh, Get paid to make strangers laugh, and Make people talk like you because it’s so much fun.
- If professional wrestling did not exist, could you come up with this idea? Could you envision the popularity of huge men in tiny bathing suits, pretending to fight?
- A movie is kind of like being the captain of a ship, which is nice, but when I perform by myself it’s just surfing on the water and nobody really knows what happens.
- For people on my side of the cubicle, the goal is always creativity. Spending your time overcoming corporate resistance to creativity – I just don’t want to do that.
- So let me get this straight. You find yourself in the kitchen. You see an éclair in the receptacle… and you think to yourself: “What the hell, I’ll just eat some trash.”
- I’ll tell you what I like about Chinese people: they’re hanging in there with the chop sticks, aren’t they? You know they’ve seen the fork. They’re staying with the sticks.
- I’d rather be dating the blind. You know you could let the house go. You could let yourself go. A good-looking blind woman doesn’t even know you’re not good enough for her.
- The truth is, the family is much more creatively nourishing because you’re playing on a full keyboard. Whereas when you’re single, you’re just playing the upbeat jazzy tunes.
- I do not know why anyone would host an awards show. No matter how unbelievably well you do at it, the only thing that can happen is you get asked again to host an awards show.
- Artists are always looking for new things and fresh ground and fresh air. If it feels new to me, there’s a chance it’ll feel new to the audience and we’ll have found something.
- Yeah, like Bizarro Superman, Superman’s exact opposite, who lives in the backwards Bizarro world. Up is down, down is up, he says hello when he leaves, goodbye when he arrives.
- I am so busy doing nothing… that the idea of doing anything – which as you know, always leads to something – cuts into the nothing and then forces me to have to drop everything.
- My wife is funny. And I dabble in it. So being funny is big around our house. But what’s surprised me is my daughter can do an English accent. I don’t know how she learned this.
- Surveys show that the #1 fear of Americans is public speaking. #2 is death. That means that at a funeral, the average American would rather be in the casket than doing the eulogy.
- I see TV ads about detergents that can get blood stains out of your cloths. I say if you have blood stains on your cloths you should be thinking about something other than laundry.
- We want to do a lot of stuff; we’re not in great shape, we didn’t get a good night’s sleep, we’re a little depressed. Coffee solves all these problems in one delightful little cup.
- Have you ever seen that guy who has the record for fattest man in the world? Bob Hughes, the fattest man in the world… 1400 pounds. Ladies and gentlemen, the man has let himself go.
- I have a problem with the strip that runs along the bottom of the news programs. Don’t these idiots who run the news programs know we don’t want to read? That’s why we’re watching TV.
- This is one of my big things of creative pursuits. You have your idea you want to do, but then you got to figure out what does this thing want to be? You got to let it lead you a little.
- Timmy: You dipped the chip. You took a bite. And you dipped again. That’s like putting your whole mouth right in the dip! From now on, when you take a chip — just take one dip and end it.
- I wish I was a phone machine. I wish if I saw somebody on the street I didn’t want to talk to I could just go, “Excuse me, I’m not here right now, If you just leave a message, I can walk away.”
- See, you know how to take the reservation, you just don’t know how to hold the reservation and that’s really the most important part of the reservation, the holding. Anybody can just take them.
- You know the message you’re sending out to the world with sweatpants? You’re telling the world: ‘I give up. I can’t compete in normal society. I’m miserable, so I might as well be comfortable.’
- Everybody in New York City knows there’s way more cars than parking spaces. You see cars driving in New York all hours of the night. Its like musical chairs except everybody sat down around 1964.
- Why is it when you turn on the TV you see ads for telephone companies, and when you turn on the radio you hear ads for TV shows, and when you get put on hold on the phone you hear a radio station?
- There’s very little advice in men’s magazines, because men don’t think there’s a lot they don’t know. Women do. Women want to learn. Men think, ‘I know what I’m doing, just show me somebody naked.’
- There’s very little advice in men’s magazines, because men don’t think there’s a lot they don’t know. Women do. Women want to learn. Men think, “I know what I’m doing, just show me somebody naked.”
- When you’ve been in the business 5-years, as a person, it’s like you’re 5-years old – like a child. 10-years and you’re 10-years old, 20… Etcetera. That’s how I measure maturity in this industry.
- Why do people give each other flowers? To celebrate various important occasions, they’re killing living creatures? Why restrict it to plants? ‘Sweetheart, let’s make up. Have this deceased squirrel.
- You know the message you’re sending out to the world with these sweatpants? You’re telling the world, ‘I give up. I can’t compete in normal society. I’m miserable, so I might as well be comfortable.
- TV commercials now show you how detergents take out bloodstains, a pretty violent image there. I think if you’ve got a T-shirt with a bloodstain all over it, maybe laundry isn’t your biggest problem.
- Let’s face it: a date is a job-interview, that lasts all night. The only difference between a date and a job interview is: not many job-interviews is there a chance you’ll end up naked at the end of it.
- What evidence is there that cats are so smart, anyway? Huh? What do they do? Because they’re clean? I am sorry. My Uncle Pete showers four times a day and he can’t count to ten. So don’t give me hygiene.
- You know why dogs have no money? No pockets. ‘Cause they see change on the street all the time and it’s driving them crazy. When you’re walking them, he is always looking up at you. “There’s a quarter….”
- Isn’t it weird that we drink milk, stuff designed to nourish baby cows? How did THAT happen? Did some cattleman once say, “Oh, man, I can’t wait till them calves are done so I can get ME a hit of that stuff.”
- Have you ever noticed how they keep improving your laundry detergent, but they still can’t get those blue flakes out? Why do we trust them to get our clothes clean? These guys can’t even get the DETERGENT white!
- I don’t even care about cops. I wanna see more garbage men. It’s much more important. All I wanna see are garbage trucks, garbage cans and garbage men. You’re never gonna stop crime, we should at least be clean.
- Golf is the ultimate avoidance activity for the dysfunctional dad. A game so nonsensically difficult, so pointless, so irrationally time consuming, the word golf itself can only stand for ‘Get Out, Leave Family.’
- I will never understand why they cook on TV. I can’t smell it. Can’t eat it. Can’t taste it. The end of the show they hold it up to the camera, ‘Well, here it is. You can’t have any. Thanks for watching. Goodbye.’
- Fear of success is one of the new fears I’ve heard about lately. And I think its definitely a sign that we’re running out of fears. A person suffering from fear of success is scraping the bottom of the fear barrel.
- I hate the waiting room. Because it’s called the waiting room, there’s no chance of not waiting. It’s built, designed, and intended for waiting. Why would they take you right away when they’ve got this room all set up?
- I love advertising because I love lying. I think spending your life trying to dupe innocent people out of hard-won earnings to buy useless, low-quality, misrepresented items and services is an excellent use of your energy.
- There [are] just two things I’d need to find out everything I want to know about everyone: 1) Let me see them drive; 2) let me hear them talk about marriage … That’s going to tell me exactly your relationship to the world.
- All of a sudden it hit me, I realised what the problem is: I can’t be with someone like me. I hate myself! If anything, I need to get the exact opposite of me. It’s too much. It’s too much, I can’t take it. I can’t take it…
- You know I have been issued a public urination pass by the city because of my condition. Unfortunately, my little brother ran out of the house with it this morning. Him and his friends are probably peeing all over the city.
- People don’t think of their office as a workplace anymore. They think of it as a stationary store with Danish. You want to get your pastry, your envelopes, your supplies, your toilet paper, six cups of coffee, and you go home.
- There is no such thing as an attention span. There is only the quality of what you are viewing. This whole idea of an attention span is, I think, a misnomer. People have an infinite attention span if you are entertaining them.
- Having done quite a bit with studios and networks, I thought if I’m going to do something new and unformed, it would be fun to do it in a completely new space and place. The space being the Internet and the place being Crackle.
- The toughest nights when I was a young, unknown comedian were opening for these real old-time Italian singers. I’m like Grace Jones to them. “This guy is nuts-talking about socks. Where’s the wife jokes, where’s the fat jokes?”
- It reminds me of like this pathetic friend that everybody had when they were a little kid who would let you borrow any of his stuff if you would just be his friend. That’s what the library is. A government funded pathetic friend.
- People should get married because they have finally seen the folly of being single: “Oh, this is all just kind of a bad magic trick. I just keep bending over to reach for this wallet on a string. How much longer am I gonna do that?”
- The blessing in life is when you find the torture you are comfortable with. That’s marriage, it’s kids, it’s work, it’s exercise. Find the torture you’re comfortable with and you’ll do well. You’ve mastered that, you’ve mastered life.
- If aliens are watching us through telescopes, they’re going to think the dogs are the leaders of the planet. If you see two life forms, one of them’s making a poop, the other one’s carrying it for him, who would you assume is in charge?
- The worst thing about television is that everybody you see on television is doing something better than what you’re doing. You never see anybody on TV just sliding off the front of the sofa, with potato chip crumbs all over their shirt.
- I read that the number one fear of the average person is [public] speaking … Number two was death. To me, that means that, to the average person, if you were going to be at a funeral, you would rather be in the casket than doing the eulogy.
- Now they show you how detergents take out bloodstains, a pretty violent image there. I think if you’ve got a T-shirt with a bloodstain all over it, maybe laundry isn’t your biggest problem.Maybe you should get rid of the body before you do the wash.
- Sometimes they’ll make little Play-Doh animals, and when they go to sleep, I’ll break the heads off the animals and put them at the foot of their beds for them to discover in the morning. Nothing wrong with sending your kids a little Sicilian message.
- I was in the drug store the other day trying to get a cold medication…Not easy. There’s an entire wall of products you need. You stand there going,”Well, this one is quick acting but this is long lasting…Which is more important, the present or the future?”
- What would the world be like if people said whatever they were thinking, all the time, whenever it came to them? How long would a blind date last? About 13 seconds, I think. Oh, sorry, your rear end is too big. That’s ok, your breath stinks anyway. See you later.
- Dogs want to be people. That’s what their lives are about. They don’t like being a dog. They’re with people all the time, they want to graduate. My dog would sit there all day, he would watch me walk by, he would think to himself, “I could do that! He’s not that good.
- To me a lawyer is basically the person that knows the rules of the country. We’re all throwing the dice, playing the game, moving our pieces around the board, but if there’s a problem, the lawyer is the only person that has actually read the inside of the top of the box.
- I once had a leather jacket that got ruined in the rain. Why does moisture ruin leather? Aren’t cows outside a lot of the time? When it’s raining, do cows go up to the farmhouse, “Let us in! We’re all wearing leather! Open the door! We’re going to ruin the whole outfit here!”
- And I’ll tell ya, I’m really enjoying this marriage thing. You think about each other. You care about each other. It’s wonderful! Plus, I love saying ‘my wife.’ Once I started saying it, I couldn’t stop – ‘my wife’ this, ‘my wife’ that…it’s an amazing way to begin a sentence.
- This is really a crazy idea, you know. It probably won’t work, but that will be interesting, too. You have to motivate yourself with challenges. That’s how you know you’re still alive. Once you start doing only what you’ve already proven you can do, you’re on the road to death.
- So the first time you hear the concept of Halloween when you’re a kid your brain can’t even process the information. You’re like: “What is this? What did you say?” “What did you say about giving out candy? Who’s giving out candy?” “Everyone that we know is just giving out candy!”
- They seal the subway change-booth guy up inside this thing with bullet-proof glass, closed in on all sides, it’s like some kind of Houdini torture tank of doom. How do you breathe in there? It looks like if you put your hand over the change slot, you could suffocate him in thirty seconds.
- Have you ever noticed that the waiter who takes your order is not the one who brings your food anymore? What is THAT about? And which waiter are you tipping, anyway? I think next time I go to a restaurant I’ll just say, “Oh, sorry, I only eat the food. The guy who pays the bill will be along shortly.”
- A recent survey stated that the average person’s greatest fear is having to give a speech in public. Somehow this ranked even higher than death which was third on the list. So, you’re telling me that at a funeral, most people would rather be the guy in the coffin than have to stand up and give a eulogy.
- Seems to me the basic conflict between men and women, sexually, is that men are like firemen. To men, sex is an emergency, and no matter what we’re doing we can be ready in two minutes. Women, on the other hand, are like fire. They’re very exciting, but the conditions have to be exactly right for it to occur.
- Sometimes you can do certain things on stage, or even in a TV series, and people see the look on your face and they know what you mean, so you can get away with certain things. But if you can’t create that look on an animated character, which is essentially a puppet, the line will hit the audience in a very bad way.
- Why does that pharmacist have to be two and a half feet higher than everybody else? Who the hell is this guy? “Clear out, everybody. I’m working with pills up here. I’m taking them from this big bottle and then I’m gonna put them in the little bottle. That’s my whole job. I can’t be down on the floor with you people.”
- What’s the worst movie you ever saw in the theater? by Caitlin PenzeyMoog, William Hughes, Laura Adamczyk, Alex McLevy, Clayton Purdom, Sam Barsanti, Gwen Ihnat, Sean O’Neal, Esther Zuckerman, Katie Rife, Erik Adams, A.A. Dowd, Josh Modell, Danette Chavez, Kevin Pang, and Nick Wanserski, www.avclub.com. April 14, 2017.
- I’ll tell you one of the great activities is skateboarding. To learn to do a skateboard trick, how many times do you gotta get something wrong til you get it right? …And you hurt yourself, and you learn to do that trick, now you got a life lesson. Every time I see those skateboard kids, I think ‘those kids’ll be alright.’
- Did you ever notice, when you are sitting at a red light, that when the person in front of you pulls up a couple of inches, you are compelled to move up too? Do we really think we are making progress toward our destination? “Whew, I thought we would be late, but now that I am nine inches closer, I can stop for coffee and a danish!”
- Then, finally, the third year, begging the parents, I got the Superman Halloween costume. Cardboard box, self-made top, mask included. Remember the rubber band on the back of that mask? That was a quality item there, wasn’t it? That was good for about 10 seconds before it snapped out of that cheap little staple they put it in there with.
- Cremation has become the most popular form of burial in the United States… People used to want a big, thick granite stone, their names carved into with a chisel. “I was here dammit!” Cremation is like you’re trying to cover up a crime. “Burn the body. Scatter the ashes around. As far as anyone’s concerned this whole thing never happened.”
- Kids don’t say, “Wait.” They say, “Wait up, hey wait up!” Because when you’re little, your life is up. The future is up. Everything you want is up. “Hold up. Shut up! Mum, I’ll clean up. Let me stay up!” Parents, of course, are just the opposite. Everything is down. “Just calm down. Slow down. Come down here! Sit down. Put… that… down.”
- Let’s face it, the human body is like a condominium apartment. The thing that keeps you really enjoying it is the maintenance. There’s a tremendous amount of daily, weekly, monthly and yearly work that has to be done. From showering to open heart surgery, we’re always doing something to ourselves. If your body was a used car, you wouldn’t buy it.
- The best piece of advice I received before I got married was, “Be careful what you say when you’re in a fight, because it could stick in someone’s head.” I don’t think I’ve ever said anything I really regretted. I’m very sympathetic to women. I’ve really studied wife-ology, and I know you’ve got to figure out the feelings. Deal with the feelings.
- What is the story with the airport sinks, that they will not give us a twist-on twist-off human faucet. “Is it that too risky for the human population? We have to do the one-handed pain-in-the-ass Alcatraz-style faucets. “What is it they think we will do? Turn ’em all on full, run out into the parking lot, laughing, pushing each other into the bushes?
- They have the greeting cards with the couples on the front. They photograph them. These hazy focus people. They’re always having picnics. There’s always a tree, a pond… who are these people? I don’t know them. I don’t want them on my card either. What am I going to write inside there anyway? “Here’s another couple having a better relationship than us.”
- I had a parakeet that used to fly around the house and crash into these huge mirrors my mother put in. Ever heard of this interior design principle, that a mirror makes it seem like you have an entire other room? What kind of jerk walks up to a mirror and goes, Hey look, there’s a whole other room in there. There’s a guy that looks just like me in there.
- You know what I never get with the limo? The tinted windows. Is that so people don’t see you? Yeah, what a better way not to have people notice you than taking a thirty foot Cadillac with a TV antenna and a uniformed driver. How discreet. Nobody cares who’s in the limo. You see a limo go by, you know it’s either some rich jerk or fifty prom kids with $1.75 each.
- One day I was watching these construction workers go back to work. I was watching them kind of trudging down the street. It was like a revelation to me. I realized these guys don’t want to go back to work after lunch. But they’re going. That’s their job. If they can exhibit that level of dedication for that job I should be able to do the same. Trudge your ass in.
- The Swiss have an interesting army. Five hundred years without a war. Pretty impressive. Also pretty lucky for them. Ever see that little Swiss Army knife they have to fight with? Not much of a weapon there. Corkscrews, Bottle openers. ‘Come on, buddy, let’s go. You get past me, the guy in back of me, he’s got a spoon. Back off. I’ve got the toe clippers right here.
- I have a friend who’s collecting unemployment insurance. This guy has never worked so hard in his life as he has to keep this thing going. He’s down there every week, waiting on the lines and getting interviewed and making up all these lies about looking for jobs. If they had any idea of the effort and energy that he is expending to avoid work, I’m sure they’d give him a raise.
- Well, birthdays are merely symbolic of how another year has gone by and how little we’ve grown. No matter how desperate we are that someday a better self will emerge, with each flicker of the candles on the cake, we know it’s not to be, that for the rest of our sad, wretched pathetic lives, this is who we are to the bitter end. Inevitably, irrevocably; happy birthday? No such thing.
- The Olympics is my favourite sporting event. Although I have a problem with that silver medal. When you think about it, you win the gold – you feel good, you win the bronze – you think, ‘Well at least I got something’. But when you win silver, it’s like, ‘Congratulations, you ‘almost’ won. Of all the losers, you came in first of that group. You’re the number one ‘loser.’ No one lost ahead of you.
- There are many things you can point to as proof that the human is not smart. But my personal favorite would have to be that we needed to invent the helmet. What was happening, apparently, was that we were involved in a lot of activities that were cracking our heads. We chose not to avoid doing those activities but, instead, to come up with some sort of device to help us enjoy our head-cracking lifestyles.
- Any day you had gym class was a weird school day. It started off normal. You had English, Social Studies, Geometry, then suddenly your in Lord of the Flies for 40 minutes. Your hanging from a rope, you have hardly any clothes on, teachers are yelling at you, kids are throwing dodge balls at you and snapping towels – you’re trying to survive. And then it’s Science,Language, and History. Now that is a weird day.
- The idea behind the tuxedo is the woman’s point of view that men are all the same; so we might as well dress them that way. That’s why a wedding is like the joining together of a beautiful, glowing bride and some guy. The tuxedo is a wedding safety device, created by women because they know that men are undependable. So in case the groom chickens out, everybody just takes one step over, and she marries the next guy.
- The luge is the only Olympic event where you could have people competing in it against their will, and it would look exactly the same. Take people off the street, ‘Hey, hey, hey, what is this?! I don’t wanna be in the luge!’ Once you put that helmet on them, ‘You’re in the luge, buddy!’ ‘aaaAAAaaaAAAaaaAAA… aaaAAAAA…’ World record. Didn’t even wanna do it. I’d like to see that next Olympics, the Involuntary Luge.
- I think the answer is we all need a little help, and the coffee’s a little help with everything — social, energy, don’t know what to do next, don’t know how to start my day, don’t know how to get through this afternoon, don’t know how to stay alert. We want to do a lot of stuff; we’re not in great shape. We didn’t get a good night’s sleep. We’re a little depressed. Coffee solves all these problems in one delightful little cup.
- I was in front of an ambulance the other day, and I noticed that the word ambulance was spelled in reverse print on the hood of the ambulance. And I thought, Well, isn’t that clever. I look in the rear-view mirror; I can read the word ambulance behind me. Of course while you’re reading, you don’t see where you’re going, you crash. You need an ambulance. I think they’re trying to drum up some business on the way back from lunch.
- A dog will stay stupid. That’s why we love them so much. The entire time we know them, they’re idiots. Think of your dog. Every time you come home, he thinks it’s amazing. He has no idea how you accomplish this every day. You walk in the door; the joy of this experience overwhelms him. He looks at you, He’s back. It’s that guy, that same guy. He can’t believe it. Everything is amazing to your dog. Another can of food? I don’t believe it.
- Life is truly a ride. We’re all strapped in and no one can stop it. When the doctor slaps your behind, he’s ripping your ticket and away you go. As you make each passage from youth to adulthood to maturity, sometimes you put your arms up and scream, sometimes you just hang on to that bar in front of you. But the ride is the thing. I think the most you can hope for at the end of life is that your hair’s messed, you’re out of breath, and you didn’t throw up.
- Why is commitment such a big problem for a man? I think that for some reason when a man is driving down that freeway of love, the woman he’s with is like an exit, but he doesn’t want to get off there. He wants to keep driving. And the woman is like, “Look, gas, food, lodging, that’s our exit, that’s everything we need to be happy… Get off here, now!” But the man is focusing on the sign underneath that says, “Next exit 27 miles,” and he thinks, “I can make it.”
- We know the product is going to stink. We know that because we live in the world, and we know that everything stinks. We all believe, Hey, maybe this one wont stink. We are a hopeful species. Stupid but hopeful. But were happy in that moment between the commercial and the purchase. And I think spending your life trying to dupe innocent people out of hard-won earnings to buy useless, low-quality, misrepresented items and services is an excellent use of your energy.
- Why is McDonalds still counting? How insecure is this company? 40 million, 80 billion million jillion killion tillion… who cares? Is anyone really impressed by that any more? Ooh, 89 billion sold? All right, I’ll have one! I’m satisfied! I’d like to tell the CEO of McDonalds, “Look. We all get it, okay? You’ve sold a lot of hamburgers. Whatever the number is, just put up a sign, ‘McDonalds: We’re Doing Very Well.’ We are tired of hearing about every goddamn one of them.”
- Some of the events in the Olympics don’t make sense to me. I don’t understand the connection to any reality… Like in the Winter Olympics they have that biathlon that combines cross-country skiing with shooting a gun. How many alpine snipers are into this? Ski, shoot a gun… ski, bang, bang, bang… It’s like combining swimming and strangling a guy. Why don’t we have that? That makes absolutely as much sense to me. Just put people in the pool at the end of each lane for the swimmers.
- With any kind of physical test, I don’t know what it is, I always seem to get competitive. Remember when you were in school and they’d do those hearing tests? And you’d really be listening hard, you know? I wanted to do unbelievable on the hearing test. I wanted them to come over to me after and go, ‘We think you may have something close to super-hearing. What you heard was a cotton ball touching a piece of felt. We’re sending the results to Washington, we’d like you to meet the President.’
- What causes homophobia? What is it that makes the heterosexual man worry about this? I think it’s because deep down all men know that we have weak sales resistance. We’re constantly buying shoes that hurt us, pants that don’t fit right. Men think, ‘Obviously I can be talked into anything. What if I accidentally wander into some sort of homosexual store thinking it’s a shoe store and the salesmen says, ‘Just hold this guy’s hand, walk around a little bit, see how it feels. No obligation, no pressure, just try it.’
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Quotes from The Seinfeld show
- Elaine: Can you die from an odour? I mean, like if you were locked in a vomitorium for two weeks, could you actually die from the odour?
- Elaine: What evidence is there that cats are so smart, anyway? Huh? What do they do? Because they’re clean? I am sorry. My Uncle Pete showers four times a day and he can’t count to ten. So don’t give me hygiene. Seinfeld TV show
- Elaine: Ugh, I hate people. Jerry: Yeah, they’re the worst. Seinfeld TV show
- George on the benefits of mental institutions: “I should be in a place like this. You get to wear slippers all day. Friends visit. They pity you. Pity is very underrated. I like it, it’s good. Plus, they give you those word association tests. I love those. Seinfeld TV show
- George, on women wanting ‘bad boys’: “Why is nice bad? What kind of a sick society are we living in when nice is bad?” Seinfeld TV show
- George: Divorce is very difficult. Especially on a kid. Of course, I’m the result of my parents having stayed together, so you never know. Seinfeld TV show
- George: Don’t insult me, my friend. Remember who you’re talking to. No one’s a bigger idiot than me. Seinfeld TV show
- George: Hey believe me, baldness will catch on. When the aliens come, who do you think they’re gonna relate to? Who do you think is going to be the first ones getting a tour of the ship? Seinfeld TV show
- George: I can’t die with dignity. I have no dignity. I want to be the one person who doesn’t die with dignity. I live my whole life in shame. Why should I die with dignity? Seinfeld TV show
- George: I can’t stand kids. Adults think it’s so wonderful how honest kids are. I don’t need that kind of honesty. I’ll take a deceptive adult over an honest kid any day. Seinfeld TV show
- George: I can’t carry a pen. I’m afraid I’ll puncture my scrotum. Seinfeld TV show
- George: I love a good nap. Sometimes it’s the only thing getting me out of bed in the morning. Seinfeld TV show
- George: I think if one’s going to kill oneself, the least you could do is leave a note—it’s common courtesy. I don’t know, that’s just the way I was brought up. Seinfeld TV show
- George: I will never understand the bathrooms in this country. Why is it that the doors on the stalls do not come all the way down to the floor? Seinfeld TV show
- George: I’d rather be dating the . You know you could let the house go. You could let yourself go. A good-looking blind woman doesn’t even know you’re not good enough for her. Seinfeld TV show
- George: I’m much more comfortable criticizing people behind their backs. Seinfeld TV show
- George: This woman hates me so much, I’m starting to like her. Seinfeld TV show
- George: What am I scared of? I’m scared of the same thing that you are, everything. Seinfeld TV show
- George: Yeah, I’m a great quitter. It’s one of the few things I do well. I come from a long line of quitters. My father was a quitter, my grandfather was a quitter. I was raised to give up. Seinfeld TV show
- George: “I gotta call Elaine.”Jerry: “She’s out.”George: “Oh, yeah. The blind date.”Jerry: “They call it a ‘setup’, now. I guess the blind people don’t like being associated with all those losers.” Seinfeld TV show
- George: “She calls me up at my office. She says, ‘We have to talk.’”Jerry: “Ugh. The four worst words in the English language.”George: “That or ‘Whose bra is this?’”Jerry: “That’s worse.” Seinfeld TV show
- George: “You’re gonna over-dry your laundry.”Jerry: “You can’t over-dry.”George: “Why not?”Jerry: “Same reason you can’t over-wet.” Seinfeld TV show
- George: “Why do they make the condom packets so hard to open?” Jerry: “Probably to give the woman a chance to change her mind.” Seinfeld TV show
- George: I’ve never assisted in a birth before. It’s really quite disgusting. Seinfeld TV show
- Jerry, on bad food choices: “Salad! What was I thinking? Women don’t respect salad eaters.” Seinfeld TV show
- Jerry, on public displays of affection: “People on dates shouldn’t even be allowed out in public.” Seinfeld TV show
- Jerry: “This isn’t a good time.”Telemarketer: “When would be a good time to call back, sir?”Jerry: “I have an idea, why don’t you give me your home number and I’ll call you back later?”Telemarketer: “Umm, we’re not allowed to do that.”Jerry: “Oh, I guess because you don’t want strangers calling you at home. Well, now you know how I feel.” Seinfeld TV show
- Jerry: “You’re on a desert island, you can bring five books. Which five do you take?” George: “I gotta read five books?” Seinfeld TV show
- Kramer, on cultural differences: “See, here, you’re just another apple, but in Japan, you’re an exotic fruit. Like an orange. Which is rare there. Seinfeld TV show
- Kramer, on male self-pleasure: “We have to do it. It’s part of our lifestyle. It’s like, uh… shaving.” Seinfeld TV show
- Kramer: Moles — freckles’ ugly cousin. Seinfeld TV show
- Kramer: Oh, understudies are a very shifty bunch. The substitute teachers of the theatre world. Seinfeld TV show
- Kramer: They don’t have a decent piece of fruit at the supermarket. The apples are mealy, the oranges are dry. I don’t know what’s going on with the papayas! Seinfeld TV show
- Kramer: You know what would make a great coffee table book? A coffee table book about coffee tables! Seinfeld TV show
- Kramer: “You’re wasting your life.”George: “I am not. What you call wasting, I call living. I’m living my life.”Kramer: “OK, like what? No, tell me. Do you have a job?”George: “No.”Kramer: “You got money?”George: “No.”Kramer: “Do you have any action at all?”George: “No.”Kramer: “Do you have any conceivable reason for even getting up in the morning?”George: “I like to get the Daily News.” Seinfeld TV show
- Kramer: “You wouldn’t last a day in the army!” Jerry: “Well how long did you last?” Kramer: “Well, that’s classified.” Seinfeld TV show
- Kramer: Boxers! How do you wear these things!! They’re baggin’ up, they’re rising in! And there’s nothing holding me in place! I’m flippin’! I’m floppin’! Seinfeld TV show
- Kramer: You know, I got a great idea for a cologne. ‘The Beach’. You spray it on and you smell like you just came home from the beach. Seinfeld TV show
https://wisdomtrove.com/wp-content/uploads/formidable/3/Jerry_Seinfeld.jpeg 374 300 You? https://wisdomtrove.com/wp-content/uploads/logo-test-300x37.png You?2021-09-12 11:47:382021-09-16 10:29:51Jerry Seinfeld (quotes)Embrace yourself as you are |
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Learn to accept yourself as you are…
- Authentic spirituality accepts both the beautiful and the seemingly ugly parts within us. It is not about rejecting or annihilating the ego but recognising and healing it.
- Self-acceptance is realising the treasure you seek is always found within you. You are the treasure-hunter, the journey, and the treasure itself.
- True beauty is someone who is truly okay with themselves as they are…
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…by coming home to yourself…
- It is said that the greatest journey is the one that leads you home. In accepting yourself, you come home to yourself.
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…by realising there is nothing wrong with you…
- Self-acceptance means accepting even your non-acceptance. It is not about becoming new and shiny, it is about letting go of the belief that there is something inherently wrong with you.
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…by allowing what is to be…
- Self-acceptance is also fully accepting what’s here in us right now. If we are feeling anxious, that’s okay. If we are feeling angry, that’s okay. If we are feeling negative, that’s okay. We let ourselves be as we are.
- Self-acceptance is welcoming every emotion into your guest house.
- Lasting self-improvement and positive change only occurs when you first deeply accept what is.
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…especially your emotions as they arise
- To fight anger with anger only makes you see a deeper shade of red. To resist envy only makes it more green. To turn sadness away means it will come back tomorrow twice as blue. True self-compassion is to fully accept and allow what is. To allow it to be there and be fully felt.
- Human emotions are beautiful. Anger can stir a revolution. Sadness can create masterpieces. Joy can uplift the world. All emotions are sacred if we understand them.
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Embrace your humanness
- I now believe strongly in a more life-affirming spirituality that loves, celebrates and embraces our humanness.
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Realise the tremendous power of self-acceptance
- Inner change creates outer change. The inner revolution of self-acceptance is a powerful force for peace, love and joy. Both within and without.
- There is no make-up to compare with the radiance that comes from a profound sense of self-okayness.
- When you fear the unloved parts within you, they control you. But when you accept and embrace them, you heal the wounded parts of you. You mend your brokenness with the glue of self-compassion.
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Self-acceptance is the path to learning to love yourself
- Self-love is about expressing and accepting the “beingness” or the “youness” of you. It is not a doing but a state of being. It is being comfortable in your own skin and mind.
- Self-love is a shift more and more from the realms of the mind into the realms of the heart. It re-opens rooms long abandoned and forgotten and lets the light in.
- If you want to claim your Divine dominion right now, really feel with your whole soul that you already love and accept yourself unconditionally. Walk, talk and dress like the Divine rock star you are.
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Treat yourself with understanding and compassion
- When you love yourself, it doesn’t mean you are egoistical or arrogant. It simply means you accept yourself as you are and treat yourself with kindness, understanding and compassion.
- Acknowledging our wounds and soothing them with self-compassion is a potent antidote to all forms of self-hate.
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Forgive yourself
- Self-acceptance and self-love are twin siblings. They come alive when you let go of who you think you should be, and just be who you are. They are about loving all parts of yourself. They are about forgiving what you did in the past.
- Your mistakes do not need to be a life sentence. The act of self-forgiveness is a conscious choice you must make every day.
- Forgiveness rarely happens all at once; it is a process.
- Forgiveness doesn’t necessarily mean reconciliation, but it does mean letting go of anger.
- Forgiveness opens you to your true joyful nature.
- Forgiveness can’t be forced or faked. Forgiveness happens when you’re ready to set the prisoner free in the realisation the prisoner has been you all along.
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Be kind to yourself and others
- Many of us are deeply wounded and most of our scars are invisible which is why we must be kind to one another.
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Feel your inherent “enoughness”
- I wish I could give you a big heartfelt hug and tell you how beautiful you are! I wish I could tell you face-to-face that every scar, emotional and physical, makes you who you are. You are enough! Feel this in your heart and bones.
- Everything is a manifestation of the Divine and all things are perfect in their own unique way. The same Spirit which created the stars, planets and moons also created you.
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There is nothing more healing and powerful than self-love
- The search for and attainment of external happiness can never be fruitful when we hate ourselves.
- How you treat others is an outward expression of how you treat yourself. All outer transformation happens first within.
- We need love and acceptance just like we need water and oxygen and the only truly reliable source for this is from within.
- Something magical happens when you begin to love and accept yourself. You start to shine your light again. You realise that you are connected to a deeper Self, a divine spark within. This divine spark is the light of your inner awareness, illuminating all your life experiences, and when you sink back and rest in it, as it, it is felt as a sense of pure aliveness and joy.
- The truth is that your relationship with yourself is the most important relationship you’ll ever have. It sets the tone for all the other relationships in your life.
- A state of wellness or unwellness always begins with how you feel about yourself. Even modern science is discovering the connection between the mind and body.
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Realise you are a beautiful work in progress…
- You are a verb, not a noun. Not an object, but a continual becoming. You are a living, breathing and ever-changing human being in transit. A work in progress.
- As we grow older, we begin to see ourselves more and more as nouns. I am like this. I am like that. I like this. I hate that. And thus, we imprison ourselves in who we think we are, or who we think we should be. This is the source of all of our most self-limiting beliefs.
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…and that you are perfectly imperfect just as you are
- An inner joy flooded into me as I realised I am perfectly imperfect just as I am. I realised all my spiritual striving was only the spiritual ego trying to enlighten itself. I really knew this time that I don’t need to enlighten myself because I am already whole. My true identity is not the seeker but the joyful spirit that is my innermost being. When I stopped searching for joy on the outside, joy found me on the inside. I realised that the joy arising within was my natural state of being. Joy is who I am. Joy is my very essence. Joy is my natural birthright.
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Stop living life based on the expectation of others…
- We kill our dreams and passions in order to live a life based on the expectations of others.
- We dim our light so we can conform to the world.
- You cannot be the ultimate You when you are a slave to the dogma of another.
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…and let go of the need for external approval
- My sense of self was determined by what I thought others would find acceptable and pleasing. The way I felt about myself depended entirely on what I thought others thought of me.
- I craved the love of others to compensate for my lack of self-love. When our sense of self is dependent on external validation, we become slaves to the approval of others.
- External approval is notoriously unreliable. Even when someone heaps approval on us, they have the power to withdraw it in an instant.
- I desperately wanted to be loved by others, but in that wanting, I stopped loving myself.
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Realise your true worth
- True self-worth is knowing your value doesn’t increase or decrease depending on someone’s judgements about you.
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Be unapologetically you
- Seek to be yourself, and not the version others want you to be. Be the fruit loop in a world brimming with cheerios or the toucan in a world full of seagulls. And remember, everyone prefers Neapolitan ice-cream to plain vanilla.
- Without your own authentic power, you are like a droopy flower with closed petals. But when you are courageous enough to be yourself and speak your truth, you are like a sunflower with your face outstretched towards the sun.
- In our desperate attempt to be liked, we stop being true to ourselves. This is a tragedy because there is nothing more important or empowering than being yourself.
- Don’t be nothing, be something! Be unapologetically yourself. Let the critics criticise and the quitters quit… you just keep going.
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Strive for realness
- If we must strive, let us strive for realness, not perfection. Our scars make us real. Our imperfections make us beautiful. Our brokenness is where the light gets in.
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Say yes to your own needs
- I was taught growing up that a “yes” attitude is the right attitude. The truth is that a “yes” attitude is a wonderful attitude only if you also say yes to our own needs. Even on an airplane in distress, you must first fit your own oxygen mask before you can effectively help others in need. It is not selfish to put your own needs first. In fact, it is doing others a service.
- You cannot hope to fill another’s cup when your own cup is empty.
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Stop creating a sense of self based on externals
- Change is the only certainty and creating a sense of self based on transient externals is to base our happiness and inner peace on something highly impermanent and completely unreliable.
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Instead, get in touch with your inner being for this is who you really are…
- There is a space of presence within each of us that is all-forgiving, all-accepting and all-loving. This Divine-Spark exists within every living creature.
- Remind yourself that you are not the judgemental voice which puts you down. You are not the inner critic. You are that which is aware of it. You are the space of awareness within which thoughts come and go.
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… and allow its light to shine
- The light of our loving awareness transmutes darkness.
- To taste freedom, we must let the sunshine of our inner being, the divinity within us, shine through our human form. The exquisite paradox is that more we accept and celebrate our humanness, the more transparent we become and the more our divinity shines through us.
- To inhabit our body fully and saturate it with loving-kindness is what the world calls ‘glow.’ A person who has made their body and mind a home—not a prison—is one who radiates from the inside out, blessing the outer world with its light. That is love. That is the miracle of loving your “youness.”
- Discover what is true for you. Feel the true, authentic source of Divine light within you now.
- There is a power within us that is so magnificent that we would cry in sheer delight if we knew its greatness.
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Realise the wonder and miracle of being alive and conscious
- According to science, the chances of you being born are one in 400 trillion. The probability of you existing is virtually zero! Yet somehow, magically, you exist. Right now, at this very moment, you are alive and conscious. Isn’t that incredible?
- It is a gift to be human, alive and conscious on this wondrous planet. We all have a purpose and mission that only we can fulfil. Do not let doubts drain your dreams.
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Realise life is a mystery and gift
- Life is a delicious mystery and a wondrous gift, even with its chaos and commotion, highs and lows, joys and sorrows. It is a gift to gaze at the sunset, to lie under the evening stars, to listen to music, to swim in the ocean, to hear the laughter of children, to fall in love, to make love, to hug, to laugh and to cry. Life is an exquisite banquet where all can be tasted and enjoyed.
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Embrace all aspects of the human experience
- I have come to discover that when you love life—life loves you back. To love life is to embrace all aspects of the human experience, both the easy and the difficult parts.
- Life, in all its moods, and with all its twists, and turns, happens for us, not to us.
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Say giddy-up to life…
- Self-empowerment is taking charge of your life. It’s saying to the world, “My choice. My way. My life!” It is saddling the horse of fear and saying, “Giddy up!” The wise don’t run away from fear, they ride with it. The great mistake is thinking one day you will be ready.
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…and dive into the unknown
- The great mistake is thinking one day you will be ready. None of us will never ever be 100% ready. You must be prepared to make the leap anyway.
- Go out and kick ass! Be your own knight in shining armour. Be your own hero. Be your own saviour. You are the only person responsible for your life.
- The Universe always supports those who are willing to take a chance, dive into the unknown and follow their bliss against the odds.
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Realise life can be a struggle but struggle is beautiful…
- Life is a process. And by its nature, it is a struggle. But it is a beautiful and worthwhile struggle. And when you realise that, it’s no longer so much of a struggle.
- Transformation is painful and pain is part of life. But our struggle is never in vain.
- The outdated belief that happiness is a constant state of peace is setting ourselves up for failure.
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…for without struggle, we cannot grow
- Like the caterpillar, just when we think the world is over, we emerge from the chrysalis of our despair to discover the struggle has gifted us with wings to fly. Having shed our limits, we take to the air.
- Any process of lasting growth is always uncomfortable. That’s why we talk about growing pains.
- A master doesn’t blame others for his circumstances, he recognises them as golden opportunities for growth.
- The tragedy and trials of life shape us but they do not define us. What defines us is how we use them to grow, evolve and transform into the persons we are destined to become.
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What would life be without its complications and challenges?
- Next time life surprises you with an unexpected and unwelcome twist, imagine that your life is a movie. What would a movie be like with no complications or struggles? No opportunities for the hero to grow or learn, no challenges to overcome, no chance for the spirit to triumph over adversity? How pointless it would be and how boring! Life, like a movie, has its own script of challenges to grow from. Mixed in with the comedy and romance and feel good moments is trial and tragedy and even occasional horror. But without it, life would soon feel meaningless and purposeless.
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Realise suffering can be a wake-up call to wholeness
- My suffering was the catalyst to my search for freedom. My fall into darkness allowed me to find my inner light.
- Everything is positive, even the most intense suffering, if it makes us turn inwards and learn to love ourselves.
- Life will never give us exactly what we want. But life will always give us exactly what we need. Suffering is a wakeup call to return to wholeness.
- Suffering is not a curse if it encourages us to grow. Experiences that force us willingly or unwillingly to change are life’s invitations to expand our wings and fly to ever higher places.
- We cannot reach the mountain top of love without first traversing the valley of despair.
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Realise mistakes have much to teach
- … the path to the greatest fulfilment and meaning is almost always lined with its fair share of failures and mistakes. Without them, how would we ever learn and grow? The truth is that success feels good but it has little to teach.
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Life is about transcending our limits…
- All self-growth and self-transformation is a process of change resulting from the shedding of our self-imposed limitations, just as a crawling caterpillar sheds its form to transform itself into a soaring butterfly. And so, through us, life evolves from limited towards limitless, just as it has evolved, through life forms before us, from sea to land to sky and into space.
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… allowing the universe to grow, expand and experience itself through us
- The Universe wants to grow, expand and experience itself through you. Anything you do that makes you feel contracted, constricted or drained is a clear sign that your soul is struggling to breathe.
- You are the Universe playing a cosmic game of hide and seek. It has intentionally lost itself to find itself through you. When you understand this, you have found freedom.
- Our nature is to expand and transcend. It is the siren call of the divinity within us. It is what our inner being most wants to experience through us. No wonder we experience the triumph of the spirit when we transcend that which holds us back.
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Surrender to life…
- Nature knows when to change seasons. Birds know when to migrate. The breath breathes itself, and the heart beats without effort. The heartbeat of the Universe sustains, maintains and unfolds according to its own rhythm. Life, in its most affirming state, is not about forcing anything but coming into sync with and surrendering to the natural rhythm of the Universe.
- Faith is not a blind belief but a deep knowing that all is well. It is to trust that all is unfolding exactly as it is meant to for the good of the All.
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…and go with life’s flow
- … the only true control we have is how we react to what life gives us. Life becomes much easier when we allow ourselves to go with the universal flow. To go with the flow is to let things be as they are. It is to stop pushing, pulling and grabbing at life’s lapels. Like a graceful and beautiful dance, we allow life to lead us without pushing back. As Alan Watts said, “The only way to make sense of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”
- When you fight with the Universe, you are punching thin air and the Universe will remain undefeated every time.
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Rest in awareness…
- True freedom is not about controlling your thoughts and feelings but becoming aware of them. It is about being fully present and consciously aware of your emotions; without wanting to change or fix them or push them away. It is about watching the mind without judging it. To watch without judgement is to become a space of loving awareness.
- …witness your inner states passing like clouds overhead. Let the clouds pass. You are the sky. Your unconditional, aware presence is your true self. It is a space that is awake, open, unbounded and vast.
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…and be here now
- The past, present and future are not linear. Everything is happening in this eternal now. The future is determined by what we do now; by our present state of consciousness. And magically, when we joyfully live in the present, we reframe and heal our past.
- This now-moment is actually all we truly have. It’s where all of life happens.
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Befriend your mind
- It’s impossible to win a war against an enemy with outposts inside your own head. There is no need for war. Befriend your mind. Let the thoughts be there, bathing them in non-judgemental awareness. By resting in awareness and accepting their presence, they will be free to pass through without nesting in your hair.
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Recognise and answer your calling…
- The Calling is a message from the Universe about what you were called here to do. It is your passion and purpose. It gives your life meaning and depth. It motivates you to get up in the morning. It is your wild heart saying, ‘This is what I am supposed to be doing!’
- A true calling transcends the fulfilling of only personal needs; it is the longing to awaken to our divine nature and thus, become an instrument of peace. It is the desire to serve others and to create something that will benefit humanity. The deeper the calling, the more you can trust the power of universal intelligence to look after your needs and show you the way.
- Once we accept the calling, we start the inner journey towards a life of purpose and meaning. We let Life show us the way. We surrender, trust and allow the Divine to guide us.
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…by aligning your passion and gifts with the universe’s purpose for you
- Inner genius is not about being smart. It is about unleashing the infinite creativity of your unique giftedness and passion.
- A true calling is the alignment of your passion with the Universe’s purpose for you. The Universe’s desire becomes your desire.
- Don’t ever lose that which awakens passion in you. What brings you joy is just as vital as breathing.
- You might experience condemnation, criticism and confusion when you follow your heart, but it is better than sticking rigidly to the beaten track.
- The Universe would not have created you if you didn’t have a gift to give.
- You are a gift to the world at large, and no gift was ever meant to stay wrapped up in a box forever.
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Learn to say no to what drains you
- Say no to what doesn’t feel right and yes to what does. As Derek Sivers said, “If you’re not saying, “Hell yeah!” then say no.” True self-empowerment is saying no to what drains you and yes to what excites and energises you.
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Listen to and trust your inner voice…
- When you trust your intuition, you are in sync with the heartbeat of the Universe. Your intuition is an inner GPS which guides and navigates you.
- Your intuition is the small, quiet voice within that speaks through feelings, impulses, instincts and inspired thoughts. This voice is continuously giving guidance but most of us have too much mental noise to tune in to it.
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…and don’t mind the critics
- Have compassion for the incessant critics; they are so used to living in a self-imposed prison that they are threatened to see someone stepping out of it.
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https://wisdomtrove.com/wp-content/uploads/formidable/3/Aimee-final.jpeg 450 300 Graeme https://wisdomtrove.com/wp-content/uploads/logo-test-300x37.png Graeme2021-09-10 22:42:422021-09-10 23:07:20Aimee Davies (quotes)Embrace yourself as you are
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Learn to accept yourself as you are…
- Authentic spirituality accepts both the beautiful and the seemingly ugly parts within us. It is not about rejecting or annihilating the ego but recognising and healing it.
- Self-acceptance is realising the treasure you seek is always found within you. You are the treasure-hunter, the journey, and the treasure itself.
- True beauty is someone who is truly okay with themselves as they are…
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…by coming home to yourself…
- It is said that the greatest journey is the one that leads you home. In accepting yourself, you come home to yourself.
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…by realising there is nothing wrong with you…
- Self-acceptance means accepting even your non-acceptance. It is not about becoming new and shiny, it is about letting go of the belief that there is something inherently wrong with you.
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…by allowing what is to be…
- Self-acceptance is also fully accepting what’s here in us right now. If we are feeling anxious, that’s okay. If we are feeling angry, that’s okay. If we are feeling negative, that’s okay. We let ourselves be as we are.
- Self-acceptance is welcoming every emotion into your guest house.
- Lasting self-improvement and positive change only occurs when you first deeply accept what is.
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…especially your emotions as they arise
- To fight anger with anger only makes you see a deeper shade of red. To resist envy only makes it more green. To turn sadness away means it will come back tomorrow twice as blue. True self-compassion is to fully accept and allow what is. To allow it to be there and be fully felt.
- Human emotions are beautiful. Anger can stir a revolution. Sadness can create masterpieces. Joy can uplift the world. All emotions are sacred if we understand them.
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Embrace your humanness
- I now believe strongly in a more life-affirming spirituality that loves, celebrates and embraces our humanness.
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Realise the tremendous power of self-acceptance
- Inner change creates outer change. The inner revolution of self-acceptance is a powerful force for peace, love and joy. Both within and without.
- There is no make-up to compare with the radiance that comes from a profound sense of self-okayness.
- When you fear the unloved parts within you, they control you. But when you accept and embrace them, you heal the wounded parts of you. You mend your brokenness with the glue of self-compassion.
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Self-acceptance is the path to learning to love yourself
- Self-love is about expressing and accepting the “beingness” or the “youness” of you. It is not a doing but a state of being. It is being comfortable in your own skin and mind.
- Self-love is a shift more and more from the realms of the mind into the realms of the heart. It re-opens rooms long abandoned and forgotten and lets the light in.
- If you want to claim your Divine dominion right now, really feel with your whole soul that you already love and accept yourself unconditionally. Walk, talk and dress like the Divine rock star you are.
.
Treat yourself with understanding and compassion
- When you love yourself, it doesn’t mean you are egoistical or arrogant. It simply means you accept yourself as you are and treat yourself with kindness, understanding and compassion.
- Acknowledging our wounds and soothing them with self-compassion is a potent antidote to all forms of self-hate.
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Forgive yourself
- Self-acceptance and self-love are twin siblings. They come alive when you let go of who you think you should be, and just be who you are. They are about loving all parts of yourself. They are about forgiving what you did in the past.
- Your mistakes do not need to be a life sentence. The act of self-forgiveness is a conscious choice you must make every day.
- Forgiveness rarely happens all at once; it is a process.
- Forgiveness doesn’t necessarily mean reconciliation, but it does mean letting go of anger.
- Forgiveness opens you to your true joyful nature.
- Forgiveness can’t be forced or faked. Forgiveness happens when you’re ready to set the prisoner free in the realisation the prisoner has been you all along.
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Be kind to yourself and others
- Many of us are deeply wounded and most of our scars are invisible which is why we must be kind to one another.
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Feel your inherent “enoughness”
- I wish I could give you a big heartfelt hug and tell you how beautiful you are! I wish I could tell you face-to-face that every scar, emotional and physical, makes you who you are. You are enough! Feel this in your heart and bones.
- Everything is a manifestation of the Divine and all things are perfect in their own unique way. The same Spirit which created the stars, planets and moons also created you.
.
There is nothing more healing and powerful than self-love
- The search for and attainment of external happiness can never be fruitful when we hate ourselves.
- How you treat others is an outward expression of how you treat yourself. All outer transformation happens first within.
- We need love and acceptance just like we need water and oxygen and the only truly reliable source for this is from within.
- Something magical happens when you begin to love and accept yourself. You start to shine your light again. You realise that you are connected to a deeper Self, a divine spark within. This divine spark is the light of your inner awareness, illuminating all your life experiences, and when you sink back and rest in it, as it, it is felt as a sense of pure aliveness and joy.
- The truth is that your relationship with yourself is the most important relationship you’ll ever have. It sets the tone for all the other relationships in your life.
- A state of wellness or unwellness always begins with how you feel about yourself. Even modern science is discovering the connection between the mind and body.
.
Realise you are a beautiful work in progress…
- You are a verb, not a noun. Not an object, but a continual becoming. You are a living, breathing and ever-changing human being in transit. A work in progress.
- As we grow older, we begin to see ourselves more and more as nouns. I am like this. I am like that. I like this. I hate that. And thus, we imprison ourselves in who we think we are, or who we think we should be. This is the source of all of our most self-limiting beliefs.
.
…and that you are perfectly imperfect just as you are
- An inner joy flooded into me as I realised I am perfectly imperfect just as I am. I realised all my spiritual striving was only the spiritual ego trying to enlighten itself. I really knew this time that I don’t need to enlighten myself because I am already whole. My true identity is not the seeker but the joyful spirit that is my innermost being. When I stopped searching for joy on the outside, joy found me on the inside. I realised that the joy arising within was my natural state of being. Joy is who I am. Joy is my very essence. Joy is my natural birthright.
.
Stop living life based on the expectation of others…
- We kill our dreams and passions in order to live a life based on the expectations of others.
- We dim our light so we can conform to the world.
- You cannot be the ultimate You when you are a slave to the dogma of another.
.
…and let go of the need for external approval
- My sense of self was determined by what I thought others would find acceptable and pleasing. The way I felt about myself depended entirely on what I thought others thought of me.
- I craved the love of others to compensate for my lack of self-love. When our sense of self is dependent on external validation, we become slaves to the approval of others.
- External approval is notoriously unreliable. Even when someone heaps approval on us, they have the power to withdraw it in an instant.
- I desperately wanted to be loved by others, but in that wanting, I stopped loving myself.
.
Realise your true worth
- True self-worth is knowing your value doesn’t increase or decrease depending on someone’s judgements about you.
.
Be unapologetically you
- Seek to be yourself, and not the version others want you to be. Be the fruit loop in a world brimming with cheerios or the toucan in a world full of seagulls. And remember, everyone prefers Neapolitan ice-cream to plain vanilla.
- Without your own authentic power, you are like a droopy flower with closed petals. But when you are courageous enough to be yourself and speak your truth, you are like a sunflower with your face outstretched towards the sun.
- In our desperate attempt to be liked, we stop being true to ourselves. This is a tragedy because there is nothing more important or empowering than being yourself.
- Don’t be nothing, be something! Be unapologetically yourself. Let the critics criticise and the quitters quit… you just keep going.
.
Strive for realness
- If we must strive, let us strive for realness, not perfection. Our scars make us real. Our imperfections make us beautiful. Our brokenness is where the light gets in.
.
Say yes to your own needs
- I was taught growing up that a “yes” attitude is the right attitude. The truth is that a “yes” attitude is a wonderful attitude only if you also say yes to our own needs. Even on an airplane in distress, you must first fit your own oxygen mask before you can effectively help others in need. It is not selfish to put your own needs first. In fact, it is doing others a service.
- You cannot hope to fill another’s cup when your own cup is empty.
.
Stop creating a sense of self based on externals
- Change is the only certainty and creating a sense of self based on transient externals is to base our happiness and inner peace on something highly impermanent and completely unreliable.
.
Instead, get in touch with your inner being for this is who you really are…
- There is a space of presence within each of us that is all-forgiving, all-accepting and all-loving. This Divine-Spark exists within every living creature.
- Remind yourself that you are not the judgemental voice which puts you down. You are not the inner critic. You are that which is aware of it. You are the space of awareness within which thoughts come and go.
.
… and allow its light to shine
- The light of our loving awareness transmutes darkness.
- To taste freedom, we must let the sunshine of our inner being, the divinity within us, shine through our human form. The exquisite paradox is that more we accept and celebrate our humanness, the more transparent we become and the more our divinity shines through us.
- To inhabit our body fully and saturate it with loving-kindness is what the world calls ‘glow.’ A person who has made their body and mind a home—not a prison—is one who radiates from the inside out, blessing the outer world with its light. That is love. That is the miracle of loving your “youness.”
- Discover what is true for you. Feel the true, authentic source of Divine light within you now.
- There is a power within us that is so magnificent that we would cry in sheer delight if we knew its greatness.
.
Embrace all of life
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Realise the wonder and miracle of being alive and conscious
- According to science, the chances of you being born are one in 400 trillion. The probability of you existing is virtually zero! Yet somehow, magically, you exist. Right now, at this very moment, you are alive and conscious. Isn’t that incredible?
- It is a gift to be human, alive and conscious on this wondrous planet. We all have a purpose and mission that only we can fulfil. Do not let doubts drain your dreams.
.
Realise life is a mystery and gift
- Life is a delicious mystery and a wondrous gift, even with its chaos and commotion, highs and lows, joys and sorrows. It is a gift to gaze at the sunset, to lie under the evening stars, to listen to music, to swim in the ocean, to hear the laughter of children, to fall in love, to make love, to hug, to laugh and to cry. Life is an exquisite banquet where all can be tasted and enjoyed.
.
Embrace all aspects of the human experience
- I have come to discover that when you love life—life loves you back. To love life is to embrace all aspects of the human experience, both the easy and the difficult parts.
- Life, in all its moods, and with all its twists, and turns, happens for us, not to us.
.
Say giddy-up to life…
- Self-empowerment is taking charge of your life. It’s saying to the world, “My choice. My way. My life!” It is saddling the horse of fear and saying, “Giddy up!” The wise don’t run away from fear, they ride with it. The great mistake is thinking one day you will be ready.
.
…and dive into the unknown
- The great mistake is thinking one day you will be ready. None of us will never ever be 100% ready. You must be prepared to make the leap anyway.
- Go out and kick ass! Be your own knight in shining armour. Be your own hero. Be your own saviour. You are the only person responsible for your life.
- The Universe always supports those who are willing to take a chance, dive into the unknown and follow their bliss against the odds.
.
Realise life can be a struggle but struggle is beautiful…
- Life is a process. And by its nature, it is a struggle. But it is a beautiful and worthwhile struggle. And when you realise that, it’s no longer so much of a struggle.
- Transformation is painful and pain is part of life. But our struggle is never in vain.
- The outdated belief that happiness is a constant state of peace is setting ourselves up for failure.
.
…for without struggle, we cannot grow
- Like the caterpillar, just when we think the world is over, we emerge from the chrysalis of our despair to discover the struggle has gifted us with wings to fly. Having shed our limits, we take to the air.
- Any process of lasting growth is always uncomfortable. That’s why we talk about growing pains.
- A master doesn’t blame others for his circumstances, he recognises them as golden opportunities for growth.
- The tragedy and trials of life shape us but they do not define us. What defines us is how we use them to grow, evolve and transform into the persons we are destined to become.
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What would life be without its complications and challenges?
- Next time life surprises you with an unexpected and unwelcome twist, imagine that your life is a movie. What would a movie be like with no complications or struggles? No opportunities for the hero to grow or learn, no challenges to overcome, no chance for the spirit to triumph over adversity? How pointless it would be and how boring! Life, like a movie, has its own script of challenges to grow from. Mixed in with the comedy and romance and feel good moments is trial and tragedy and even occasional horror. But without it, life would soon feel meaningless and purposeless.
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Realise suffering can be a wake-up call to wholeness
- My suffering was the catalyst to my search for freedom. My fall into darkness allowed me to find my inner light.
- Everything is positive, even the most intense suffering, if it makes us turn inwards and learn to love ourselves.
- Life will never give us exactly what we want. But life will always give us exactly what we need. Suffering is a wakeup call to return to wholeness.
- Suffering is not a curse if it encourages us to grow. Experiences that force us willingly or unwillingly to change are life’s invitations to expand our wings and fly to ever higher places.
- We cannot reach the mountain top of love without first traversing the valley of despair.
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Realise mistakes have much to teach
- … the path to the greatest fulfilment and meaning is almost always lined with its fair share of failures and mistakes. Without them, how would we ever learn and grow? The truth is that success feels good but it has little to teach.
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Life is about transcending our limits…
- All self-growth and self-transformation is a process of change resulting from the shedding of our self-imposed limitations, just as a crawling caterpillar sheds its form to transform itself into a soaring butterfly. And so, through us, life evolves from limited towards limitless, just as it has evolved, through life forms before us, from sea to land to sky and into space.
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… allowing the universe to grow, expand and experience itself through us
- The Universe wants to grow, expand and experience itself through you. Anything you do that makes you feel contracted, constricted or drained is a clear sign that your soul is struggling to breathe.
- You are the Universe playing a cosmic game of hide and seek. It has intentionally lost itself to find itself through you. When you understand this, you have found freedom.
- Our nature is to expand and transcend. It is the siren call of the divinity within us. It is what our inner being most wants to experience through us. No wonder we experience the triumph of the spirit when we transcend that which holds us back.
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Surrender to life…
- Nature knows when to change seasons. Birds know when to migrate. The breath breathes itself, and the heart beats without effort. The heartbeat of the Universe sustains, maintains and unfolds according to its own rhythm. Life, in its most affirming state, is not about forcing anything but coming into sync with and surrendering to the natural rhythm of the Universe.
- Faith is not a blind belief but a deep knowing that all is well. It is to trust that all is unfolding exactly as it is meant to for the good of the All.
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…and go with life’s flow
- … the only true control we have is how we react to what life gives us. Life becomes much easier when we allow ourselves to go with the universal flow. To go with the flow is to let things be as they are. It is to stop pushing, pulling and grabbing at life’s lapels. Like a graceful and beautiful dance, we allow life to lead us without pushing back. As Alan Watts said, “The only way to make sense of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”
- When you fight with the Universe, you are punching thin air and the Universe will remain undefeated every time.
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Rest in awareness…
- True freedom is not about controlling your thoughts and feelings but becoming aware of them. It is about being fully present and consciously aware of your emotions; without wanting to change or fix them or push them away. It is about watching the mind without judging it. To watch without judgement is to become a space of loving awareness.
- …witness your inner states passing like clouds overhead. Let the clouds pass. You are the sky. Your unconditional, aware presence is your true self. It is a space that is awake, open, unbounded and vast.
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…and be here now
- The past, present and future are not linear. Everything is happening in this eternal now. The future is determined by what we do now; by our present state of consciousness. And magically, when we joyfully live in the present, we reframe and heal our past.
- This now-moment is actually all we truly have. It’s where all of life happens.
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Befriend your mind
- It’s impossible to win a war against an enemy with outposts inside your own head. There is no need for war. Befriend your mind. Let the thoughts be there, bathing them in non-judgemental awareness. By resting in awareness and accepting their presence, they will be free to pass through without nesting in your hair.
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Recognise and answer your calling…
- The Calling is a message from the Universe about what you were called here to do. It is your passion and purpose. It gives your life meaning and depth. It motivates you to get up in the morning. It is your wild heart saying, ‘This is what I am supposed to be doing!’
- A true calling transcends the fulfilling of only personal needs; it is the longing to awaken to our divine nature and thus, become an instrument of peace. It is the desire to serve others and to create something that will benefit humanity. The deeper the calling, the more you can trust the power of universal intelligence to look after your needs and show you the way.
- Once we accept the calling, we start the inner journey towards a life of purpose and meaning. We let Life show us the way. We surrender, trust and allow the Divine to guide us.
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…by aligning your passion and gifts with the universe’s purpose for you
- Inner genius is not about being smart. It is about unleashing the infinite creativity of your unique giftedness and passion.
- A true calling is the alignment of your passion with the Universe’s purpose for you. The Universe’s desire becomes your desire.
- Don’t ever lose that which awakens passion in you. What brings you joy is just as vital as breathing.
- You might experience condemnation, criticism and confusion when you follow your heart, but it is better than sticking rigidly to the beaten track.
- The Universe would not have created you if you didn’t have a gift to give.
- You are a gift to the world at large, and no gift was ever meant to stay wrapped up in a box forever.
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Learn to say no to what drains you
- Say no to what doesn’t feel right and yes to what does. As Derek Sivers said, “If you’re not saying, “Hell yeah!” then say no.” True self-empowerment is saying no to what drains you and yes to what excites and energises you.
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Listen to and trust your inner voice…
- When you trust your intuition, you are in sync with the heartbeat of the Universe. Your intuition is an inner GPS which guides and navigates you.
- Your intuition is the small, quiet voice within that speaks through feelings, impulses, instincts and inspired thoughts. This voice is continuously giving guidance but most of us have too much mental noise to tune in to it.
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…and don’t mind the critics
- Have compassion for the incessant critics; they are so used to living in a self-imposed prison that they are threatened to see someone stepping out of it.
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https://wisdomtrove.com/wp-content/uploads/formidable/2/Imperfect-2.jpg 442 300 Graeme https://wisdomtrove.com/wp-content/uploads/logo-test-300x37.png Graeme2021-09-10 22:18:432021-09-11 10:25:53Imperfect (Aimee Davies)Funny quotes about wisdom…
- Silence: True wisdom’s best reply.
- Wisdom is the reward for surviving our own stupidity. Brian Rathbone
- Wisdom: Knowing when to speak your mind and when to mind your speech.
- We all admire the wisdom of people who come to us for advice. Jack Herbert
- Wisdom is at all times the least burdensome traveling pack. William Camden
- Wisdom is ofttimes nearer when we stoop than when we soar. William Wordsworth
- Democracy: The belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. (Carlyle Thomas)
- Look about, my son, and see how little wisdom it takes to govern the world. Axel Oxenstierna
- Wisdom comes from experience. Experience is often a result of lack of wisdom. Terry Pratchett
- Wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up all by itself. Tom Wilson
- In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is Freedom, in water there is bacteria. Benjamin Franklin
- Wisdom is the quality that keeps you from getting into situations where you need it. Doug Larson
- A man begins cutting his wisdom teeth the first time he bites off more than he can chew. Herb Caen
- Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad. Miles Kington
- Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk. Doug Larson
- Some coaches pray for wisdom; I pray for 260-pound tackles they’ll give me plenty of wisdom. Chuck Noll
- Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit. Elbert Hubbard
- It’s surprising how much wisdom every man possesses — if not for his own affairs, then for the affairs of others. Van Esar
- For every proverb that so confidently asserts its little bit of wisdom there is usually an equal and opposite proverb that contradicts it. Proverbial Law
- I think there is more wisdom in a single drop of rain than there is in all the books in all the libraries of the world – wait not rain – super-concentrated brain juice. Jack Handey
- More than any other time in history, mankind faces cross-roads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly. Woody Allen
- Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I had to kill because they pissed me off! Sarah Ferguson
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…and being wise
- A word to the wise is — unnecessary. Evan Esar
- Some folks are wise and some otherwise. Josh Billings
- Growing old is mandatory. Growing wise is optional. Sign
- Wise people think all they say, fools say all they think.
- Some folks are wise and some are otherwise. Tobias Smollett
- The wise man has long ears and a short tongue. German proverb
- Confucius say if wise man marry he become otherwise. Confucius
- Wise saying: something you keep picking up off the floor in front of your fridge.
- Silence is foolish if we are wise but wise if we are foolish. Charles Caleb Colton
- A wise saying is something you keep picking up off the floor in front of your fridge.
- Look wise, say nothing, and grunt. Speech was given to conceal thought. William Osler
- It’s so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don’t say it.
- Why wasn’t Jesus born in the USA? Because God couldn’t find three wise men and a virgin.
- Any fool can paint a picture but it takes a wise man to be able to sell it. Samuel Butler
- A word to the wise ain’t necessary it is the stupid ones who need all the advice. Bill Cosby
- Some folks as they grow older grow wise but most folks simply grow stubborner. Josh Billings
- By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step he’s too old to go anywhere. Billy Crystal
- Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something. Plato
- In those days he was wiser than he is now — he used frequently to take my advice. Winston Churchill
- Cabbage: A familiar kitchen-garden vegetable about as large and wise as a man’s head. Ambrose Bierce
- It is wise to remember that you are one of those who can be fooled some of the time. Laurence J. Peter
- Three things it is best to avoid: a strange dog a flood and a man who thinks he is wise. Welsh proverb
- At a dinner party one should eat wisely but not too well and talk well but not too wisely. Somerset Maugham
- History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives. Abba Eban
- No woman can make a wise man out of a fool, but every woman can change a wise man into a fool. Argentinan Proverb
- I’m not waiting until my hair turns white to become patient and wise. Nope, I’m dyeing my hair tonight. Jarod Kintz
- Education: that which reveals to the wise and conceals from the stupid the vast limits of their knowledge. Mark Twain
- Only the most foolish of mice would hide in a cat’s ear, but only the wisest of cats would think to look there. Scott Love
- Those wise decisions you make when you’re young are those foolish ones you’ll live with when your old. Country expression
- A pipe gives a wise man time to think and a fool something to stick in his mouth. Trischmann’s Paradox (Axiom of the Pipe)
- He who devotes sixteen hours a day to hard study may become at sixty as wise as he thought himself at twenty. Mary Wilson Little
- A wise woman puts a grain of sugar in everything she says to a man, and takes a grain of salt with everything he says to her. Helen Rowland
- When a love comes to an end, weaklings cry, efficient ones instantly find another love, and the wise already have one in reserve. Oscar Wilde
- It’s a wise man who profits by his own experience but it’s a good deal wiser one who lets the rattlesnake bite the other fellow. Josh Billings
- Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn’t mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar. Edward R. Murrow
- When you’re young, you think you can handle anything. By the time you find out otherwise, it’s already too late. You got a stocking wrapped around your neck. Haruki Murakami
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https://wisdomtrove.com/wp-content/uploads/logo-test-300x37.png 0 0 Graeme https://wisdomtrove.com/wp-content/uploads/logo-test-300x37.png Graeme2021-09-10 02:54:142021-09-17 02:30:35Wisdom (funny quotes)Funny quotes about mindfulness
- Let that shit go!
- Don’t roll your third eye at me!
- Come on inner peace, I don’t have all day!
- Inhale the good sh*t, exhale the bullsh*t.
- The best vitamin to be a happy person is B1.
- You’ve mastered the seflie. Now master thy self.
- I’m so poor I can’t even pay attention. Ron Kittle
- If you’re too open-minded, your brain will fall out.
- Check on yourself as much as you check on your Instagram.
- A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it isn’t open.
- Life is a dance. Mindfulness is witnessing that dance. Amit Ray
- It may look like I’m doing nothing, but in my head, I’m quite busy.
- Breathe in the good shit. Breathe out the bull shit. Karen Salmansohn
- Mindfulness is about falling awake rather than asleep. Shamash Alidina
- I have lived with several Zen masters — all of them cats. Eckhart Tolle
- Don’t let anyone rent a space in your head unless they’re a good tenant.
- A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it isn’t open. Frank Zappa
- In the pursuit of happiness, the hard part is knowing when you’ve caught up.
- If I have one foot in yesterday and another in tomorrow I crap all over today.
- These mountains that you are carrying, you were only supposed to climb. Najwa Zebain
- When asked what gift he wanted for his birthday, the yogi replied: “I wish no gifts, only presence”
- All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone. Blaise Pascal
- When you realize how perfect everything is, you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky. Buddha
- You don’t always need a plan. Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust, let go, and see what happens.
- There must be a happy medium somewhere between being totally informed and blissfully unaware. Doug Larson
- Today I will live in the moment. Unless the moment is unpleasant in which case I will eat a cookie. Unknown
- Hutchison’s Law: Any occurrence requiring undivided attention will be accompanied by a compelling distraction. Robert Bloch
- Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save. Will Rogers
- One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important. Bertrand Russell
- Life is sweet when you pay attention. When it doesn’t seem sweet, put a sticker on your nose and do a funky dance. Whitney Scott
- Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves. Albert Einstein
- I wore flowers in my hair and meditated for hours on end. I was finding God all over the place. He kept ditching me. Christopher Lloyd
- Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love more, and all good things will be yours. Swedish Proverb
- It is very rare to find a human being today. They are always going somewhere, hardly ever being here. That is why I call them ‘human goings’. Ajahn Brahm
- Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. Nathanial Hawthorne
- Meditation (funny quotes)
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https://wisdomtrove.com/wp-content/uploads/logo-test-300x37.png 0 0 Graeme https://wisdomtrove.com/wp-content/uploads/logo-test-300x37.png Graeme2021-09-09 21:37:472021-09-15 03:21:39Mindfulness (funny quotes)Rule One – You will receive a body
- Whether you love it or hate it, it’s yours for life, so accept it. What counts is what’s inside.
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Rule Two – You will be presented with lessons
- Life is a constant learning experience, which every day provides opportunities for you to learn more. These lessons specific to you, and learning them ‘is the key to discovering and fulfilling the meaning and relevance of your own life’.
- Every event in our lives occurs to teach us something about ourselves. Cherie Carter-Scott
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Rule Three – There are no mistakes, only lessons
- Your development towards wisdom is a process of experimentation, trial and error, so it’s inevitable things will not always go to plan or turn out how you’d want. Compassion is the remedy for harsh judgement – of ourselves and others. Forgiveness is not only divine – it’s also ‘the act of erasing an emotional debt’. Behaving ethically, with integrity, and with humour – especially the ability to laugh at yourself and your own mishaps – are central to the perspective that ‘mistakes’ are simply lessons we must learn.
- You will be Presented with Lessons: You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called ‘life.’ Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or hate them, but you have designed them as part of your curriculum.
- Remember there are no mistakes, only lessons. Love yourself, trust your choices, and everything is possible.
- Growth is a process of experimentation, a series of trials, errors, and occasional victories. The failed experiments are as much as part of the process as the experiments that work.
- Sooner or later the universe usually provides lessons of humility to those who need it the most.
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Rule Four – The lesson is repeated until learned. Lessons repeat until learned.
- What manifest as problems and challenges, irritations and frustrations are more lessons – they will repeat until you see them as such and learn from them. Your own awareness and your ability to change are requisites of executing this rule. Also fundamental is the acceptance that you are not a victim of fate or circumstance – ‘causality’ must be acknowledged; that is to say: things happen to you because of how you are and what you do. To blame anyone or anything else for your misfortunes is an escape and a denial; you yourself are responsible for you, and what happens to you. Patience is required – change doesn’t happen overnight, so give change time to happen.
- There are no mistakes in life – only lessons. Lessons to be learnt and re-learnt until they are no longer lessons.
- Lessons will repeat to you in various forms until you have learned them. When you have learned them, you can then go on to the next lesson.
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Rule Five – Learning does not end.
- While you are alive there are always lessons to be learned. Surrender to the ‘rhythm of life’, don’t struggle against it. Commit to the process of constant learning and change – be humble enough to always acknowledge your own weaknesses, and be flexible enough to adapt from what you may be accustomed to, because rigidity will deny you the freedom of new possibilities.
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Rule Six – “There” is no better than “here”.
- The other side of the hill may be greener than your own, but being there is not the key to endless happiness. Be grateful for and enjoy what you have, and where you are on your journey. Appreciate the abundance of what’s good in your life, rather than measure and amass things that do not actually lead to happiness. Living in the present helps you attain peace.
- When your “there” has become a “here,” you will simply obtain a “there” that will look better to you than your present “here.”
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Rule Seven – Others are only mirrors of you.
- You love or hate something about another person according to what love or hate about yourself. Be tolerant; accept others as they are, and strive for clarity of self-awareness; strive to truly understand and have an objective perception of your own self, your thoughts and feelings. Negative experiences are opportunities to heal the wounds that you carry. Support others, and by doing so you support yourself. Where you are unable to support others it is a sign that you are not adequately attending to your own needs.
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Rule Eight – What you make of your life is up to you.
- You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. Take responsibility for yourself. Learn to let go when you cannot change things. Don’t get angry about things – bitter memories clutter your mind. Courage resides in all of us – use it when you need to do what’s right for you. We all possess a strong natural power and adventurous spirit, which you should draw on to embrace what lies ahead.
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Rule Nine – Your answers lie inside of you.
- Trust your instincts and your innermost feelings, whether you hear them as a little voice or a flash of inspiration. Listen to feelings as well as sounds. Look, listen, and trust. Draw on your natural inspiration.
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Rule Ten – You will forget all this at birth.
- We are all born with all of these capabilities – our early experiences lead us into a physical world, away from our spiritual selves, so that we become doubtful, cynical and lacking belief and confidence. The ten Rules are not commandments, they are universal truths that apply to us all. When you lose your way, call upon them. Have faith in the strength of your spirit. Aspire to be wise – wisdom the ultimate path of your life, and it knows no limits other than those you impose on yourself.
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More quotes from the book
- Other people are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.
- Remind yourself often that self-esteem is ephemeral. You will have it, lose it, cultivate it, nurture it, and be forced to rebuild it over and over again.
- The health benefits, both mental and physical, of humor are well documented. A good laugh can diffuse tension, relieve stress, and release endorphins into your system, which act as a natural mood elevator.
- Abundance comes not from amassing, but rather from appreciating.
https://wisdomtrove.com/wp-content/uploads/formidable/2/Screen-Shot-2021-08-28-at-4.28.28-pm.png 433 300 Graeme https://wisdomtrove.com/wp-content/uploads/logo-test-300x37.png Graeme2021-08-28 16:30:062021-08-28 16:34:49If Life Is a Game, These Are the Rules: Ten Rules for Being Human (Cherie Carter-Scott)- Virtue is not hereditary.
- My mind is my own church.
- Science is the true theology.
- Government is a necessary evil
- War ought to be no man’s wish.
- Kill the king but spare the man.
- Public credit is suspicion asleep.
- Wisdom is not the purchase of a day
- Titles do not count with posterity.
- Prophesying is lying professionally.
- My country is wherever liberty lives.
- Wrong cannot have a legal descendant.
- Time makes more converts than reason.
- Government is best which governs least
- Liberty cannot be purchased by a wish.
- Human nature is not of itself vicious.
- The greatest remedy for anger is delay.
- The birthday of a new world is at hand.
- Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man.
- The more we bestow the richer we become.
- These are the days that try man’s heart.
- He who dares not offend cannot be honest.
- These are the times that try men’s souls.
- I disbelieve all holy men and holy books.
- Nothing but heaven is impregnable to vice.
- Man must go back to nature for information.
- The balance of power is the scale of peace.
- Priests and conjurors are of the same trade.
- A government of our own is our natural right
- Character is much easier kept than recovered.
- Tears may soothe the wounds they cannot heal.
- The Vatican is a dagger in the heart of Italy.
- Prejudice will fall in a combat with interest.
- Compassion, the fairest associate of the heart.
- Where knowledge is a duty, ignorance is a crime.
- The slavery of fear had made men afraid to think.
- Men should not petition for rights, but take them
- The Sun never shined on a cause of greater worth.
- The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark.
- I die content, I die for the liberty of my country.
- To take away (voting) is to reduce a man to slavery.
- Every person of learning is finally his own teacher.
- It is unpleasant to see character throw itself away.
- It is the object only of war that makes it honorable.
- A share in two revolutions is living to some purpose.
- We have it in our power to begin the world over again.
- It is an affront to treat falsehood with complaisance.
- Better fare hard with good men than feast it with bad.
- From the errors of other nations, let us learn wisdom.
- In Deism our reason and our belief are happily united.
- The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
- My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.
- That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly.
- Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence.
- Aristocracy is kept up by family tyranny and injustice.
- I detest the Bible as I detest everything that is cruel.
- Titles are but nicknames, and every nickname is a title.
- To be nobly wrong is more manly than to be meanly right.
- The age of ignorance commenced with the Christian system.
- … a thirst for power is the natural disease of monarchy.
- The NT, compared with the Old, is like a farce of one act.
- The guilt of a government is the crime of a whole country.
- It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.
- Every age and generation must be as free to act for itself.
- Aristocracy has a tendency to degenerate the human species.
- Customs will often outlive the remembrance of their origin.
- One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests.
- A bad cause will ever be supported by bad means and bad men.
- Mutual fear is a principal link in the chain of mutual love.
- What at first was plunder assumed the softer name of revenue.
- Government without a constitution, is a power without a right.
- Governments arise either out of the people or over the people.
- It is only by the exercise of reason that man can discover God.
- The Christian system of religion is an outrage on common sense.
- Let them call me rebel, and welcome, I feel no concern from it.
- What is it the Bible teaches us? — rapine, cruelty, and murder.
- The more men have to lose, the less willing are they to venture.
- It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies.
- Wisdom degenerates in governments as governments increase in age.
- The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason.
- Society is produced by our wants and government by our wickedness.
- The Christian religion begins with a dream and ends with a murder.
- There is no greater tyranny than that of the dead over the living.
- The cause of America is in great measure the cause of all mankind.
- Ye that dare oppose, not only tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth!
- The cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf.
- No falsehood is so fatal as that which is made an article of faith.
- Our greatest enemies, the ones we must fight most often, are within.
- It is easy to see that when republican virtue fails, slavery ensues.
- A man may write himself out of reputation when nobody else can do it.
- An army of principles will penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot.
- It is painful to behold a man employing his talents to corrupt himself.
- …the true greatness of a nation is founded on principles of humanity.
- Commerce diminishes the spirit, both of patriotism and military defence.
- Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.
- I die in perfect composure and resignation to the will of my Creator, God.
- You cannot undermine police authority and then complain about rising crime.
- Some people can be reasoned into sense, and others must be shocked into it.
- Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst.
- Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society.
- He who takes nature for his guide, is not easily beaten out of his argument
- If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.
- Youth is the seed time of good habits, as well in nations as in individuals.
- When all other rights are taken away, the right of rebellion is made perfect.
- Oppression is often the consequence, but seldom or never the means of riches.
- War is the gambling table of governments, and citizens the dupes of the game.
- I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life.
- The strength and power of despotism consists wholly in the fear of resistance.
- Those who expect to reap the blessing of freedom must undertake to support it.
- … in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other.
- A man does not serve God when he prays, for it is himself he is trying to serve
- The greatest tyrannies are always perpetuated in the name of the noblest causes.
- It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself.
- Public money ought to be touched with the most scrupulous consciousness of honor.
- Every proprietor owes to the community a ground-rent for the land which he holds.
- It is a general idea, that when taxes are once laid on, they are never taken off.
- The people of America are a people of property; almost every man is a freeholder.
- The period of debate is closed. Arms, as a last resource, must decide the contest.
- It is the direction and not the magnitude which is to be taken into consideration.
- I would not dare so dishonor my Creator’s name by attaching it to this filthy book.
- The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.
- The Bible: a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalise mankind.
- Taxes were not raised to carry on wars, but that wars were raised to carry on taxes.
- The protection of a man’s person is more sacred than the protection of his property.
- Suspicion and persecution are weeds of the same dunghill, and flourish best together.
- Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.
- A little matter will move a party, but it must be something great that moves a nation.
- For the fate of Charles the first, hath only made kings more subtle — not more just.
- The study of theology, as it stands in the Christian churches, is the study of nothing.
- When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.
- “Government,” says Swift, “is a plain thing, and fitted to the capacity of many heads.”
- We can only reason from what is; we can reason on actualities, but not on possibilities.
- Arms, like laws, discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe and preserve order.
- A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.
- Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us.
- When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.
- I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.
- …for though the flame of liberty may sometimes cease to shine, the coal can never expire.
- The final event to himself has been, that as he rose like a rocket, he fell like the stick.
- There is something absurd in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island.
- A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
- It is with a pious fraud as with a bad action; it begets a calamitous necessity of going on.
- It is not a God, just and good, but a devil, under the name of God, that the Bible describes.
- The first was a government of priestcraft, the second of conquerors, and the third of reason.
- Evils, like poisons, have their uses, and there are diseases which no other remedy can reach.
- The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.
- The Bible is a book that has been read more and examined less than any book that ever existed.
- I know not whether taxes are raised to fight wars, or wars are fought in order to raise taxes.
- Any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be true.
- Mingling religion with politics may be disavowed and reprobated by every inhabitant of America.
- Nothing, they say is more certain than death, and nothing more uncertain than the time of dying
- If there was ever a just war since the world began, it is this in which America is now engaged.
- Beware the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry.
- The more acquisitions the government makes abroad, the more taxes the people have to pay at home.
- Immediate necessity makes many things convenient, which if continued would grow into oppressions.
- The art of publicity is a black art; but it has come to stay, and every year adds to its potency.
- The right of voting for representatives , is the primary right by which other rights are protected.
- If those to whom power is delegated do well, they will be respected; if not, they will be despised.
- When authors and critics talk of the sublime, they see not how nearly it borders on the ridiculous.
- It is the duty of every man, as far as his ability extends, to detect and expose delusion and error.
- Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
- Every religion is good that teaches man to be good; and I know of none that instructs him to be bad.
- Therefore we say that a lying Spirit has been in the mouth of the writers of the books of the Bible.
- Where there are no distinctions there can be no superiority; perfect equality affords no temptation.
- What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.
- Wisdom is not the purchase of a day, and it is no wonder that we should err at the first setting off.
- To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.
- There are two distinct classes of men – those who pay taxes and those who receive and live upon taxes.
- Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
- It is a faculty of the human mind to become what it contemplates, and to act in unison with its object.
- I prefer peace. But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace.
- He, who survives his reputation, lives out of despite himself, like a man listening to his own reproach.
- It is the duty of every true Deist to vindicate the moral justice of God against the evils of the Bible.
- From such beginnings of governments, what could be expected, but a continual system of war and extortion?
- It matters not where you live, or what rank of life you hold, the evil or the blessing will reach you all.
- To possess ourselves of a clear idea of what government is, or ought to be, we must trace it to its origin.
- The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due to the absence from Jerusalem of a lunatic asylum.
- The state of a king shuts him from the world, yet the business of a king requires him to know it thoroughly.
- Peace, which costs nothing, is attended with infinitely more advantage than any victory with all its expence.
- But such is the irresistable nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants is the liberty of appearing.
- Death is not the monarch for the dead, but of the dying. The moment he obtains a conquest he loses a subject.
- We fight not to enslave, but to set a country free, and to make room upon the earth for honest men to live in.
- Titles are like a magicians wand which circumscribe human facility and prevent us from living the lives of man.
- …the Bible is such a book of lies and contradictions there is no knowing which part to believe or whether any.
- The United States of America will sound as pompously in the world or in history as The Kingdom of Great Britain.
- When it becomes necessary to do a thing, the whole heart and soul should go into the measure, or not attempt it.
- Man did not enter society to be worse off, or to have fewer rights, but rather to have those rights better secured
- But if objects for gratitude and admiration are our desire, do they not present themselves every hour to our eyes?
- If I do not believe as you believe, it proves that you do not believe as I believe, and that is all that it proves.
- Of more worth is one honest man to society, and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.
- Action and care will in time wear down the strongest frame, but guilt and melancholy are poisons of quick dispatch.
- He who is the author of a war lets loose the whole contagion of hell and opens a vein that bleeds a nation to death.
- The trade of governing has always been monopolized by the most ignorant and the most rascally individuals of mankind.
- It has been the political career of this man to begin with hypocrisy, proceed with arrogance, and finish with contempt
- Whatever is my right as a man is also the right of another; and it becomes my duty to guarantee as well as to possess.
- It is from the Bible that man has learned cruelty, rapine, and murder; for the belief of a cruel God makes a cruel man.
- The Allwise Creator hath been dishonored by being made the author of fable and the human mind degraded by believing it.
- It is from our enemies that we often gain excellent maxims, and are frequently surprised into reason by their mistakes.
- All men can understand what representation is; and that it must necessarily include a variety of knowledge and talents.
- Lay then the axe to the root, and teach governments humanity. It is their sanguinary punishments which corrupt mankind.
- For freemen like brothers agree; With one spirit endured, they one friendship pursued, And their temple was Liberty Tree
- Mystery is the antagonist of truth. It is a fog of human invention, that obscures truth, and represents it in distortion.
- Accustom a people to believe that priests, or any other class of men can forgive sins and you will have sins in abundance.
- The graceful pride of truth knows no extremes, and preserves, in every latitude of life, the right-angled character of man.
- When the tongue or the pen is let loose in a frenzy of passion, it is the man, and not the subject, that becomes exhausted.
- How necessary it is at all times to watch against the attempted encroachment of power, and to prevent its running to excess.
- It is important that we should never lose sight of this distinction. We must not confuse the peoples with their governments.
- The New Testament, they tell us, is founded upon the prophecies of the Old; if so, it must follow the fate of its foundation.
- The representative system of government is calculated to produce the wisest laws, by collecting wisdom where it can be found.
- It is a fraud of the Christian system to call the sciences human invention; it is only the application of them that is human.
- And to read the Bible without horror, we must undo everything that is tender, sympathizing and benevolent in the heart of man.
- The stupid texts of the Bible – from which, be the talents of the preacher what they may, only stupid sermons can be preached.
- Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise.
- That God cannot lie, is no advantage to your argument, because it is no proof that priests can not, or that the Bible does not.
- Calumny is a vice of curious constitution; trying to kill it keeps it alive; leave it to itself and it will die a natural death.
- Common sense will tell us, that the power which hath endeavoured to subdue us, is of all others, the most improper to defend us.
- It will be proper to take a review of the several sources from which governments have arisen, and on which they have been founded.
- No nation ought to be without a debt. A national debt is a national bond; and when it bears no interest, is in no case a grievance.
- Is it not a species of blasphemy to call the New Testament revealed religion, when we see in it such contradictions and absurdities.
- And this manner of speaking of the Almighty, as one would speak of a man, is consistent with nothing but the stupidity of the Bible.
- All Of Us Might Wish At Times That We Lived In A More Tranquil World….(yet) Our Times Are Challenging And Filled With Opportunity.
- The declaration which says that God visits the sins of the fathers upon the children is contrary to every principle of moral justice.
- An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws.
- All the tales of miracles, with which the Old and New Testament are filled, are fit only for impostors to preach and fools to believe.
- The Christian church has set up a religion of pomp and revenue in pretended imitation of a person (Jesus) who lived a life of poverty.
- Human language is local and changeable, and is therefore incapable of being used as the means of unchangeable and universal information.
- That there are men in all countries who get their living by war, and by keeping up the quarrels of Nations is as shocking as it is true.
- Man cannot make, or invent, or contrive principles; he can only discover them; and he ought to look through the discovery to the Author.
- Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law.
- When my country, into which I had just set my foot, was set on fire about my ears, it was time to stir. It was time for every man to stir.
- To say that any people are not fit for freedom, is to make poverty their choice, and to say they had rather be loaded with taxes than not.
- The moral duty of man consists of imitatingthe moral goodness and beneficence of God,manifested in the creation, toward all His creatures.
- It is always to be taken for granted, that those who oppose an equality of rights never mean the exclusion should take place on themselves.
- I would give worlds, if I had them, if The Age of Reason had never been published. O Lord, help! Stay with me! It is hell to be left alone.
- It is a position not to be controverted, that the earth … was and ever would have continued to be, the COMMON PROPERTY OF THE HUMAN RACE.
- Everything that is right or reasonable pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, ’tis time to part.
- There is a natural firmness in some minds, which cannot be unlocked by trifles, but which, when unlocked, discovers a cabinet of fortitude.
- The times that tried men’s souls are over-and the greatest and completest revolution the world ever knew, gloriously and happily accomplished.
- Truth never envelops itself in mystery, and the mystery in which it is at any time enveloped is the work of its antagonist, and never of itself.
- The intimacy which is contracted in infancy, and friendship which is formed in misfortune, are, of all others, the most lasting and unalterable.
- Let the world see that this nation can bear prosperity; and that her honest virtue in time of peace is equal to her bravest valor in time of war.
- The error of those who reason by precedents drawn from antiquity, respecting the rights of man, is that they do not go far enough into antiquity.
- They may be all comprehended under three heads – 1st, Superstition; 2d, Power; 3d, the common interests of society, and the common rights of man.
- What is called a republic, is not any particular form of government … it is naturally opposed to the word monarchy, which means arbitrary power.
- The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow.
- Before anything can be reasoned upon to a conclusion, certain facts, principles, or data, to reason from, must be established, admitted, or denied.
- The instant formal government is abolished, society begins to act. A general association takes place, and common interest produces common security.
- Whatever has a tendency to promote the civil intercourse of nations by an exchange of benefits is a subject as worthy of philosophy as of politics.
- Christianity is the strangest religion ever set up, for it committed a murder upon Jesus in order to redeem mankind from the sin of eating an apple.
- Could the straggling thoughts of individuals be collected, they would frequently form materials for wise and able men to improve into useful matter.
- Man did not make the earth, and though he had a natural right to occupy it, he had no right to locate as his property in perpetuity, any part of it.
- Virtues are acquired through endeavor, Which rests wholly upon yourself. So, to praise others for their virtues Can but encourage one’s own efforts.
- To reason with goverments, as they have existed for ages, is to argue with brutes. It is only from the nations themselves that reforms can be expected
- The American constitutions were to liberty, what a grammar is to language: they define its parts of speech, and practically construct them into syntax
- Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.
- [A]ll churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Muslim, are simply human inventions. They use fear to enslave us. They are a monopoly for power and profit.
- But where, says some, is the King of America? I’ll tell you. Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal Brute of Britain.
- ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.
- We must be compelled to hold this doctrine to be false, and the old and new law called the Old and New Testament, to be impositions, fables and forgeries.
- The greatest characters the world has known, have rose on the democratic floor. Aristocracy has not been able to keep a proportionate pace with democracy.
- A Constitution is not the act of a Government, but of a people constituting a government, and a government without a constitution is a power without right.
- THE WORD OF GOD IS THE CREATION WE BEHOLD: And it is in this word, which no human invention can counterfeit or alter, that God speaketh universally to man.
- As to the book called the bible, it is blasphemy to call it the Word of God. It is a book of lies and contradictions and a history of bad times and bad men.
- To establish any mode to abolish war, however advantageous it might be to Nations, would be to take from such Government the most lucrative of its branches.
- There are matters in the Bible, said to be done by the express commandment of God, that are shocking to humanity and to every idea we have of moral justice.
- Not a place upon earth might be so happy as America. Her situation is remote from all the wrangling world, and she has nothing to do but to trade with them.
- Politics and self-interest have been so uniformly connected, that the world, from being so often deceived, has a right to be suspicious of public characters.
- It is from the power of taxation being in the hands of those who can throw so great a part of it from their own shoulders, that it has raged without a check.
- There is something in corruption which, like a jaundiced eye, transfers the color of itself to the object it looks upon, and sees everything stained and impure.
- I do not believe that any two men, on what are called doctrinal points, think alike who think at all. It is only those who have not thought that appear to agree.
- In a chariot of light from the region of the day, the Goddess of Liberty came. She brought in her hand as a pledge of her love, the plant she named Liberty Tree.
- We repose an unwise confidence in any government, or in any men, when we invest them officially with too much, or an unnecessary quantity of, discretionary power.
- I do not believe in the creed professed by any church that I know of. Each of these churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my part, I disbelieve them all.
- Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance.
- I fear not, I see not reason for fear. In the end we will be the victors. For though at times the flame of liberty may cease to shine, the ember will never expire.
- Religion is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize humankind; and, for my part, I sincerely detest it as I detest everything that is cruel.
- We hold the moral obligation of providing for old age, helpless infancy, and poverty is far superior to that of supplying the invented wants of courtly extravagance.
- There exists in man a mass of sense lying in a dormant state, and which, unless something excites it to action, will descend with him, in that condition,to the grave.
- The Deist needs none of those tricks and shows called miracles to confirm his faith, for what can be a greater miracle than the creation itself, and his own existence?
- The animals to whom nature has given the faculty we call cunning know always when to use it, and use it wisely; but when man descends to cunning he blunders and betrays.
- He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.
- He that rebels against reason is a real rebel, but he that in defence of reason rebels against tyranny has a better title to Defender of the Faith, than George the Third.
- Every Tory is a coward; for servile, slavish, self-interested fear is the foundation of Toryism; and a man under such influence, though he may be cruel, never can be brave.
- Titles are but nicknames, and every nickname is a title. The thing is perfectly harmless in itself, but it marks a sort of foppery in the human character, which degrades it.
- If the present generation, or any other, are disposed to be slaves, it does not lessen the right of the succeeding generation to be free: wrongs cannot have a legal descent.
- War involves in its progress such a train of unforeseen circumstances that no human wisdom can calculate the end; it has but one thing certain, and that is to increase taxes.
- When extraordinary power and extraordinary pay are allotted to any individual in a government, he becomes the center, round which every kind of corruption generates and forms.
- How strangely is antiquity treated! To answer some purposes it is spoken of as the times of darkness and ignorance, and to answer others, it is put for the light of the world.
- A man will pass better through the world with a thousand open errors upon his back than in being detected in one sly falsehood. When one is detected, a thousand are suspected.
- From the east to the west blow the trumpet to arms! Through the land let the sound of it flee; Let the far and the near all unite, with a cheer, In defense of our Liberty Tree.
- It was needless, after this, to say that all was vanity and vexation of spirit; for it is impossible to derive happiness from the company of those whom we deprive of happiness.
- It is not a field of a few acres of ground, but a cause, that we are defending, and whether we defeat the enemy in one battle, or by degrees, the consequences will be the same.
- …It would be more consistent that we call [the Bible] the work of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.
- Ah, reader, put thy trust in thy creator, and thou wilt be safe; but if thou trustest to the book called the scriptures thou trustest to the rotten staff of fable and falsehood.
- We feel something like respect for consistency even in error. We lament the virtue that is debauched into a vice; but the vice that affects a virtue becomes the more detestable.
- He is not affected by the reality of distress touching his heart, but by the showy resemblance of it striking his imagination. He pities the plumage, but forgets the dying bird.
- There is something in meanness which excites a species of resentment that never subsides, and something in cruelty which stirs up the heart to the highest agony of human hatred.
- Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America. This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every part of Europe.
- The Christian religion is a parody on the worship of the sun, in which they put a man called Christ in the place of the sun, and pay him the adoration originally payed to the sun.
- No man is prejudiced in favor of a thing, knowing it to be wrong. He is attached to it on the belief of its being right; and when he sees it is not so, the prejudice will be gone.
- A nation under a well regulated government, should permit none to remain uninstructed. It is monarchical and aristocratical government only that requires ignorance for its support.
- To live with our enemies as if they may some time become our friends, and to live with our friends as if they may some time become our enemies, is not a moral but a political maxim
- We have every opportunity and every encouragement before us, to form the noblest truest constitution on the face of the earth. We have it in our power to begin the world over again.
- When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to [profess] things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime.
- Commerce is no other than the traffic of two individuals, multiplied on a scale of number; and, by the same rule that Nature intended the intercourse of two, she intended that of all!
- The end of all political associations is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man; and these rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance of oppression.
- There are two distinct classes of what are called thoughts: those that we produce in ourselves by reflection and the act of thinking and those that bolt into the mind of their own accord.
- Our present condition is, Legislation without law; wisdom without a plan; a constitution without a name; and, what is strangely astonishing, perfect independence contending for dependence.
- Thus commerce, though in itself a moral nullity, has had a considerable influence in tempering the human mind….he trades with the same countries …(that he) would have gone to war with.
- In the progress of politics, as in the common occurrences of life, we are not only apt to forget the ground we have travelled over, but frequently neglect to gather up experiences as we go.
- On this question of war, three things are to be considered. First, the right of declaring it: secondly, the expense of supporting it: thirdly, the mode of conducting it after it is declared.
- Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property… Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them.
- The Almighty implanted in us these inextinguishable feelings for good and wise purposes. They are the guardians of His image in our heart. They distinguish us from the herd of common animals.
- It may perhaps be said that it signifies nothing to a man what is done to him after he is dead; but it signifies much to the living; it either tortures their feelings or hardens their hearts.
- Every science has for its basis a system of principles as fixed and unalterable as those by which the universe is regulated and governed. Man cannot make principles; he can only discover them.
- When an objection cannot be made formidable, there is some policy in trying to make it frightful; and to substitute the yell and the war-whoop, in the place of reason, argument and good order.
- As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty of all government to protect all conscientious professors thereof, and I know of no other business which government hath to do therewith.
- All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.
- Yet this is trash that the Church imposes upon the world as the Word of God; this is the collection of lies and contradictions called the Holy Bible! This is the rubbish called Revealed Religion!
- Oppression is often the consequence, but seldom or never the means of riches; and tho’ avarice will preserve a man from being necessitously poor, it generally makes him too timorous to be wealthy.
- A single legislature, on account of the superabundance of its power, and the uncontrolled rabidity of its execution, becomes as dangerous to the principles of liberty as that of a despotic monarch.
- Civilization, or that which is so called, has operated two ways to make one part of society more affluent and the other part more wretched than would have been the lot of either in a natural state.
- The nearer any disease approaches to a crisis, the nearer it is to a cure. Danger and deliverance make their advances together; and it is only in the last push that one or the other takes the lead.
- The most detestable wickedness, the most horrid cruelties, and the greatest miseries, that have afflicted the human race have had their origin in this thing called revelation, or revealed religion.
- Is it because you are sunk in the cruelty of superstition, or feel no interest in the honor of your Creator, that you listen to the horrid tales of the Bible, or hear them with callous indifference?
- Practical religion consists in doing good: and the only way of serving God is that of endeavoring to make His creation happy. All preaching that has not this for its object is nonsense and hypocrisy.
- There is existing in man, a mass of sense lying in a dormant state. The construction of government ought to be such as to bring forward, by a quiet and regular operation, all that extent of capacity.
- All this [Paul’s writing] is nothing better than the jargon of a conjurer who picks up phrases he does not understand to confound the credulous people who come to have their fortune told. Age of Reason
- It is the fable of Jesus Christ, as told in the New Testament, and the wild and visionary doctrine raised thereon, against which I contend. The story, taking it as it is told, is blasphemously obscene.
- In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture chronology, there were no kings; the consequence of which was there were no wars; it is the pride of kings which throws mankind into confusion.
- And as a man, who is attached to a prostitute, is unfitted to choose or judge of a wife, so any prepossession in favour of a rotten constitution of government will disable us from discerning a good one.
- His [Jesus’] historians, having brought him into the world in a supernatural manner, were obliged to take him out again in the same manner, or the first part of the story must have fallen to the ground.
- The reformation was preceded by the discovery of America, as if the Almighty graciously meant to open a sanctuary to the persecuted in future years, when home should afford neither friendship nor safety.
- The obscene and vulgar stories in the Bible are as repugnant to our ideas of the purity of a Divine Being, as the horrid cruelties and murders it ascribes to Him are repugnant to our ideas of His justice.
- It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving, it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe.
- Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it.
- To believe that God created a plurality of worlds, at least as numerous as what we call stars, renders the Christian faith at once little and ridiculous; and scatters it in the mind like feathers in the air.
- The story of the redemption will not stand examination. That man should redeem himself from the sin of eating an apple by committing a murder on Jesus Christ, is the strangest system of religion ever set up.
- One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly of hereditary right in kings, is, that nature disapproves it, otherwise, she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule by giving mankind an ass for a lion.
- Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world; here too is the design and end of government, viz. Freedom and security.
- The story of the whale swallowing Jonah, though a whale is large enough to do it, borders greatly on the marvelous; but it would have approached nearer to the idea of a miracle if Jonah had swallowed the whale.
- Small islands, not capable of protecting themselves, are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island.
- No country can be called free which is governed by an absolute power; and it matters not whether it be an absolute royal power or an absolute legislative power, as the consequences will be the same to the people.
- Men did not make the earth… It is the value of the improvements only, and not the earth itself, that is individual property. … Every proprietor owes to the community a ground rent for the land which he holds.
- As priestcraft was always the enemy of knowledge, because priestcraft supports itself by keeping people in delusion and ignorance, it was consistent with its policy to make the acquisition of knowledge a real sin.
- The danger to which the success of revolutions is most exposed, is that of attempting them before the principles on which they proceed, and the advantages to result from them, are sufficiently seen and understood.
- One would think that a system loaded with such gross and vulgar absurdities as Scripture religion is could never have obtained credit; yet we have seen what priestcraft and fanaticism can do, and credulity believe.
- The sublime and the ridiculous are often so nearly related, that it is difficult to class them separately. One step above the sublime makes the ridiculous, and one step above the ridiculous makes the sublime again.
- I consider the war of America against Britain as the country’s war, the public’s war, or the war of the people in their own behalf, for the security of their natural rights, and the protection of their own property.
- I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.
- When I see throughout this book, called the Bible, a history of the grossest vices and a collection of the most paltry and contemptible tales and stories, I could not so dishonor my Creator by calling it by His name.
- I draw my idea of the form of government from a principle in nature, which no art can overturn, viz. that the more simple any thing is, the less liable it is to be disordered; and the easier repaired when disordered.
- The artificial noble shrinks into a dwarf before the noble of nature; and in the few instances (for there are some in all countries) in whom nature, as by a miracle, has survived in aristocracy, those men despise it.
- The Grecians and Romans were strongly possessed of the spirit of liberty but not the principle, for at the time they were determined not to be slaves themselves, they employed their power to enslave the rest of mankind.
- I call not upon a few, but upon all: not on this state or that state, but on every state; up and help us; lay your shoulders to the wheel; better have too much force than too little, when so great an object is at stake.
- These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.
- Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is no more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifiying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more contradictory to itself than this thing called Christianity.
- The creation is the Bible of the Deist. He there reads, in the handwriting of the Creator himself, the certainty of His existence and the immutability of His power, and all other Bibles and Testaments are to him forgeries.
- A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.
- It is the madness of folly, to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice; and even mercy, where conquest is the object, is only a trick of war; the cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf.
- I am sensible that he who means to do mankind a real service must set down with the determination of putting up, and bearing with all their faults, follies, prejudices and mistakes until he can convince them that he is right.
- Of all the tyrannies that effect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst; every other species of tyranny is limited to the world we live in; but this attempts to stride beyond the grave, and seeks to pursue us into eternity.
- The idea of hereditary legislators is as inconsistent as that of hereditary judges, or hereditary juries; and as absurd as an hereditary mathematician, or an hereditary wise man; and as ridiculous as an hereditary poet-laureat.
- To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.
- Our citizenship in the United States is our national character. Our citizenship in any particular state is only our local distinction. By the latter we are known at home, by the former to the world. Our great title is AMERICANS.
- The accumulation of great wealth is, in many instances, the effect of paying too little for the labor that produced it, the consequence of which is that the working people perish in old age and the employer abounds in affluence.
- Every age and generation must be as free to act for itself in all cases as the ages and generations which preceded it. The vanity and presumption of governing beyond the grave is the most ridiculous and insolent of all tyrannies.
- Ignorance is of a peculiar nature; once dispelled, it is impossible to reestablish it. It is not originally a thing of itself, but is only the absence of knowledge; and though man may be kept ignorant, he cannot be made ignorant.
- Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others.
- The choicest gift of God to man, the gift of reason; and having endeavoured to force upon himself the belief of a system against which reason revolts, he ungratefully calls it human reason; as if man could give reason to himself.
- The mind, in discovering truths, acts in the same manner as it acts through the eye in discovering objects; when once any object has been seen, it is impossible to put the mind back to the same condition it was in before it saw it.
- The Bill of Rights should contain the general principles of natural and civil liberty. It should be to a community what the eternal laws and obligations of morality are to the conscience. It should be unalterable by any human power.
- The abilities of man must fall short on one side or the other, like too scanty a blanket when you are abed. If you pull it upon your shoulders, your feet are left bare; if you thrust it down to your feet, your shoulders are uncovered.
- The Book of Job and the 19th Psalm, which even the Church admits to be more ancient than the chronological order in which they stand in the book called the Bible, are theological orations conformable to the original system of theology.
- It is far better that we admitted a thousand devils to roam at large than that we permitted one such imposter and monster as Moses, Joshua, Samuel, and the Bible prophets, to come with the pretended word of God and have credit among us.
- Everything wonderful in appearance has been ascribed to angels, to devils, or to saints. Everything ancient has some legendary tale annexed to it. The common operations of nature have not escaped their practice of corrupting everything.
- That which is now called natural philosophy, embracing the whole circle of science, of which astronomy occupies the chief place, is the study of the works of God, and of the power and wisdom of God in his works, and is the true theology.
- The story of Jesus Christ appearing after he was dead is the story of an apparition, such as timid imaginations can always create in vision, and credulity believe. Stories of this kind had been told of the assassination of Julius Caesar.
- And when we view a flag, which to the eye is beautiful, and to contemplate its rise and origin inspires a sensation of sublime delight, our national honor must unite with our interests to prevent injury to the one, or insult to the other.
- And as to you, Sir, treacherous in private friendship and a hypocrite in public life, the world will be puzzled to decide whether you are an apostate or an impostor; whether you have abandoned good principles, or whether you ever had any.
- Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.
- In reviewing the history of the English Government, its wars and its taxes, a bystander, not blinded by prejudice nor warped by interest, would declare that taxes were not raised to carry on wars, but that wars were raised to carry on taxes.
- I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life. I believe in the equality of humans; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow creatures happy.
- What is it the Bible teaches us? – raping, cruelty, and murder. What is it the New Testament teaches us? – to believe that the Almighty committed debauchery with a woman engaged to be married, and the belief of this debauchery is called faith.
- The study of theology, as it stands in Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authorities; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing; and it admits of no conclusion.
- Is it more probable that nature should go out of her course, or that a man should tell a lie? We have never seen, in our time, nature go out of her course; but we have good reason to believe that millions of lies have been told in the same time.
- The New Testament rests itself for credulity and testimony on what are called prophecies in the Old Testament, of the person called Jesus Christ; and if there are no such things as prophecies of any such person in the Old Testament, the New Testament.
- …Thomas did not believe the resurrection [John 20:25], and, as they say, would not believe without having ocular and manual demonstration himself. So neither will I, and the reason is equally as good for me, and for every other person, as for Thomas.
- The countries the most famous and the most respected of antiquity are those which distinguished themselves by promoting and patronizing science, and on the contrary those which neglected or discouraged it are universally denominated rude and barbarous.
- We do not admit the authority of the church with respect to its pretended infallibility, its manufactured miracles, its setting itself up to forgive sins. It was by propagating that belief and supporting it with fire that she kept up her temporal power.
- What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.
- But in addition to all the moral evidence against the Bible, I will, in the progress of this work, produce such other evidence as even a priest cannot deny; and show, from that evidence, that the Bible is not entitled to credit, as being the word of God.
- What more does man want to know than that the hand or power that made these things is divine, is omnipotent? Let him believe this with the force it is impossible to repel, if he permits his reason to act, and his rule of moral life will follow of course.
- Each government accuses the other of perfidy, intrigue and ambition, as a means of heating the imagination of their respective nations, and incensing them to hostilities. Man is not the enemy of man, but through the medium of a false system of government.
- Let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarcy, that in America the law is King. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other.
- Now is the seedtime of continental union, faith and honor. The least fracture now, will be like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a young oak; the wound would enlarge with the tree, and posterity read in it full grown characters.
- Those words, temperate and moderate, are words either of political cowardice, or of cunning, or seduction. A thing, moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper, is always a virtue; but moderation in principle, is a species of vice.
- A constitution defines and limits the powers of the government it creates. It therefore follows, as a natural and also a logical result, that the governmental exercise of any power not authorized by the constitution is an assumed power, and therefore illegal.
- A world of little cares is continually arising, which busy or affluent life knows nothing of, to open the first door to distress. Hunger is not among the postponable wants; and a day, even a few hours, in such a condition is often the crisis of a life of ruin.
- If anything had or could have a value equal to gold and silver, it would require no tender law; and if it had not that value it ought not to have such a law; and, therefore, all tender laws are tyrannical and unjust and calculated to support fraud and oppression.
- The moral duty of man consists of imitating the moral goodness and beneficence of God, manifested in the creation towards all his creatures. Everything of persecution and revenge between man and man, and everything of cruelty to animals is a violation of moral duty
- It is not the nature of avarice to be satisfied with anything but money. Every passion that acts upon mankind has a peculiar mode of operation. Many of them are temporary and fluctuating; they admit of cessation and variety. But avarice is a fixed, uniform passion.
- All the religions known in the world are founded, so far as they relate to man or the unity of man, as being all of one degree. Whether in heaven or in hell, or in whatever state man may be supposed to exist hereafter, the good and the bad are the only distinctions.
- The essential psychological requirement of a free society is the willingness on the part of the individual to accept responsibility for his life. – Edith Packer When the government fears the people, it is liberty. When the people fear the government, it is tyranny.
- In Deism our reason and our belief become happily united. The wonderful structure of the universe, and everything we behold in the system of the creation, prove to us, far better than books can do, the existence of a God, and at the same time proclaim His attributes.
- We ought therefore to suspect that a great mass of information respecting the Bible, and the introduction of it into the world, has been suppressed by the united tyranny of Church and State, for the purpose of keeping people in ignorance, and which ought to be known.
- I have always strenuously supported the right of every man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it.
- …the individuals themselves, each in his own personal and sovereign right, entered into a compact with each other to produce a government: and this is the only mode in which governments have a right to arise, and the only principle on which they have a right to exist.
- Call to mind the sentiments which nature has engraved on the heart of every citizen, and which take a new force when they are solemnly recognised by all:-For a nation to love liberty, it is sufficient that she knows it; and to be free, it is sufficient that she wills it.
- Take away from Genesis the belief that Moses was the author, on which only the strange believe that it is the word of God has stood, and there remains nothing of Genesis but an anonymous book of stories, fables, and traditionary or invented absurdities, or of downright lies.
- From whence, then, could arise the solitary and strange conceit that the Almighty, who had millions of worlds equally dependant on His protection, should quit the care of all the rest, and come to die in our world, because, they say, one man and one woman had eaten an apple?
- Reason and Ignorance, the opposites of each other, influence the great bulk of mankind. If either of these can be rendered sufficiently extensive in a country, the machinery of Government goes easily on. Reason obeys itself; and Ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.
- If any generation of men ever possessed the right of dictating the mode by which the world should be governed for ever, it was the first generation that existed; and if that generation did it not, no succeeding generation can show any authority for doing it, nor can set any up.
- The duty of man is not a wilderness of turnpike gates, through which he is to pass by tickets from one to the other. It is plain and simple, and consists but of two points–his duty God, which every man must feel; and, with respect to his neighbor, to do as he would be done by.
- The aristocracy are not the farmers who work the land, and raise the produce, but are the mere consumers of the rent; and when compared with the active world, are the drones, a seraglio of males, who neither collect the honey nor form the hive, but exist only for lazy enjoyment.
- The case, however, is, that the Bible will not bear examination in any part of it, which it would do if it was the Word of God. Those who most believe it are those who know least about it, and priests always take care to keep the inconsistent and contradictory parts out of sight.
- Prejudice, like the spider, makes everywhere its home. It has neither taste nor choice of place, and all that it requires is room. If the one prepares her food by poisoning it to her palate and her use, the other does the same. Prejudice may be denominated the spider of the mind.
- It is not because a part of the government is elective, that makes it less a despotism, if the persons so elected, possess afterwards, as a parliament, unlimited powers. Election, in this case, becomes separated from representation, and the candidates are candidates for despotism.
- Government is not a trade which any man or body of men has a right to set up and exercise for his own emolument, but is altogether a trust, in right of those by whom that trust is delegated, and by whom it is always resumable. It has of itself no rights; they are altogether duties.
- Government has no right to make itself a party in any debates respecting the principles or mode of forming or of changing, constitutions. It is not for the benefit of those who exercise the powers of government, that constitutions, and the governments issuing from them, are established.
- Natural rights are those which always appertain to man in right of his existence. Of this kind are all the intellectual rights, or rights of the mind, and also all those rights of acting as an individual for his own comfort and happiness, which are not injurious to the rights of others.
- Universal empire is the prerogative of a writer. His concerns are with all mankind, and though he cannot command their obedience,he can assign them their duty. The Republic of Letters is more ancient than monarchy, and of far higher character in the world than the vassal court of Britain.
- If, to expose the fraud and imposition of monarchy . . . to promote universal peace, civilization, and commerce, and to break the chains of political superstition, and raise degraded man to his proper rank; if these things be libellous . . . let the name of libeller be engraved on my tomb
- Those who knew Benjamin Franklin will recollect that his mind was forever young, his temper ever serene; science, that never grows gray, was always his mistress. He was never without an object, for when we cease to have an object, we become like an invalid in a hospital waiting for death.
- Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.
- For all men being originally equals, no one by birth could have the right to set up his own family in perpetual preference to all others forever, and tho’ himself might deserve some decent degree of honours of his cotemporaries, yet his descendants might be far too unworthy to inherit them.
- As my object was not myself, I set out with the determination, and happily with the disposition, of not being moved by praise or censure, friendship or calumny, nor of being drawn from my purpose by any personal altercation; and the man who cannot do this, is not fit for a public character.
- Rights are not gifts from one man to another, nor from one class of men to another. It is impossible to discover any origin of rights otherwise than in the origin of man; it consequently follows that rights appertain to man in right of his existence, and must therefore be equal to every man.
- A government on the principles on which constitutional governments arising out of society are established, cannot have the right of altering itself. If it had, it would be arbitrary. It might make itself what it pleased; and wherever such a right is set up, it shows there is no constitution.
- The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which other rights are protected. To take away this right is to reduce a man to slavery, for slavery consists in being subject to the will of another, and he that has not a vote in the election of representatives is in this case.
- It has been the scheme of the Christian Church, and of all the other invented systems of religion, to hold man in ignorance of the Creator, as it is of Government to hold man in ignorance of his rights. The systems of the one are as false as those of the other, and are calculated for mutual support.
- There now remain only a few books, which they call books of the lesser prophets; and as I have already shown that the greater are impostors, it would be cowardice to disturb the repose of the little ones. Let them sleep, then, in the arms of their nurses, the priests, and both be forgotten together.
- There is a happiness in Deism, when rightly understood, that is not to be found inany other system of religion. All other systems have something in them that either shock our reason, or are repugnant to it, and man, if he thinks at all, must stifle his reason in order to force himself to believe them.
- It is, I believe, impossible to find in any story upon record so many and such glaring absurdities, contradictions, and falsehoods, as are in the books [The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John]. They are more numerous and striking than I had any expectation of finding, when I began this examination.
- They took care to represent government as a thing made up of mysteries, which only themselves understood, and they hid from the understanding of the nation, the only thing that was beneficial to know, namely, that government is nothing more than a national association acting on the principles of society.
- Public money ought to be touched with the most scrupulous conscientiousness of honor. It is not the produce of riches only, but of the hard earnings of labor and poverty. It is drawn even from the bitterness of want and misery. Not a beggar passes, or perishes in the streets, whose mite is not in that mass.
- EVERY national church or religion has established itself by pretending some special mission from God, communicated to certain individuals. The Jews have their Moses; the Christians their Jesus Christ, their apostles and saints; and the Turks their Mahomet; as if the way to God was not open to every man alike.
- A constitution, therefore, is to a government what the laws made afterwards by that government are to a court of judicature. The court of judicature does not make the laws, neither can it alter them; it only acts in conformity to the laws made: and the government is in like manner governed by the constitution.
- It can only be by blinding the understanding of man, and making him believe that government is some wonderful mysterious thing, that excessive revenues are obtained. Monarchy is well calculated to ensure this end. It is the popery of government; a thing kept up to amuse the ignorant, and quiet them into taxes.
- We still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry and grasping at the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised to furnish new pretenses for revenue and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without a tribute.
- Toleration is not the opposite of intoleration, but it is the counterfeit of it. Both are despotisms. The one assumes to itself the right of withholding liberty of conscience, and the other of granting it. The one is the pope, armed with fire and fagot, and the other is the pope selling or granting indulgences.
- I have never made it a consideration whether the subject was popular or unpopular, but whether it was right or wrong; for that which is right will become popular, and that which is wrong, though by mistake it may obtain the cry or fashion of the day, will soon lose the power of delusion, and sink into disesteem.
- The burden of the national debt consists not in its being so many millions, or so many hundred millions, but in the quantity of taxes collected every year to pay the interest. If this quantity continue the same, the burden of the national debt is the same to all intents and purposes, be the capital more or less.
- That there are men in all countries who get their living by war, and by keeping up the quarrels of nations, is as shocking as it is true; but when those who are concerned in the government of a country, make it their study to sow discord and cultivate predjudices between nations, it becomes the more unpardonable.
- Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins … Society is in every state a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
- Change of ministers amounts to nothing. One goes out, another comes in, and still the same measures, vices, and extravagances are pursued. It signifies not who is minister. The defect lies in the system. The foundation and superstructure of the government is bad. Prop it as you please, it continually sinks and ever will.
- The balance of power is the scale of peace. The same balance would be preserved were all the world not destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not, others dare not lay them aside … Horrid mischief would ensue were one half the world deprived of the use of them … the weak will become prey to the strong.
- As property, honestly obtained, is best secured by an equality of rights, so ill-gotten property depends for protection on a monopoly of rights. He who has robbed another of his property, will next endeavor to disarm him of his rights, to secure that property; for when the robber becomes the legislator he believes himself secure.
- A government of our own is our natural right; and when a man seriously reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will become convinced, that it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and chance.
- Not all the treasures of the world, so far as I believe, could have induced me to support an offensive war, for I think it murder; but if a thief breaks into my house, burns and destroys my property, and kills or threatens to kill me, or those that are in it, and to “bind me in all cases whatsoever” to his absolute will, am I to suffer it?
- Man is not the enemy of man, but through the medium of a false system of Government. Instead, therefore, of exclaiming against the ambition of kings, the exclamation should be directed against the principle of such governments; and instead of seeking to reform the individual, the wisdom of a nation should apply itself to reform the system.
- Civil rights are those which appertain to man in right of his being a member of society. Every civil right has for its foundation some natural right pre-existing in the individual, but to the enjoyment of which his individual power is not, in all cases, sufficiently competent. Of this kind are all those which relate to security and protection.
- When I contemplate the natural dignity of man; when I feel (for Nature has not been kind enough to me to blunt my feelings) for the honor and happiness of its character, I become irritated at the attempt to govern mankind by force and fraud, as if they were all knaves and fools, and can scarcely avoid disgust at those who are thus imposed upon.
- Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and tortuous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize humankind.
- Now, which am I to believe, a book that any impostor might make and call the Word of God, or the creation itself which none but an Almighty Power could make? For the Bible says one thing; and the creation says the contrary. The Bible represents God with all the passions of a mortal, and the creation proclaims him with all the attributes of a God.
- Panics, in some cases, have their uses; they produce as much good as hurt. Their duration is always short; the mind soon grows through them and acquires a firmer habit than before. But their peculiar advantage is, that they are the touchstone of sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring things and men to light, which might have lain forever undiscovered.
- Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer.
- This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every part of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home, pursues their descendants still.
- The Christian religion and Masonry have one and the same common origin: Both are derived from the worship of the Sun. The difference between their origin is, that the Christian religion is a parody on the worship of the Sun, in which they put a man whom they call Christ, in the place of the Sun, and pay him the same adoration which was originally paid to the Sun.
- Whence arose all the horrid assassinations of whole nations of men, women, and infants, with which the Bible is filled; and the bloody persecutions, and tortures unto death, and religiosu wars, that since that time have laid Europe in blood and ashes; whence arose they, but from this impious thing called religion, and this monstrous belief that God has spoken to man?
- It is a fool only, and not the philosopher, nor even the prudent man, that will live as if there were no God… Were a man impressed as fully and strongly as he ought to be with the belief of a God, his moral life would be regulated by the force of belief; he would stand in awe of God and of himself, and would not do the thing that could not be concealed from either.
- The continual whine of lamenting the burden of taxes, however successfully it may be practiced in mixed governments, is inconsistent with the sense and spirit of a republic. If taxes are necessary, they are of course advantageous, but if they require an apology, the apology itself implies an impeachment. Why, then, is man imposed upon, or why does he impose upon himself?
- The fable of Christ and his twelve apostles is a parody of the sun and the twelve signs of the Zodiac, copied from the ancient religions of the Eastern world. Every thing told of Christ has reference to the sun. His reported resurrection is at sunrise, and that on the first day of the week; that is, on the day anciently dedicated to the sun, and from thence called Sunday.
- Revelation is necessarily limited to the first communication- after that it is only an account of something which that person says was a revelation made to him; and though he may find himself obliged to believe it, it can not be incumbent on me to believe it in the same manner; for it was not a revelation made to ME, and I have only his word for it that it was made to him.
- Money, when considered as the fruit of many years’ industry, as the reward of labor, sweat and toil, as the widow’s dowry and children’s portion, and as the means of procuring the necessaries and alleviating the afflictions of life, and making old age a scene of rest, has something in it sacred that is not to be sported with, or trusted to the airy bubble of paper currency.
- The circumstances of the world are continually changing, and the opinions of men change also; and as government is for the living, and not for the dead, it is the living only that has any right in it. That which may be thought right and found convenient in one age, may be thought wrong and found inconvenient in another. In such cases, who is to decide, the living, or the dead?
- To bring the matter to one point, Is the power who is jealous of our prosperity, a proper power to govern us? Whoever says, No, to this question, is an independent, for independency means no more than this, whether we shall make our own law, or, whether the king, the greatest enemy which this continent hath, or can have, shall tell us there shall be no laws but such as I like.
- Government ought to be as much open to improvement as anything which appertains to man, instead of which it has been monopolized from age to age, by the most ignorant and vicious of the human race. Need we any other proof of their wretched management, than the excess of debts and taxes with which every nation groans, and the quarrels into which they have precipitated the world?”
- It requires but a very small glance of thought to perceive, that although laws made in one generation often continue in force through succeeding generations, yet that they continue to derive their force from the consent of the living. A law not repealed continues in force, not because it cannot be repealed, but because it is not repealed; and the non repealing passes for consent.
- ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia, and Africa, have long expelled her. Europe regards her like a stranger, and England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind.
- In the first part of ‘Rights of Man’ I have endeavoured to show…that there does not exist a right to establish hereditary government…because hereditary government always means a government yet to come, and the case always is, that the people who are to live afterwards, have always the same right to choose a government for themselves, as the people had who have lived before them.
- It is not a charity but a right, not bounty but justice, that I am pleading for. The present state of civilization is as odious as it is unjust. It is absolutely the opposite of what it should be, and it is necessary that a revolution should be made in it. The contrast of affluence and wretchedness continually meeting and offending the eye, is like dead and living bodies chained together
- A constitution is not the act of a government, but of a people constituting a government; and government without a constitution is power without a right. All power exercised over a nation, must have some beginning. It must be either delegated, or assumed. There are not other sources. All delegated power is trust, and all assumed power is usurpation. Time does not alter the nature and quality of either.
- The continually progressive change to which the meaning of words is subject, the want of a universal language which renders translation necessary, the errors to which translations are again subject, the mistakes of copyists and printers, together with the possibility of willful alteration, are themselves evidences that human language, whether in speech or print, cannot be the vehicle of the Word of God.
- When it shall be said in any country in the world my poor are happy; neither ignorance nor distress is to be found among them; my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars; the aged are not in want; the taxes are not oppressive; the rational world is my friend, because I am a friend of its happiness: When these things can be said, there may that country boast its Constitution and its Government
- In a general view, there are few conquests that repay the charge of making them, and mankind are pretty well convinced that it can never be worth their while to go to war for profit’s sake. If they are made war upon, their country invaded, or their existence at stake, it is their duty to defend and preserve themselves, but in every other light, and from every other cause, is war inglorious and detestable.
- I had come to realize the importance of the Nation, and of shared, communal, social responsibility, to be held as equally important as individual concerns. The elderly, the widowed, newly married couples, the poor, the unemployed, disbanded soldiers and children, who would be required to attend school, must be provided for from state funds. And all this support is not the nature of charity, but of a right.
- Could the peaceable principle of the Quakers be universally established, arms and the art of war would be wholly extirpated: But we live not in a world of angels…I am thus far a Quaker, that I would gladly agree with all the world to lay aside the use of arms, and settle matters by negotiation: but unless the whole will, the matter ends, and I take up my musket and thank Heaven He has put it in my power.
- I wish most anxiously to see my much loved America – it is the Country from whence all reformations must originally spring – I despair of seeing an Abolition of the infernal trafic in Negroes – we must push that matter further on your side the water – I wish that a few well instructed Negroes could be sent among their Brethren in Bondage, for until they are enabled to take their own part nothing will be done.
- The prejudice of unfounded belief often degenerates into the prejudice of custom, and becomes at last rank hypocrisy. When men, from custom or fashion or any worldly motive, profess or pretend to believe what they do not believe, nor can give any reason for believing, they unship the helm of their morality, and being no longer honest to their own minds they feel no moral difficulty in being unjust to others.
- Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions.
- The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.
- It is for the good of nations, and not for the emolument or aggrandizement of particular individuals, that government ought to be established, and that mankind are at the expense of supporting it. The defects of every government and constitution both as to principle and form, must, on a parity of reasoning, be as open to discussion as the defects of a law, and it is a duty which every man owes to society to point them out.
- Each of those churches shows certain books, which they call revelation, or the Word of God. The Jews say that their Word of God was given by God to Moses face to face; the Christians say, that their Word of God came by divine inspiration; and the Turks say, that their Word of God (the Koran) was brought by an angel from heaven. Each of those churches accuses the other of unbelief; and, for my own part, I disbelieve them all.
- In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense; and have no other preliminaries to settle with the reader, than that he will divest himself of prejudice and repossession, and suffer his reason and feelings to determine for themselves; and that he will put on, or rather that he will not put off, the true character of man, and generously enlarge his view beyond the present day.
- But there are times when men have serious thoughts, and it is at such times, when they begin to think, that they begin to doubt the truth of the Christian religion; and well they may, for it is too fanciful and too full of conjecture, inconsistency, improbability and irrationality, to afford consolation to the thoughtful man. His reason revolts against his creed. He sees that none of its articles are proved, or can be proved.
- The most extraordinary of all the things called miracles, related in the New Testament, is that of the devil flying away with Jesus Christ, and carrying him to the top of a high mountain; and to the top of the highest pinnacle of the temple, and showing him and promising to him all the kingdoms of the world . How happened it that he did not discover America? or is it only with kingdoms that his sooty highness has any interest.
- But though every created thing is, in this sense, a mystery, the word mystery cannot be applied to moral truth, any more than obscurity can be applied to light. … Mystery is the antagonist of truth. It is a fog of human invention, that obscures truth, and represents it in distortion. Truth never envelops itself in mystery, and the mystery in which it is at any time enveloped is the work of its antagonist, and never of itself.
- It has been the error of the schools to teach astronomy, and all the other sciences, and subjects of natural philosophy, as accomplishments only; whereas they should be taught theologically, or with reference to the Being who is the author of them: for all the principles of science are of divine origin. Man cannot make, or invent, or contrive principles: he can only discover them; and he ought to look through the discovery to the Author.
- There never did, there never will, and there never can exist a parliament, or any description of men, or any generation of men, in any country, possessed of the right or the power of binding and controlling posterity to the ‘end of time,’ or of commanding for ever how the world shall be governed, or who shall govern it. Every age and generation must be as free to act for itself, in all cases, as the ages and generations which preceded it.
- Uncritical reverence for the Founding Fathers was less ubiquitous while they actually lived. . . . “The Reign of Terror that raged in America during the latter end of the Washington Administration, and the whole of that of Adams, is enveloped in mystery to me. That there were men in the Government hostile to the representative system, was once their toast, though it is now their overthrow, and therefore the fact is established against them.”
- The Almighty Lecturer, by displaying the principles of science in the structure of the universe, has invited man to study and to imitation. It is as if He has said to the inhabitants of this globe that we call ours, “I have made an earth for man to dwell upon, and I have rendered the starry heavens visible, to teach him science and the arts. He can now provide for his own comfort, and learn from my munificence to all to be kind to each other.
- These proceedings may at first seem strange and difficult, but like all other steps which we have already passed over, will in a little time become familiar and agreeable: and until an independence is declared, the Continent will feel itself like a man who continues putting off some unpleasant business from day to day, yet knows it must be done, hates to set about it, wishes it over, and is continually haunted with the thoughts of its necessity.
- Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe. It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime.
- Great part of that order which reigns among mankind is not the effect of government. It has its origin in the principles of society and the natural constitution of man. It existed prior to government, and would exist if the formality of government was abolished. The mutual dependence and reciprocal interest which man has upon man, and all the parts of civilised community upon each other, create that great chain of connection which holds it together.
- But there is another and greater distinction for which no truly natural or religious reason can be assigned, and that is the distinction of men into kings and subjects. Male and female are the distinctions of nature, good and bad the distinctions of heaven; but how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and distinguished like some new species, is worth inquiring into, and whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind.
- The Christian religion is derogatory to the Creator in all its articles. It puts the Creator in an inferior point of view, and places the Christian devil above him. It is he, according to the absurd story in Genesis, that outwits the Creator in the Garden Eden, and steals from Him His favorite creature, man, and at last obliges Him to beget a son, and put that son to death, to get man back again; and this the priests of the Christian religion call redemption.
- Had the news of salvation by Jesus Christ been inscribed on the face of the sun and the moon, in characters that all nations would have understood, the whole earth had known it in twenty-four hours, and all nations would have believed it; whereas, though it is now almost two thousand years since, as they tell us, Christ came upon earth, not a twentieth part of the people of the earth know anything of it, and among those who do, the wiser part do not believe it.
- The mere man of pleasure is miserable in old age, and the mere drudge in business is but little better, whereas, natural philosophy, mathematical and mechanical science, are a continual source of tranquil pleasure, and in spite of the gloomy dogmas of priests and of superstition, the study of these things is the true theology; it teaches man to know and admire the Creator, for the principles of science are in the creation, and are unchangeable and of divine origin.
- Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods. It would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as Freedom should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to tax) but “to bind us in all cases whatsoever,” and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious, for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.
- Men who are sincere in defending their freedom, will always feel concern at every circumstance which seems to make against them; it is the natural and honest consequence of all affectionate attachments, and the want of it is a vice. But the dejection lasts only for a moment; they soon rise out of it with additional vigor; the glow of hope, courage and fortitude, will, in a little time, supply the place of every inferior passion, and kindle the whole heart into heroism.
- One of the evils of paper money is that it turns the whole country into stock jobbers. The precariousness of its value and the uncertainty of its fate continually operate, night and day, to produce this destructive effect. Having no real value in itself it depends for support upon accident, caprice, and party; and as it is the interest of some to depreciate and of others to raise its value, there is a continual invention going on that destroys the morals of the country.
- People in general know not what wickedness there is in this pretended word of God. Brought up in habits of superstition, they take it for granted that the Bible is true, and that it is good; they permit themselves not to doubt of it, and they carry the ideas they form of the benevolence of the Almighty to the book which they have been taught to believe was written by his authority. Good heavens! It is quite another thing; it is a book of lies, wickedness, and blasphemy.
- Paper money is like dram-drinking, it relieves for a moment by deceitful sensation, but gradually diminishes the natural heat, and leaves the body worse than it found it. Were not this the case, and could money be made of paper at pleasure, every sovereign in Europe would be as rich as he pleased. But the truth is, that it is a bubble and the attempt vanity. Nature has provided the proper materials for money: gold and silver, and any attempt of ours to rival her is ridiculous.
- It is often said in the Bible that God spake unto Moses, but how do you know that God spake unto Moses? Because, you will say, the Bible says so. The Koran says, that God spake unto Mahomet, do you believe that too? No. Why not? Because, you will say, you do not believe it; and so because you do, and because you don’t is all the reason you can give for believing or disbelieving except that you will say that Mahomet was an impostor. And how do you know Moses was not an impostor?
- Cultivation is at least one of the greatest natural improvements ever made by human invention. It has given to created earth a tenfold value. But the landed monopoly that began with it has produced the greatest evil. It has dispossessed more than half the inhabitants of every nation of their natural inheritance, without providing for them, as ought to have been done, an indemnification for that loss, and has thereby created a species of poverty and wretchedness that did not exist before.
- I have as little superstition in me as any man living, but my secret opinion has ever been, and still is, that God Almighty will not give up a people to military destruction, or leave them unsupportedly to perish, who have so earnestly and so repeatedly sought to avoid the calamities of war, by every decent method which wisdom could invent. Neither have I so much of the infidel in me, as to suppose that He has relinquished the government of the world, and given us up to the care of devils.
- Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it. Say not that thousands are gone, turn out your tens of thousands; throw not the burden of the day upon Providence, but “show your faith by your works,” that God may bless you. It matters not where you live, or what rank of life you hold, the evil or the blessing will reach you all.
- The most horrible wickedness and cruelties, and the greatest miseries that have troubled the human race began with this thing called revelation, or revealed religion. … It would be far, far better for us to let a thousand devils roam the world, and publicly preach the doctrine of devils (if there were such a thing, which there isn’t), than to let one impostor and monster such a Moses, Joshua, Samuel or the Bible prophets come speaking the so-called word of God, and causing men to believe it.
- It is unnatural that a pure stream should flow from a foul fountain its vices are but a continuation of the vices of its origin. A man of moral honor and good political principles, cannot submit to the mean drudgery and disgraceful arts, by which such elections are carried. To be a successful candidate, he must be destitute of the qualities that constitute a just legislator: and being thus disciplined to corruption it is not to be expected that the representative should be better than the man.
- The Church was resolved to have a New Testament, and as, after the lapse of more than three hundred years, no handwriting could be proved or disproved, the Church, which like former impostors had then gotten possession of the State, had everything its own way. It invented creeds, such as that called the Apostle’s Creed, the Nicean Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and out of the loads of rubbish that were presented it voted four to be Gospels, and others to be Epistles, as we now find them arranged.
- It is never to be expected in a revolution that every man is to change his opinion at the same moment. There never yet was any truth or any principle so irresistibly obvious that all men believed it at once. Time and reason must cooperate with each other to the final establishment of any principle; and therefore those who may happen to be first convinced have not a right to persecute others, on whom conviction operates more slowly. The moral principle of revolutions is to instruct, not to destroy.
- Never, I say, had a country so many openings to happiness as this…. Her cause was good. Her principles just and liberal. Her temper serene and firm…. The remembrance then of what is past, if it operates rightly must inspire her with the most laudable of an ambition, that of adding to the fair fame she began with. The world has seen her great adversity…. Let then, the world see that she can bear prosperity; and that her honest virtue in time of peace is equal to the bravest virtue in time of war.
- The evil that has resulted from the error of the schools, in teaching natural philosophy as an accomplishment only, has been that of generating in the pupils a species of atheism. Instead of looking through the works of creation to the Creator himself, they stop short, and employ the knowledge they acquire to create doubts of his existence. They labour with studied ingenuity to ascribe every thing they behold to innate properties of matter, and jump over all the rest by saying, that matter is eternal.
- There are a set of men who go about making purchases upon credit, and buying estates they have not wherewithal to pay for; and having done this, their next step is to fill the newspapers with paragraphs of the scarcity of money and the necessity of a paper emission, then to have a legal tender under the pretense of supporting its credit, and when out, to depreciate it as fast as they can, get a deal of it for a little price, and cheat their creditors; and this is the concise history of paper money schemes.
- The intellectual part of religion is a private affair between every man and his Maker, and in which no third party has any right to interfere. The practical part consists in our doing good to each other. But since religion has been made into a trade, the practical part has been made to consist of ceremonies performed by men called priests … By devices of this kind true religion has been banished, and such means have been found out to extract money, even from the pockets of the poor, instead of contributing to their relief.
- When the rich plunder the poor of his rights, it becomes an example for the poor to plunder the rich of his property, for the rights of the one are as much property to him as wealth is property to the other, and the little all is as dear as the much. It is only by setting out on just principles that men are trained to be just to each other; and it will always be found, that when the rich protect the rights of the poor, the poor will protect the property of the rich. But the guarantee, to be effectual, must be parliamentarily reciprocal.
- America could carry on a two years’ war by the confiscation of the property of disaffected persons, and be made happy by their expulsion. Say not that this is revenge, call it rather the soft resentment of a suffering people, who, having no object in view but the good of all, have staked their own all upon a seemingly doubtful event. Yet it is folly to argue against determined hardness; eloquence may strike the ear, and the language of sorrow draw forth the tear of compassion, but nothing can reach the heart that is steeled with prejudice.
- The earth, in its natural, uncultivated state was, and ever would have continued to be, the common property of the human race.” As the land gets cultivated, “it is the value of the improvement, only, and not the earth itself, that is in individual property. Every proprietor, therefore, of cultivated lands, owes to the community a ground-rent..to every person, rich or poor…because it is in lieu of the natural inheritance, which, as a right, belongs to every man, over and above the property he may have created, or inherited from those who did
- As parents, we can have no joy, knowing that this government is not sufficiently lasting to ensure any thing which we may bequeath to posterity: And by a plain method of argument, as we are running the next generation into debt, we ought to do the work of it, otherwise we use them meanly and pitifully. In order to discover the line of our duty rightly, we should take our children in our hand, and fix our station a few years farther into life; that eminence will present a prospect, which a few present fears and prejudices conceal from our sight.
- The only idea man can affix to the name of God, is that of a first cause, the cause of all things. And, incomprehensibly difficult as it is for a man to conceive what a first cause is, he arrives at the belief of it, from the tenfold greater difficulty of disbelieving it. It is difficult beyond description to conceive that space can have no end; but it is more difficult to conceive an end. It is difficult beyond the power of man to conceive an eternal duration of what we call time; but it is more impossible to conceive a time when there shall be no time.
- The Creation speaks a universal language, independent of human speech or human language, multiplied and various as they be. It is an ever-existing original, which every man can read. It cannot be forged; it cannot be counterfeited; it cannot be lost; it cannot be altered; it cannot be suppressed. It does not depend upon the will of man whether it shall be published or not; it publishes itself from one end of the earth to the other. It preaches to all nations and to all worlds; and this Word of God reveals to man all that is necessary for man to know of God.
- It appears to general observation, that revolutions create genius and talents; but those events do no more than bring them forward. There is existing in man, a mass of sense lying in a dormant state, and which, unless something excites it to action, will descend with him, in that condition, to the grave. As it is to the advantage of society that the whole of its faculties should be employed, the construction of government ought to be such as to bring forward, by a quiet and regular operation, all that extent of capacity which never fails to appear in revolutions.
- Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is no more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more contradictory to itself than this thing called Christianity. Too absurd for belief, too impossible to convince, and too inconsistent for practice, it renders the heart torpid or produces only atheists or fanatics. As an engine of power, it serves the purpose of despotism, and as a means of wealth, the avarice of priests, but so far as respects the good of man in general it leads to nothing here or hereafter.
- As to the Christian system of faith, it appears to me as a species of Atheism — a sort of religious denial of God. It professes to believe in a man rather than in God. It is a compound made up chiefly of Manism with but little Deism, and is as near to Atheism as twilight is to darkness. It introduces between man and his Maker an opaque body, which it calls a Redeemer, as the moon introduces her opaque self between the earth and the sun, and it produces by this means a religious, or an irreligious, eclipse of light. It has put the whole orbit of reason into shade.
- If men will permit themselves to think, as rational beings ought to think, nothing can appear more ridiculous and absurd, exclusive of all moral reflections, than to be at the expence of building navies, filling them with men, and then hauling them into the ocean, to try which can sink each other fastester. Peace, which costs nothing, is attended with infintely more advantage than any victory with all its expence. But this, though it best answers the purpose of Nations, does not that of Court Governments, whose habited policy is pretence for taxation, places, and offices.
https://wisdomtrove.com/wp-content/uploads/formidable/3/oil-Thomas-Paine.jpg 382 300 You? https://wisdomtrove.com/wp-content/uploads/logo-test-300x37.png You?2020-12-05 08:05:462021-07-12 13:17:20Thomas Paine (quotes)- We are that which activates the body.
- You are within God. God is within you.
- We tend to attract the things we fear.
- A pilgrim is a wanderer with a purpose.
- We are all cells in the body of humanity
- In this world you are given as you give.
- We are all cells in the same body of humanity.
- There is great freedom in simplicity of living.
- Prayer is a concentration of positive thoughts.
- Unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens.
- I don’t eat junk foods and I don’t think junk thoughts.
- I don’t eat junk foods and I don’t think junk thoughts.
- Worry is a useless mulling over of things we cannot change.
- It’s the one who doesn’t know it can’t be done who does it!
- Life is like a mirror. Smile at it and it smiles back at you.
- Humanity has only scratched the surface of its real potential.
- The simplification of life is one of the steps to inner peace.
- Life is like a mirror. Smile at it and it smiles back at you.
- Keep your feet on the ground and your thoughts at lofty heights.
- My appointed work is to awaken the divine nature that is within.
- If you know but do not do, you are a very unhappy person indeed.
- Keep your feet on the ground and your thoughts at lofty heights.
- We have all the light we need, we just need to put it in practice.
- Before the tongue can speak, it must have lost the power to wound.
- It is those who have enough but not too much who are the happiest.
- Live according to your highest light and more light will be given.
- Before the tongue can speak, it must have lost the power to wound.
- I believe that the means you use will determine the end you receive.
- I shall remain a wanderer until mankind has learned the way of peace.
- If we fear nothing and radiate love, we can expect good things to come.
- Religion is not an end in itself. One’s union with God is the ultimate goal.
- As I lived up to the highest light I had, higher and higher light came to me.
- For light I go directly to the Source of light, not to any of the reflections.
- The valid research for the future is on the inner side, on the spiritual side.
- If you give your life as a prayer, you intensify the prayer beyond all measure.
- Only insofar as we remain in harmony with divine law – do good things come to us
- There is something to that old saying that hate injures the hater, not the hated.
- Take out the kernel of spiritual truth with any faith, and what is left is dogma.
- Real peace is more than the absence of war; it is an absence of the causes of war.
- There is something to that old saying that hate injures the hater, not the hated.
- World peace will never be stable until enough of us find inner peace to stabilize it
- Pure love is a willingness to give without a thought of receiving anything in return.
- What we usually call human evolution is the awakening of the divine nature within us.
- Pure love is a willingness to give without a thought of receiving anything in return.
- Spiritual truth should never be sold – those who sell it injure themselves spiritually.
- I shall not accept more than I need while others in the world have less than they need.
- If you knew how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.
- just as you cannot receive without giving, so neither can you give without receiving …
- If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.
- It is not through judgment that the good in people can be reached, but through love and faith.
- This is the way of peace: Overcome evil with good, falsehood with truth, and hatred with love.
- People see themselves as the center of the universe and judge everything as it relates to them.
- Many people who say they have financial problems really mean that they want more than they need.
- There is a spark of good in everybody, no matter how deeply it may be buried. It is the real you.
- The way of peace is the way of love. Love is the greatest power on earth. It conquers all things.
- A life without problems would be a barren existence, without the opportunity for spiritual growth.
- Life is a series of tests; but if you pass your tests, you look back upon them as good experiences.
- The way of peace is the way of love. Love is the greatest power on earth. It conquers all things….
- I pray without ceasing now. My personal prayer is: Make me an instrument which only truth can speak.
- When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others.
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- You’re in a much better position to talk with people when they approach you than when you approach them.
- When love fills your life all limitations are gone. The medicine this sick world needs so badly is love.
- No one can find inner peace except by working, not in a self- centered way, but for the whole human family.
- Anything you strive to hold captive will hold you captive, and if you desire freedom you must give freedom.
- Evil cannot be overcome by more evil. Evil can only be overcome by good. It is the lesson of the way of love.
- Most human beings only scratch the surface of their real potential. They have no idea what they’re capable of.
- If you have a negative thought about a world situation, dwell upon the best that could happen in that situation.
- Live in the present. Do the things that need to be done. Do all the good you can each day. The future will unfold
- Just concentrate on thinking and living and acting in harmony with God’s laws and inspiring others to do likewise.
- The ideal society has yet to be built – one which balances nicely collective well-being and individual well-being.
- Your lower self sees you as the center of the universe- your higher self sees you as a cell in the body of humanity.
- Never think of any right effort as being fruitless. All right effort bears fruit, whether we see the results or not.
- Almost all fear is fear of the unknown. Therefore, what’s the remedy? To become acquainted with the things you fear.
- I deal with spiritual truth which should never be sold and need never be bought. When you are ready it will be given.
- Blessed are they who translate every good thing they know into action – even higher truths shall be revealed to them.
- What people really suffer from is immaturity. Among mature people war would not be a problem – it would be impossible.
- If you feed a man a meal, you only feed him for a day-but if you teach a man to grow food, you feed him for a lifetime.
- If you think you can’t do something, you can’t. But if you think you can, you may be surprised to discover that you can.
- Knowing that all things contrary to God’s laws are transient, let us avoid despair and radiate hope for a warless world.
- One little person, giving all of her time to peace, makes news. Many people, giving some of their time, can make history.
- The fear habit is very detrimental because you attract the things you fear. If we have any fear we need to get rid of it.
- Be willing to face life squarely and get down beneath the surface of life where the verities and realities are to be found.
- If you realize that those who do mean things are psychologically ill, your feelings of anger will turn to feelings of pity.
- Evil can be helped to fade away more quickly if we remain in obedience to the Law of Love – evil must be overcome with good.
- Praying without ceasing is not ritualized, nor are there even words. It is a constant state of awareness of oneness with God.
- When you perceive that problems serve a purpose in your life, you will recognize that problems are opportunities in disguise.
- When we hear a prediction of some disaster we need to throw the entire weight of our positive thought in the opposite direction!
- Overcome evil with good, falsehood with truth, and hatred with love. The message isn’t new, but we haven’t learned to live it yet.
- The pain and suffering that comes to us has a purpose in our lives-it is trying to teach us something. We should look for its lesson.
- A few really dedicated people can offset the ill effects of masses of out-of-harmony people, so we who work for peace must not falter.
- It isn’t enough just to do right things and say right things, you must also think right things before your life can come into harmony.
- I have chosen the positive approach – instead of stressing the bad things which I am against, I stress the good things which I am for.
- The world is like a mirror; if you smile at it, it smiles at you. I love to smile, and so in general, I definitely receive smiles in return.
- Fountain of Love my source is in thee – Loving thy will my spirit is free – Beautiful day when all of us see – The hope of the world is Love!
- My mission is to help promote peace by helping others to find inner peace. If I can find it, you can too. Peace is an idea whose time has come.
- Most of us fall short much more by omission than by commission. While the world perishes we go our way: purposeless, passionless, day after day.
- Make food a very incidental part of your life by filling your life so full of meaningful things that you’ll hardly have time to think about food.
- When you do something for world peace, peace among groups, peace among individuals, or your own inner peace, you improve the total peace picture.
- People allow themselves to be slaves of their bad habits and society’s bad habits – but they have free will, and if they wish to be free they can.
- When you have found inner peace, you are in constant contact with the source of universal energy and cannot be tired. . . You have endless energy.
- Worry is useless mulling over of things we cannot change. Worry is not concern, which would motivate you to do everything possible in a situation.
- We spend a great deal of time telling God what we think should be done, and not enough time waiting in the stillness for God to tell us what to do.
- A loving and kindly approach works between individuals, it works between groups and it would work between nations if nations had the courage to try it.
- When societies are out of harmony, problems develop within the society – collective problems. Their purpose is to push the whole society toward harmony.
- If you don’t have enough you won’t be happy. Neither are you happy if you have too much. It is those who have enough but not too much who are the happiest.
- It takes quite a while for the living to catch up with the believing, but of course it can. As we live up to the highest light we have, more light is given.
- Inner peace is found by facing life squarely, solving its problems, and delving as far beneath its surface as possible to discover its verities and realities.
- We are all cells in the body of humanity – all of us, all over the world. Each one has a contribution to make, and will know from within what this contribution is.
- Anything you cannot relinquish when it has outlived its usefulness possesses you, and in this materialistic age a great many of us are possessed by our possessions.
- Looking through the eyes of the divine nature you see the essence within the manifestation, the creator within the creation, and it is a wonderful, wonderful world!
- Collective problems must be solved by all of us, collectively, and no one finds inner peace who avoids doing his or her share in the solving of collective problems.
- The simplification of life is one of the steps to inner peace. A persistent simplification will create an inner and outer well-being that places harmony in one’s life.
- You might say that science operates pragmatically and religion by divine guidance. If valid, they would reach the same conclusions but science would take a lot longer.
- Anything you cannot relinquish when it has outlived its usefulness, possesses you. And in this materialistic age, a great many of us are possessed by our possessions.
- The simplification of life is one of the steps to inner peace. A persistent simplification will create an inner and outer well-being that places harmony in one’s life.
- If you did not face problems you would just drift through life. It is through solving problems in accordance with the highest light we have that inner growth is attained.
- People have found inner peace by losing themselves in a cause larger than themselves. Finding inner peace means coming from the self-centered life into the life centered.
- Peace and freedom! These things shall be! How soon these things shall be – whether now or whether after great destruction and new beginnings and eons of time – is up to us!
- Do not suppress it-that would hurt you inside. Do not express it-this would not only hurt you inside, it would cause ripples in your surroundings. What you do is transform it.
- If you recognize that all of your inner hurts are caused by your own wrong actions or your own wrong reactions or your own wrong inaction, then you will stop hurting yourself.
- The best way to come to terms with anything that is out of harmony is never to fear it – that gives it power. Bring good influences to bear upon it; make yourself a good example.
- Do not suppress it – that would hurt you inside. Do not express it – this would not only hurt you inside, it would cause ripples in your surroundings. What you do is transform it.
- I don’t eat junk foods and I don’t think junk thoughts! Let me tell you, junk thoughts can destroy you even more quickly than junk food. Junk thoughts are something to be wary of.
- Do not believe in me or any other teacher, rather trust in your own inner voice. This is your guide, this is your teacher. Your teacher is within not without. Know yourself, not me!
- There is a criterion by which you can judge whether the thoughts you are thinking and the things you are doing are right for you. The criterion is: Have they brought you inner peace?
- You must give if you want to receive. Let the center of your being be one of giving, giving, giving. You can’t give too much, and you will discover you cannot give without receiving.
- We need a Peace Department in our national government to do extensive research on peaceful ways of resolving conflicts. Then we can ask other countries to create similar departments.
- I would like to emphasize again that right prayer leads to right action, that faith without works is dead. An excellent way to put thoughts into action is to write a letter for peace.
- All who act upon their highest motivations become a power for good. Know that every right thing you do – every good word you say – every positive thought you think – has a good effect.
- After you have found inner peace you have endless energy – the more you give, the more you receive. After you have found your calling, you work easily and joyously. You never get tired.
- All of us can work for peace. We can work right where we are, right within ourselves, because the more peace we have within our own lives, the more we can reflect into the outer situation.
- We should never underestimate the great power of the way of love which reaches that spark of good in the other person, always there no matter how deeply buried, and the person is disarmed.
- My inner peace remains in spite of any outward thing. Only insofar as I remain in harmony can I draw others into harmony, and so much more harmony is needed before the world can find peace.
- A PILGRIM IS A WANDERER WITH A PURPOSE. A pilgrimage can be to a place – that’s the best known kind – but it can also be for a thing. Mine is for peace, and that is why I am a Peace Pilgrim.
- Then there is the way that was taught two thousand years ago – of overcoming evil with good, which is my way, the way Jesus taught. Never loose faith: God’s way is bound to prevail in the end.
- We worship God, but have no faith in the workings of God’s laws of love. The world awaits the living of the law of love, which will reach the divine within all human beings and transform them.
- I’ve met a few people who had to change their jobs in order to change their lives, but I’ve met many more people who merely had to change their motive to service in order to change their lives.
- The price of peace is to abandon greed and replace it with giving, so that none will be spiritually injured by having more than they need while others in the world still have less than they need.
- Every good that you do, every good that you say, every good thought you think, vibrates on and on and never ceases. The evil remains only until it is overcome by good, but the good remains forever.
- If you do not yet know where you fit, I suggest you try seeking it in receptive silence. I used to walk amid the beauties of nature, just receptive and silent, and wonderful insights would come to me.
- The lesson of the way of love is that evil can only be overcome by good. We don’t need to reach out and tear down the things that are evil because nothing which is contrary to the law of love can endure.
- If you are not radiant with joy and friendliness, if you are not filled to overflowing with love and goodwill for all beings and all creatures and all creation, one thing is certain: you do not know God!
- You have endless energy only when you are working for the good of the whole – you have to stop working for your little selfish interests. That’s the secret of it. In this world you are given as you give.
- If your life is in harmony, then your life is full and good, but not overcrowded. If it is overcrowded, you are doing more than is right for you, more than is your job to do in the total scheme of things.
- When we attempt to isolate another we only isolate ourselves. We are all God’s children and there are no favorites. God is revealed to all who seek; God speaks to all who will listen. Be still and know God.
- Let us help the phoenix to rise from the ashes; let us help lay the foundation for a new renaissance; let us help to accelerate the spiritual awakening until it lifts us into the golden age which would come.
- We limit ourselves by thinking things can’t be done. Many think peace in the world is impossible – many think that inner peace cannot be attained. It is the one who doesn’t know it can’t be done who does it!
- If only you could see the whole picture, if you knew the whole story, you would realize that no problem ever comes to you that does not have a purpose in your life, that cannot contribute to your inner growth.
- Few find inner peace but this is not because they try and fail, it is because they do not try. . . When your life is governed by the divine nature instead of the self-centered nature you have found inner peace.
- Unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens. If you have them, you have to take care of them! There is great freedom in simplicity of living. It is those who have enough but not too much who are the happiest.
- The simplified life is a sanctified life, Much more calm, much less strife. Oh, what wondrous truths are unveiled- Projects succeed which had previously failed. Oh, how beautiful life can be, Beautiful simplicity.
- At a simple level, good is that which helps people-evil is that which hurts people. At a higher level, good is that which is in harmony with divine purpose-evil is that which is out of harmony with divine purpose.
- Life is a mixture of successes and failures. May you be encouraged by the successes and strengthened by the failures. As long as you never lose faith in God, you will be victorious over any situation you may face.
- I felt a complete willingness, without any reservations, to give my life, to dedicate my life to service. I tell you, it’s a point of no return. After that, you can never go back to completely self-centered living.
- I wish that every child could have growing space because I think children are a little like plants. If they grow too close together, they become thin and sickly and never obtain maximum growth. We need room to grow.
- You have much more power when you are working for the right thing than when you are working against the wrong thing. And, of course, if the right thing is established wrong things will fade away of their own accord.
- Visualize a golden light within you and spread it out. First to those about you – your circle of friends and relatives – and then gradually to the world. Keep on visualizing God’s golden light surrounding our earth.
- Unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens. If you have them, you have to take care of them! There is great freedom in simplicity of living. It is those who have enough but not too much who are the happiest.
- The motive, if you are to find inner peace, must be an outgoing motive. Service, of course-service. Giving, not getting. Your motive must be good if your work is to have good effect. The secret of life is being of service.
- When you feel the need for a spiritual lift, try getting to bed early and get up early to have a quiet time at dawn. Then carry the serene ‘in tune’ feeling that comes to you into your day, no matter what you may be doing.
- You can visualize God’s light each day and send it to someone who needs help. Your divine nature must reach out and touch the divine nature of another. Within you is the light of the world, it must be shared with the world.
- When you have constant communion with God, a constant receiving from within, there is never any doubt; you know your way. You become an instrument through which the job is done, therefore you have no feeling of self-achievement
- People sometimes ask me if I do not feel lonely on holidays. How can I feel lonely when I live in the constant awareness of God’s presence? I love and I enjoy being with people, but when I am alone I enjoy being alone with God.
- You can find God if you will only seek – by obeying divine laws, by loving people, by relinquishing self-will, attachments, negative thoughts and feelings. And when you find God it will be in stillness. You will find God within.
- Remember that no one can hurt you except yourself. If someone does a mean thing to you, that person is hurt. You are not really hurt unless you become embittered, or unless you become angry and perhaps do a mean thing in return.
- People have the most control over their affairs at the grass-roots level. Anything that can be fairly and efficiently handled at a grass-roots level should be thus handled, and only delegated to a higher authority when necessary.
- To attain inner peace you must actually give your life, not just your possessions. When you at last give your life – bringing into alignment your beliefs and the way you live then, and only then, can you begin to find inner peace.
- I walk until given shelter, fast until given food. I don’t ask – it’s given without asking. Aren’t people good! There’s a spark of good in everybody, no mater how deeply it may be buried. It’s waiting to govern your life gloriously.
- To the world I may seem very poor, walking penniless and wearing or carrying in my pockets my only material possessions, but I am really very rich in blessings which no amount of money could buy – health and happiness and inner peace.
- Faith is a belief in things that your senses have not experienced and your mind does not understand, but you have touched them in other ways and have accepted them. It is easy for one to speak of faith; it is another thing to live it.
- Religion is to be used as a stepping stone to God but it must never be used as a tower to hold one aloft from others. We are all cells in the body of humanity. When anyone attempts to isolate another, they only isolate themselves more.
- I feel a complete protection on my pilgrimage. God is my shield. There are no accidents in the Divine Plan nor does God leave us unattended. No one walks so safely as those who walk humbly and harmlessly with great love and great faith.
- Many people profess Christianity. Very few live it-almost none. And when you live it people may think you’re crazy. It has been truthfully said that the world is equally shocked by one who repudiates Christianity as by one who practices it.
- Humanity can only improve as people improve. When you have improved your life, you can inspire those around you to want to improve their lives. Remember that a few in harmony with God’s will are more powerful than multitudes out of harmony.
- There is no glimpse of the light without walking the path. You can’t get it from anyone else, nor can you give it to anyone. Just take whatever steps seem easiest for you, and as you take a few steps it will be easier for you to take a few more.
- Constantly through thought you are creating your inner conditions and helping to create the conditions around you. So keep your thoughts on the positive side, think about the best that could happen, think about the good things you want to happen.
- Although others may feel sorry for you, never feel sorry for yourself: it has a deadly effect on spiritual well-being. Recognize all problems, no matter how difficult, as opportunities for spiritual growth, and make the most of these opportunities.
- Are you a slave to your self-centered nature or does your divine nature guide your life? Do you kow that every moment of your life you’re creating through thought? You create your own inner condition; you’re helping create the conditions around you.
- Never underestimate the power of a loosely knit group working for a good cause. All of us who work for peace together, all of us who pray for peace together, are a small minority, but a powerful spiritual fellowship. Our power is beyond our numbers.
- Praying without ceasing is not ritualized, nor are there even words. It is a constant state of awareness of oneness with God; it is a sincere seeking for a good thing; and it is a concentration on the thing sought, with faith that it is obtainable.
- I began my pilgrimage on the first of January in 1953. It is my spiritual birthday of sorts. It was a period in which I was merged with the whole. No longer was I a seed buried under the ground, but I felt as a flower reaching out effortlessly toward the sun.
- I considered myself liberated long before it became the fashion. First I liberated myself from debilitating habits, and went on to free myself of combative, aggressive thoughts. I have also cast aside any unnecessary possessions. This, I feel, is true liberation.
- If democracy is control by the people, as it is supposed to be, it is the right form of government. I believe in a complete democracy – individual, political, social, economic. If we really had that, which we don’t now, it would be in harmony with divine purpose.
- People have had to make up for their spiritual impoverishment by accumulating material things. When spiritual blessings come, material blessings seem unimportant. As long as we desire material things this is all we receive, and we remain spiritually impoverished.
- ….If you are guided toward a faith, use it as a stepping stone to God, not as a barrier between yourself and God’s other children or as a tower to hold you aloft from others. If you are not guided toward a faith (or even if you are) seek God in the silence – seek within.
- There is a magic formula for resolving conflicts. It is this: Have as your objective the resolving of the conflict, not the gaining of advantage. There is a magic formula for avoiding conflicts. It is this: Be concerned that you do not offend, not that you are not offended.
- I have faith that God will care for me, and God does provide my needs. I don’t in any way feel insecure because I don’t know where I will sleep at night, where or when I will eat next. When you have spiritual security, you have no more feeling of need for material security.
- It’s very important to get your desires centered so you will desire only to do God’s will for you. You can come to the point of oneness of desire, just to know and do your part in the Life Pattern. When you think about it, is there anything else as really important to desire?
- When I began my pilgrimage I left the Los Angeles area without a cent, having faith that God would provide me with everything I needed. Although I have never asked for anything, God has provided me with everything along the way. Without ever asking for anything I’ve been supplied.
- It is my mission as a pilgrim to act as a messenger expressing spiritual truths. It is a task which I accept joyfully, and I desire nothing in return, neither praise or glory, nor the glitter of silver and gold. I simply rejoice to be able to follow the whisperings of a Higher Will.
- We people of the world need to find ways to get to know one another – for then we will recognize that our likenesses are so much greater than our differences, however great our differences may seem. Every cell, every human being, is of equal importance and has work to do in this world
- Think about all the good things of your life. Never think about your difficulties. Forget yourself, and concentrate on being of service as much as you can in this world, and then, having lost your lower self in a cause greater than yourself, you will find your higher self: your real self.
- Religion is not an end in itself. One’s union with God is the ultimate goal. There are so many religions because immature people tend to emphasize trivial differences instead of important likenesses. Differences between faiths lie in creeds and rituals rather than in religious principles….
- All right prayer has good effect, but if you give your whole life to the prayer you multiply its power… No one really knows the full power of prayer. Of course, there is a relationship between prayer and action. Receptive prayer result in an inner receiving, which motivates to right action.
- Just as a human soul that faces great difficulties also faces great opportunities for spiritual growth, so a human society that faces destruction also faces the opportunity to enter a period of renaissance. I think that, barring an accident, the wish to survive will keep us from a nuclear war.
- In order to help usher in the golden age we must see the good in people. We must know it is there, no matter how deeply it may be buried. Yes, apathy is there and selfishness is there – but good is there also. It is not through judgment that the good can be reached, but through love and faith.
- When you make people angry, they act in accordance with their baser instincts, often violently and irrationally. When you inspire people, they act in accordance with their higher instincts, sensibly and rationally. Also, anger is transient, whereas inspiration sometimes has a life-long effect.
- I am constantly thankful. The world is so beautiful, I am thankful. I have endless energy, I am thankful. I am plugged into the source of Universal Supply, I am thankful. I am plugged into the source of Universal Truth, I am thankful. I have this constant feeling of thankfulness, which is a prayer.
- If you are harboring the slightest bitterness toward anyone, or any unkind thoughts of any sort whatever, you must get rid of them quickly. They are not hurting anyone but you. It isn’t enough just to do right things and say right things – you must also think right things before your life can come into harmony.
- In my life, what I want and what I need are exactly the same. Anything in excess of needs is burdensome to me. You couldn’t give me anything I don’t need. I am penniless, but have difficulty remaining so. Several of my well meaning, well-to-do friends have offered me large sums of money, which I of course refused.
- Of course, I love everyone I meet. How could I fail to! Within everyone is the spark of God. I am not concerned with racial or ethnic background or the color of one’s skin; all people look to me like shining lights! I see in all creatures the reflections of God. All people are my kinfolk – people to me are beautiful!
- I recognized that there are some well-known, little understood, and seldom practiced laws that we must live by if we wish to find peace within or without. Included are the laws that evil can only be overcome by good; that only good means can attain a good end; that those who do unloving things hurt themselves spiritually.
- Penance is the willingness to undergo hardships for the achievement of a good purpose. I was willing. But when hardships came I found myself lifted above them. Instead of hardship, I found a wonderful sense of peace and joy and conviction that I was following God’s will. Blessings instead of hardships are showered upon me.
- How good it is to work in the invigorating fresh air under the life-giving sun amid the inspiring beauty of nature. There are many who recognize this… How good it is to earn you livelihood by contributing constructively to the society in which you live – everyone should, of course, and in a healthy society everyone would.
- If any influential nation had the great spiritual strength to lay down its arms and appear with clean hands before the world, the world would be changed. I see no evidence that any influential nations has such great spiritual strength and courage. Therefore disarmament will be a slow process, motivated by the wish to survive.
- There was a time – when I attained inner peace – when I died, utterly died to myself. I have since renounced my previous identity. I can see not reason to dwell upon my past, it is dead and should not be resurrected. Don’t inquire of me – ask me about my message. It is not important to remember the messenger, just remember the message.
- There is within the hearts of people a deep desire for peace on earth, and they would speak for peace if they were not bound by apathy, by ignorance, by fear. It is the job of the peacemakers to inspire them from their apathy, to dispel their ignorance with truth, to allay their fear with faith that God’s laws work – and work for good.
- No one walks so safely as one who walks humbly and harmlessly with great love and great faith. For such a person gets through to the good in others (and there is good in everyone), and therefore cannot be harmed. This works between individuals, it works between groups and it would work between nations if nations had the courage to try it.
- When you have done the spiritual growing up you realize that every human being is of equal importance, has work to do in this world, and has equal potential. We are in many varied stages of growth; this is true because we have free will. You have free will as to whether you will finish the mental and emotional growing up. Many choose not to.
- I define democracy as control by the people. Slaves are those who allow others to control their lives. Insofar as people succeed in solving their problems fairly and efficiently at a grassroots level, they retain control over their lives. Insofar as they delegate their problem solving to a higher authority, they lose control over their lives.
- The sanctuary of peace dwells within. Seek it out and all things will be added to you. We’re coming closer and closer to the time when enough of us will have found inner peace to affect our institutions for the better. And as soon as this happens the institutions will in turn, through example, affect for the better those who are still immature.
- I am never lonely or discouraged or tired. When you live in constant communion with God, you cannot be lonely. When you perceive the working of God’s wonderful plan and know that all good effort bears good fruit, you cannot be discouraged. When you have found inner peace, you are in contact with the source of universal energy and cannot be tired.
- Pure love is a willingness to give, without a thought of receiving anything in return. Love can save the world from nuclear destruction. Love God: turn to God with receptiveness and responsiveness. Love your fellow human beings: turn to them with friendliness and givingness. Make yourself fit to be called a child of God by living the way of love.
- Many common problems are caused by wrong attitudes. People see themselves as the center of the universe and judge everything as it relates to them. Naturally you won’t be happy that way. You can only be happy when you see things in proper perspective: all human beings are of equal importance in God’s sight, and have a job to do in the divine plan.
- Walk with me, but don’t follow me blindly. Hold fast to the truth, not to my garments. My body is merely a clay structure; today it is here, tomorrow it shall be gone. If you attach yourself to me today, what are you going to do tomorrow when I am not with you? Attach yourself to God, attach yourself to humanity, only then will you be closer to me.
- In all the people I meet – though some may be governed by the self-centered nature and may not know their potential at all – I see that divine spark. And that’s what I concentrate on. All people look beautiful to me; they look like shining lights to me. I always have the feeling of being thankful for these beautiful people who walk the earth with me.
- We must be able to appreciate and enjoy the places where we tarry and yet pass on without anguish when we are called elsewhere. In our spiritual development we are often required to pull up roots many times and to close many chapters in our lives until we are no longer attached to any material thing and can love all people without any attachment to them.
- My appointed work is to awaken the divine nature that is within. This is my calling, to open doors of truth and make people think, to arouse others from their apathetic and lethargic state, and get them to seek out for themselves the inner peace which dwells within. This is the extent of my undertaking, I can do no more. The rest I leave to a higher power.
- How often are you worrying about the present moment? The present moment is usually all right. If you’re worrying, you’re either agonizing over the past which you should have forgotten long ago, or else you’re apprehensive over the future which hasn’t even come yet. We tend to skip over the present moment which is the only moment God gives any of us to live.
- If we could put material things into their proper place, and use them without being attached to them, how much freer we would be. Then we wouldn’t burden ourselves with things we don’t need. If we could only realize that we are all cells in the same body of humanity – then we would think of having enough for all, not too much for some and too little for others.
- I do my work easily and joyously. I feel beauty all around me and I see beauty in everyone I meet, for I see God in everything. I recognize my part in the Life Pattern and I find harmony through gladly and joyously living it. I recognize my oneness with all mankind and my oneness with God. My happiness overflows in loving and giving toward everyone and everything.
- Judging others will avail you nothing and injure you spiritually. Only if you can inspire others to judge themselves will anything worthwhile have been accomplished. When you approach others in judgment they will be on the defensive. When you are able to approach them in a kindly, loving manner without judgment they will tend to judge themselves and be transformed.
- Those who have overcome self-will and become instruments to do God’s work can accomplish tasks which are seemingly impossible, but they experience no feeling of self achievement. I now know myself to be a part of the infinite cosmos, not separate from other souls or God. My illusory self is dead; the real self controls the garment of clay and uses it for God’s work.
- That which is received from without can be compared with knowledge. It leads to believing, which is seldom strong enough to motivate to action. That which is confirmed from within after it is contacted from without, or that which is directly perceived from within (which is my way) can be compared with wisdom. It leads to a knowing, and action goes right along with it.
- Some people seem to think that my life dedicated to simplicity and service is austere and joyless, but they do not know the freedom of simplicity. I am thankful to God every moment of my life for the great riches that have been showered upon me. My life is full and good but never overcrowded. If life is overcrowded then you are doing more than is required for you to do.
- When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others. Inner peace is not found by staying on the surface of life, or by attempting to escape from life through any means. Inner peace is found by facing life squarely, solving its problems, and delving as far beneath its surface as possible to discover its verities and realities.
- As I looked about the world, so much of it impoverished, I became increasingly uncomfortable about having so much while my brothers and sisters were starving. Finally I had to find another way. The turning point came when, in desperation and out of a very deep seeking for a meaningful way of life, I walked all one night through the woods. I came to a moonlit glade and prayed.
- I learned about forty years ago that money and things wouldn’t make people happy. And this has been confirmed many times. I have met many millionaires. They had one thing in common. None of them were happy….I realize that if you don’t have enough you won’t be happy. Neither are you happy if you have too much. It is those who have enough but not too much who are the happiest.
- Who am I? It matters not that you know who I am; it is of little importance. This clay garment is one of a penniless pilgrim journeying in the name of peace. It is what you cannot see that is so very important. I am one who is propelled by the power of faith; I bathe in the light of eternal wisdom; I am sustained by the unending energy of the universe; this is who I really am.
- My desire is to strive toward perfection; to be as much in harmony with God’s will as possible; to live up to the highest light I have. I’m still not perfect, of course, but I grow daily… I am able to do everything I am called to do, and I do know what I need to know to do my part in the Divine Plan. And I do experience the happiness of living in harmony with God’s will for me.
- I remember my first lesson on the pilgrimage was the lesson of receiving. I had been on the giving side for many years and I needed to learn to accept as gracefully as I had been able to give, in order to give the other fellow the joy and blessing of giving. It’s so beautiful when you live to give. To me it’s the only way to live because as you give you receive spiritual blessings.
- You must learn to forgive yourself as easily as you forgive others. And then take a further step and use all that energy that you used in condemning yourself for improving yourself. After that I really started to get somewhere – because there’s only one person you can change and that’s yourself. After you have changed yourself, you might be able to inspire others to look for change.
- Believing that war is contrary to the will of God and to common sense, and feeling that the way of peace is the way of love, I shall work for peace by using the way of love myself, by helping any group I am part of to use it, by helping the nation of which I am a citizen to use it, by helping the United Nations to use it, and by praying that the way of love be used all over the world.
- My clothes are most comfortable as well as practical. I wear navy blue slacks and a long sleeve shirt topped with my lettered tunic. Along the edge of my tunic, both front and rear, are partitioned compartments which are hemmed up to serve as pockets. These hold all my possessions which consist of a comb, a folding toothbrush, a ball point pen, a map, some copies of my message and my mail.
- I believe it is quite possible for us to obtain an outer peace at the present time. Historically speaking, when human beings are faced with the choice between destruction and change, they are apt to choose change, and it’s about the only thing that will make them choose change. So we have the possibility at the present time to take a different direction in the world – the possibility exists!
- We must walk according to the highest light we have, encountering lovingly those who are out of harmony, and trying to inspire them toward a better way. Whenever you bring harmony into any unpeaceful situation, you contribute to the cause of peace. When you do something for world peace, peace among groups, peace among individuals, or your own inner peace, you improve the total peace picture.
- I have never met anyone who built a bomb shelter and felt protected by it. I have never met a modern military man who did not realize that military victory is a concept which became obsolete with the coming of the nuclear age, and most civilians realize this also. Wisdom demands that we stop preparing to wage a war which would eliminate mankind – and start preparing to eliminate the seeds of war.
- I sleep equally well in a soft bed or on the grass beside the road. If I am given food and shelter, fine. If not, I’m just as happy. Many times I am given shelter by total strangers. When hospitality is not available there are always bus depots, railroad stations and all night truck stops…. When no shelter is available to me, I sleep in the fields or by the side of the road with God to guard me.
- The darkness that we see in our world today is due to the disintegration of things out of harmony with God’s laws. The basic conflict is not between nations, it is between two opposing beliefs. The first is that evil can be overcome by more evil, that the end justifies the means. This belief is very prevalent in our world today. It is the war way. It is the official position of every major nation.
- THIS IS THE WAY OF PEACE: Overcome evil with good, falsehood with truth, and hatred with love… My simple peace message is adequate – really just the message that the way of peace is the way of love. Love is the greatest power on earth. It conquers all things. One in harmony with God’s law of love has more strength than an army, for one need not subdue an adversary; an adversary can be transformed.
- Were I to solve problems for others they would remain stagnant; they would never grow. It would be a great injustice to them. My approach is to help with cause rather than effect. When I help others, it is by instilling within them the inspiration to work out problems by themselves. If you feed a man a meal, you only feed him for a day-but if you teach a man to grow food, you feed him for a lifetime.
- I had created sufficient age when I started out January 1, 1953, and I said, that’s enough. From that time on I thought of myself as being ageless and in radiant health, and I am. I haven’t gotten younger, but I see no point in getting younger. I can get along just fine as I am, and if you have learned the lessons of the seasons of life before, you really have no wish to return to a prior season of life.
- Know that you are God’s beautiful child, always in God’s hands. Accept God… accept God’s protection… there is really no problem to fear. Know that you are not the clay garment. Know that you are not the self-centered nature which governs your life needlessly. Know that you are the God-centered nature, The Kingdom of God within. The Indwelling Christ. Eternal and indestructible. Identify with the real you.
- Now there is living to give instead of to get. As you concentrate on the giving, you discover that just as you cannot receive without giving, so neither can you give without receiving – even the most wonderful things like health and happiness and inner peace. There is a feeling of endless energy, it just never runs out, it seems to be as endless as air. You seem to be plugged in to the source of universal energy.
- If you want to serve the universe, the obvious place to begin is right where you are. That’s where I began. I looked at every situation I came into and wondered, ‘What can I do to be of service in this situation?’ Sometimes there was nothing I could do, but often there was – a helping hand, a word of cheer, a pleasant smile. Then, after I had given a lot, a most wonderful spiritual receiving began – giving me more to give.
- Truth is the pearl without price. One cannot obtain truth by buying it-all you can do is to strive for spiritual truth and when one is ready, it will be given freely. Nor should spiritual truth be sold, lest the seller be injured spiritually. You lose any spiritual contact the moment you commercialize it. Those who have the truth would not be packaging and selling it, so anyone who is selling it, really does not possess it.
- What I walk on is not the energy of youth, it is a better energy. I walk on the endless energy of inner peace that never runs out! When you become a channel through which God works there are no more limitations, because God does the work through you: you are the instrument – and what God can do is unlimited. When you are working for God you do not find yourself striving and straining. You find yourself calm, serene and unhurried.
- Any praise I receive does not change me, for I pass it right along to God. I walk because God gives me strength to walk, I live because God gives me the supply to live, I speak because God gives me the words to speak. All I did was to surrender my will to God’s will. My entire life has prepared me for this undertaking. This is my calling. This is my vocation. This is what I must be doing. I could not be happy doing anything else.
- The basic cause of all our difficulties is immaturity. That’s why I talk so much about peace within ourselves as a step toward peace in our world. If we were mature, war would not be possible and peace would be assured. In our immaturity we do not know the laws of the universe, and we think evil can be overcome by more evil. One symptom of our immaturity is greed, making it difficult for us to learn the simple lesson of sharing…
- Intellectually I touched God many times as truth and emotionally I touched God as love. I touched God as goodness. I touched God as kindness. It came to me that God is a creative force, a motivating power, an over-all intelligence, an ever-present, all pervading spirit – which binds everything in the universe together and gives life to everything. That brought God close. I could not be where God is not. You are within God. God is within you.
- It is through solving problems correctly that we grow spiritually. We are never given a burden unless we have the capacity to overcome it. If a great problem is set before you, this merely indicates that you have the great inner strength to solve a great problem. There is never really anything to be discouraged about, because difficulties are opportunities for inner growth, and the greater the difficulty the greater the opportunity for growth.
- Just after I dedicated my life to service, I felt that I could no longer accept more than I need while others in the world have less than they need. This moved me to bring my life down to need level. I thought it would be difficult. I thought it would entail a great many hardships, but I was quite wrong. Instead of hardships, I found a wonderful sense of peace and joy, and a conviction that unnecessary possessions are only unnecessary burdens.
- There is no greater block to world peace or inner peace than fear. What we fear we tend to develop an unreasoning hatred for, so we come to hate and fear. This not only injures us psychologically and aggravates world tension, but through such negative concentration we tend to attract the things we fear. If we fear nothing and radiate love, we can expect good things to come. How much this world needs the message and example of love and of faith!
- The path of the seeker is full of pitfalls and temptations, and the seeker must walk it alone with God. I would recommend that you keep your feet on the ground and your thoughts at lofty heights, so that you may attract only good. Concentrate on giving so that you may open yourself to receiving; concentrate on living according to the light you have so that you may open yourself to more light; get as much light as possible through the inner way.
- IN THE BEGINNING I undertook my walking not only to contact people, I undertook it as a prayer discipline to keep me concentrated on my prayer for peace… After the first few years the prayer discipline was completely unnecessary, because I had learned to pray without ceasing. I made the contact so thoroughly that into my prayer consciousness I put any condition or person in the world I am concerned about and the rest takes place automatically.
- No outward thing – nothing, nobody from without – can hurt me inside, psychologically. I recognized that I could only be hurt psychologically by my own wrong actions, which I have control over; by my own wrong reactions (they are tricky, but I have control over them too); or by my own inaction in some situations, like the present world situation, that need action from me. When I recognized all this how free I felt! And I just stopped hurting myself.
- Implanting spiritual ideas in children is very important. Many people live their entire lives according to the concepts that are implanted in them in childhood. When children learn they will get the most attention and love through doing constructive things, they will tend to stop doing destructive things. Most important of all, remember that children learn through example. No matter what you say it is what you do that will have an influence on them.
- Difficulties with material things often come to remind us that our concentration should be on spiritual things instead of material things. Sometimes difficulties of the body come to show that the body is just a transient garment, and that the reality is the indestructible essence which activates the body. But when we can say, ‘Thank God for problems which are sent for our spiritual growth.’ They are no longer problems. They then become opportunities.
- If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a defeatist or negative thought. Since we create through thought, we need to concentrate very strongly on positive thoughts. If you think you can’t do something, you can’t. But if you think you can, you may be surprised to discover that you can. It is important that our thoughts be constantly for the best that could happen in a situation – for the good things we would like to see happen.
- When I started out on my pilgrimage, I was using walking for two purposes at that time. One was to contact people, and I still use it for that purpose today. But the other was as a prayer discipline. To keep me concentrated on my prayer for peace. And after a few years I discovered something. I discovered that I no longer needed the prayer discipline. I pray without ceasing now. My personal prayer is: Make me an instrument through which only truth can speak.
- It does not matter what name you attach to it, but your consciousness must ascend to the point through which you view the universe with your God-centered nature. The feeling accompanying this experience is that of complete oneness with the Universal Whole… This God-centered nature is constantly awaiting to govern your life gloriously. You have the free will to either allow it to govern your life, or not to allow it to affect you. The choice is always yours!
- The only footwear I need is an inexpensive pair of blue sneakers. They have soft fabric tops and soft rubber-like soles. I get them one size too large so I can wiggle my toes. I feel as free as though I were barefoot! And I can usually get 1,500 miles to a pair. I wear a pair of navy blue socks.There’s a reason why I chose navy blue for my wearing apparel-it’s a very practical color, doesn’t show dirt, and the color blue does represent peace and spirituality.
- I always have a feeling of awe and wonder at what God can do – using me as an instrument. I believe that anyone who is fully surrendered to God’s will can be used gloriously – and will really know some things – and will probably be called self-righteous. You’re called self-righteous if you are self-centered enough to think you know everything – but you may also be called self-righteous by the immature if you are God-centered enough to really know some things.
- In my work I have chosen the positive approach. I never think of myself as protesting against something, but rather as witnessing for harmonious living. Those who witness for, present solutions. Those who witness against, usually do not – they dwell on what is wrong, resorting to judgment and criticism and sometimes even name-calling. Naturally, the negative approach has a detrimental effect on the person who uses it, while the positive approach has a good effect
- I am a deeply religious person, but I belong to no denomination. I follow the spirit of God’s law, not the letter of the law. One can become so attached to the outward symbols and structure of religion that one forgets its original intent – to bring one closer to God. We can only gain access to the Kingdom of God by realizing it dwells within us as well as in all humanity. Know that we are all cells in the ocean of infinity, each contributing to the others’ welfare.
- Concealed in every new situation we face is a spiritual lesson to be learned and a spiritual blessing for us if we learn that lesson. It is good to be tested. We grow and learn through passing tests. I look upon all my tests as good experiences. Before I was tested, I believed I would act in a loving or non-fearing way. After I was tested, I knew! Every test turned out to be an uplifting experience. And it is not important that the outcome be according to our wishes.
- The spiritual life is the real life; all else is illusion and deception. Only those who are attached to God alone are truly free. Only those who live up to the highest light live in harmony. All who act upon their highest motivations become a power for good. It is not important that others be noticeably affected: results should never be sought or desired. Know that every right thing you do – every good word you say – every positive thought you think – has good effect.
- I also made two very important discoveries as time went on. In the first place, I discovered that making money was easy. I had been led to believe that money and possessions would insure me a life of happiness and peace of mind. So that was the path I pursued. In the second place, I discovered that making money and spending it foolishly was completely meaningless. I knew that this was not what I was here for, but at that time I didn’t know exactly what I was here for.
- I would like to mention some preparations that were required of me. The first preparation is to take a right attitude toward life. This means, stop being an escapist! Stop being a surface liver who stays right in the froth of the surface. There are millions of these people, and they never find anything really worthwhile. Be willing to face life squarely and get down beneath the surface of life where the verities and realities are to be found. That’s what we are doing here now.
- For those of you who are seeing the spiritual life, I recommend these four daily practices: Spend time alone each day in receptive silence. When angry, or afflicted with any negative emotion, take time to be alone with God. (Do not talk with people who are angry; they are irrational and cannot be reasoned with. If you or they are angry, it is best to leave and pray.) Visualize God’s light each day and send it to someone who needs help. Exercise the body, it is the temple of the soul.
- We can work on inner peace and world peace at the same time. On one hand, people have found inner peace by losing themselves in a cause larger than themselves, like the cause of world peace, because finding inner peace means coming from the self-centered life into the life centered in the good of the whole. On the other hand, one of the ways of working for world peace is to work for more inner peace, because world peace will never be stable until enough of us find inner peace to stabilize it.
- I talk to groups studying the most advanced spiritual teachings and sometimes these people wonder why nothing is happening in their lives. Their motive is the attainment of inner peace for themselves – which of course is a selfish motive. You will not find it with this motive. The motive, if you are to find inner peace, must be an outgoing motive. Service, of course, service. Giving, not getting. Your motive must be good if your work is to have good effect. The secret of life is being of service.
- I no longer become angry. I not only do not say angry words, I do not even think angry thoughts! If someone does an unkind thing to me I feel only compassion instead of resentment. Even upon those who cause suffering I look with deep compassion, knowing the harvest of sorrow that lies in store for them. If there were those who hated me, I would love them in return, knowing that hatred can only be overcome by love, and knowing that there is good in all human beings which can be reached by a loving approach.
- A few really dedicated people can offset the masses of out of harmony people, so we who work for peace must not falter, we must continue to pray for peace and to act for peace in whatever way we can. We must continue to speak for peace and to live the way of peace; to inspire others, we must continue to think of peace and know that peace is possible. What we dwell upon we help bring to manifestation. One little person giving all of her time to peace makes news. Many people giving some of their time can make history.
- We lump together all things that are beyond the capacity of all of us collectively to understand-and one name we give to all those things together is God. Therefore, God is the creative force, the sustaining power, that which motivates toward constant change, the overall intelligence which governs the universe by physical and spiritual law, truth, love, goodness, kindness, beauty, the ever-present, all-pervading essence or spirit, which binds everything in the universe together and gives to everything in the universe..
- Ultimate peace begins within; when we find peace within there will be no more conflict, no more occasion for war. If this is the peace you seek, purify your body by sensible living habits, purify your mind by expelling all negative thoughts, purify your motives by casting out any ideas of greed or self-striving and by seeking to serve you fellow human beings, purify your desires by eliminating all wishes for material possessions or self-glorification and by desiring to know and do God’s will for you. Inspire others to do likewise.
- The purpose of problems is to push you toward obedience to God’s laws, which are exact and cannot be changed. We have the free will to obey them or disobey them. Obedience will bring harmony, disobedience will bring you more problems… There was a time when I thought it was a nuisance to be confronted with a problem. I tried to get rid of it. I tried to get somebody else to solve it for me. But that was a long time ago. It was a great day in my life when I discovered the wonderful purpose of problems. Yes, they have a wonderful purpose.
- As I accepted the change of the golden hair of my childhood to the reddish-brown hair of my youth without regret, so I also accept my silver hair-and I am ready to accept the time when my hair and the rest of my clay garment returns to the dust from which it came, while my spirit goes on to freer living. It is the season for my hair to be silver, and each season has its lessons to teach. Each season of life is wonderful if you have learned the lessons of the season before. It is only when you go on with lessons unlearned that you wish for a return.
- Do you know God? Do you know there is a power greater than ourselves which manifests itself within us as well as everywhere else in the universe? This I call God. Do you know what it is to know God, to have God’s constant guidance, a constant awareness of God’s presence? To know God is to reflect love toward all people and all creations. To know God is to feel peace within – a calmness, a serenity, an unshakeableness which enables you to face any situation. To know God is to be so filled with joy that it bubbles over and goes forth to bless the world.
- There is great freedom in simplicity of living, and after I began to feel this, I found harmony in my life between inner and outer well-being. There is a great deal to be said about such harmony, not only for an individual life but also for the life of a society. It’s because as a world we have gotten ourselves so far out of harmony, so way off on the material side, that when we discover something like nuclear energy we are still capable of putting it into a bomb and using it to kill people! This is because our inner well-being lags so far behind our outer well-being.
- People of the world, the time for decision is short. It is measured in a few years. The choice is ours as to whether or not we will pay the price of peace. If we are not willing to pay it, all that we hold dear will be consumed in the flame of war. The darkness in our world today is due to the disintegration of things which are contrary to God’s laws. Let us never say hopelessly this is the darkness before a storm; rather let us say with faith this is the darkness before the dawn of the golden age of peace, which we cannot now even imagine. For this, let us hope and work and pray.
- It concerns me when I see a small child watching the hero shoot the villain on television. It is teaching the small child to believe that shooting people is heroic. The hero just did it and it was effective. It was acceptable and the hero was well thought of afterward. If enough of us find inner peace to affect the institution of television, the little child will see the hero transform the villain and bring him to a good life. He’ll see the hero do something significant to serve fellow human beings. So little children will get the idea that if you want to be a hero you must help people.
https://wisdomtrove.com/wp-content/uploads/formidable/3/Peace-Pilgrim.jpg 380 300 You? https://wisdomtrove.com/wp-content/uploads/logo-test-300x37.png You?2020-11-17 10:31:282021-07-12 06:52:29Peace Pilgrim (quotes)Some see God as a lover…
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…and ourselves as lovers of God
- The lovers of God have no religion but God alone. Rumi
- God created you for the first and greatest commandment, to be a lover of God. Sam Storms
- Last night I learned how to be a lover of God. To live in this world and call nothing my own. Rumi
- Soul, if you want to learn secrets, your heart must forget about shame and dignity. You are God’s lover, yet you worry what people are saying. Rumi
- We like foreplay with God, but we make sure we have our spiritual contraceptives on! Cause we don’t want to conceive nothing. Eddie Long
- It is important to increase our sense of God’s richness and wonder by reading what his great lovers have said about him. Evelyn Underhill
- God put thorns around the Love’s door to stop anyone who’s not a Lover from entering. Rumi
- Everyone sleeps, except lovers, who stay awake, telling stories to God. Rumi
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God woos us into a love affair
- God is trying to woo us into a love affair with God. Desmond Tutu
- God is not at a loss when He moves to bring us back to Himself. He can woo or whip. He can draw or drive. Tom Wells
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The highest relationship we can have with God, some say, is as lover
- There is something missing even in the best parent-child relationship. Friendship levels the playing field in a way family never can, at least not until the kids have grown and left the house. Friendship opens a level of communion that a five-year-old doesn’t know with his mother and father. And “friends” are what he calls us. But there is a still is still a high and deep level of intimacy and partnership awaiting us at the top of this metaphorical ascent. We are lovers.” John Eldredge
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We should long for God like we long for a lover
- I am convinced that God is love, this thought has for me a primitive lyrical validity. When it is present to me, I am unspeakably blissful, when it is absent, I long for it more vehemently than does the lover for his object. Soren Kierkegaard
- Lovers feel a certain burning in their hearts. A deep longing and desire to meet with the beloved creates that burning. To love God is bound to create a very great fire in you. You will be on fire because you have chosen as your love object something impossible. You will have to weep and cry, and you will have to pray, and you will have to fast, and your mind has to continuously repeat and remember the beloved. Rajneesh
- When love is pure, it has the power to conquer. Lover and beloved conquer each other by their affection. The source, the essence, the fullest manifestation of love’s conquering power is the love of the soul for the supreme soul, or God. Radhanath Swami
- eternal truth and true love and beloved eternity! You are my God; to you I sigh by day and by night. And when I first knew you, you raised me up so that I could see that there was something to see and that I still lacked the ability to see it. And you beat back the weakness of my sight, blazing upon me with your rays, and I trembled in love and in dread. Saint Augustine
- The kind of love that God has for us, I think, is of an infinite longing for union, and the kind of love that God wants us to have for him, I think, is of this also endless longing. Now in eros we lose ourselves. I think erotic love transforms us, but it does so only momentarily. It has to be embedded in something much longer, a much bigger narrative called marriage or durable relationship or something like that. Kevin Hart
- Prayer is naught else but a yearning of soul … it draws down the great God into the little heart; it drives the hungry soul up to the plenitude of God; it brings together these two lovers, God and the soul, in a wondrous place where they speak much of love. Mechthild of Magdeburg
- I stake the future on the few humble and hearty lovers who seek God passionately in the marvelous, messy world of redeemed and related realities that lie in front of our noses. William McNamara
- A believer longs after God, to come into his presence, to feel his love, to feel near to him in secret, to feel in the crowd that he is nearer than all the creatures. Ah! dear brethren, have you ever tasted this blessedness? There is greater rest and solace to be found in the presence of God for one hour than in an eternity of the presence of man. Robert Murray M’Cheyne
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We should aim for a romance with God
- To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek him the greatest adventure; to find him, the greatest human achievement. Saint Augustine
- The greatest romance is with the Infinite. You have no idea how beautiful life can be. When you suddenly find God everywhere, when He comes and talks to you and guides you, the romance of divine love has begun. Paramahansa Yogananda
- The culture of women in the church today is crippled by some very pervasive lies. “To be spiritual is to be busy. To be spiritual is to be disciplined. To be spiritual is to be dutiful.” No, to be spiritual is to be in Romance with God. The desire to be romanced lies deep in the heart of every women. It is for such that you were made. John Eldredge
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God is our beloved and we are the beloved of God
- Being the beloved is our identity, the core of our existence. It is not merely a lofty thought, an inspiring idea, or one name among many. It is the name by which God knows us and the way He relates to us. Brennan Manning
- Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion. God’s love for you and his choice of you constitute your worth. Accept that, and let it become the most important thing in your life. Brennan Manning
- The Beloved is inside you and also inside me. You know the tree is hidden inside the seed. Kabir
- Shame is the raincoat over the soul repelling the living water of Jesus that would otherwise establish us as the beloved of God. Andrew Comiskey
- Love’s nationality is separate from all other religions, The lover’s religion and nationality is the Beloved (God). The lover’s cause is separate from all other causes Love is the astrolabe of God’s mysteries. Rumi
- God calls us, just as he called Abraham, away from the security we knew, out of our old, familiar, little room, down the ladder of faith and into his arms. Jesus called his disciples that way – just as a lover elopes with his beloved. Peter Kreeft
- If you believe you are the beloved of God, you need to spend time listening to his voice – period! You can’t say, “Yes God calls me the beloved, but I have to go out to do something now.” Henri Nouwen
- God is to be worshiped as the one Beloved, dearer than everything in this and the next life. Swami Vivekananda
- What a Lover sees in the Beloved is the projected shadow of his own potential beauty in the eyes of God. Coventry Patmore
- Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God. John the Apostle
- Beloved, there is nothing you can do today to make God love you more, and there’s nothing you can do to make Him love you any less… Joseph Prince
- By virtue of love is the lover transformed in the beloved and the beloved transformed in the lover. Angela of Foligno
- Devotion means constantly thinking about God. It is like always thinking about your beloved. Choa Kok Sui
- In the whole of the universe there are only two: the lover and the beloved. Bhai Sahib Singh
- Love is timeless…. Death does not separate the lover from the beloved. Khalil Gibran
- The only way to measure a lover is by the grandeur of the beloved. Rumi
- Love’s nationality is separate from all other religions, The lover’s religion and nationality is the Beloved (God). The lover’s cause is separate from all other causes Love is the astrolabe of God’s mysteries. Rumi
- The word Habib in Arabic means both lover and beloved. At the heart of it is that the Prophet loves God, God loves him. Seyyed Hossein Nasr
- Lovers feel a certain burning in their hearts. A deep longing and desire to meet with the beloved creates that burning. To love God is bound to create a very great fire in you. You will be on fire because you have chosen as your love object something impossible. You will have to weep and cry, and you will have to pray, and you will have to fast, and your mind has to continuously repeat and remember the beloved. Rajneesh
- O eternal truth and true love and beloved eternity! You are my God; to you I sigh by day and by night. And when I first knew you, you raised me up so that I could see that there was something to see and that I still lacked the ability to see it. And you beat back the weakness of my sight, blazing upon me with your rays, and I trembled in love and in dread. Saint Augustine
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Approaching God as mystery is like the experience of being in love
- Approaching God as mystery is like the experience of being in love. When we fall in love with someone we want to be totally intimate with that person, to know them from the inside out, to be connected as deeply and fully as we can be. We also realize, however, that no matter how much the other person shares of himself or herself with us and we with him or her, no matter how much time we spend together and how many experiences we share, there will remain a part of each of us that is mysterious, and other, to one another. This enduring mystery, however, attracts us even more and we yearn for full union, a way to be one. These dynamics that characterize the knowledge of lovers are even more the case in knowing God. The more we know, the more intimately present we are with God and God with us, the more we realize that there is a vast mystery we have not even touched. And then we find ourselves wanting to know even more of God, to draw ever closer. Flora A. Keshgegian
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When we see God as lover, the highest we can aim for is complete union with God…
- Just as in earthly life lovers long for the moment when they are able to breathe forth their love for each other, to let their souls blend in a soft whisper, so the mystic longs for the moment when in prayer he can, as it were, creep into God. Soren Kierkegaard
- As God’s beloved, I live in the bliss knowing that my soul is never separated from Him, for I learn to know Her in all that I see. God dissolved my mind-my separation. I cannot describe now my intimacy with Him. Teresa of Avila
- All love craves unity. As the highest peak of love in the human order is the unity of husband and wife in the flesh, so the highest unity in the Divine order is the unity of the soul and Christ in communion. Fulton J. Sheen
- The soul is restored through union with God. Leanne Payne
- To be alive spiritually man must have union with God and must be conscious of it. Apart from this union his religious life will be an empty drudgery, a mere imitation of true spirituality. Alan Watts
- Faith is the union of God and the soul. – John of the Cross
- True religion is a union of God with the soul, a real participation of the divine nature, the very image of God drawn upon the soul. Henry Scougal
- Perfect love of God means the complete union of our will with God’s. Alphonsus Liguori
- Union with God is really possible. Thomas Keating
- Genius is the union of man and God in the acts of the soul. Wallace D. Wattles
- God created us for love, for union. Richard Rohr
- The deepest desire of our hearts is for union for God. God created us for union with himself. This is the original purpose of our lives. Brennan Manning
- Religion is not an end in itself. One’s union with God is the ultimate goal. Peace Pilgrim
- All creatures are united to God alone in an immediate union. They depend essentially and directly upon Him. Being all alike equally impotent, they cannot be in reciprocal dependence upon one another. Nicolas Malebranche
- An act of renunciation is an act of union with God. The Divine Master looks lovingly upon a person who gains a victory over self. Madeleine Sophie Barat
- At that moment of realization (that union with God is always present), that’s when God let me go, let me slide through His fingers with this last compassionate, unspoken message: You may return here once you have fully come to understand that you are always here. Elizabeth Gilbert
- Dying is all about letting go and letting be, as is the awareness of God. People who have traveled far along the contemplative path are often aware that the sense of separation from God is itself pasted up out of a mass of thoughts and feelings. When the mind comes into its own stillness and enters the silent land, the sense of separation goes. Union is seen to be the fundamental reality and separateness a highly filtered mental perception. Martin Laird
- Faith is the union of God and the soul. John of the Cross
- Genius is the union of man and God in the acts of the soul. Great men are always greater than their deeds. They are in connection with a reserve power that is without limit. Wallace D. Wattles
- God created us for love, for union, for forgiveness and compassion and, yet, that has not been our storyline. That has not been our history. Richard Rohr
- God draws no distinction between Himself and us. God opens up the union of the very godhead (Trinity), and brings us into it. Paul Crouch
- Happiness is neither within us, nor without us. It is in the union of ourselves with God. Blaise Pascal
- How can we know the living God and attain to everlasting union with God? This is really the only question of life. Matthew Levering
- Life of the soul is union with God, as life of the body is union with the soul. Gregory Palamas
- Thus moral theology leads us four steps deeper than law. To fulfill the moral law, we need love. To get love, we need union with God. To get union with God, we need the new birth. And to get the new birth, we need faith. Peter Kreeft
- Union with God is really possible. Unity with God I presume, is what is meant by Heaven, but that too is available in this life for the humble of heart. Thomas Keating
- We should daily feel a deeper union with Life, a greater sense of that Indwelling God – the God of the seen and of the unseen – within us. Ernest Holmes
- True knowledge of this God can only happen by union with him in the mystical experience, not by rational analysis or intellectual reasoning. That direct knowledge transcends intellectual knowledge. Bernard Haisch
- Union with God is the only heaven there is, and it begins here on earth. Macrina Wiederkehr
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…a deep mystical union
- People will often, almost always, prefer a male God. A male image of God gives them this sense of security, safety, order, no nonsense. So that’s where their psyche is at. Probably it’s something that they’ve got to go through. Not that there isn’t a need for order in the world, but the mystical level seems to be the mature level of religion, and there the question is not order but union – divine union. And so, without some integration of the feminine, usually you never get to the mystical level. Richard Rohr
- Mysticism is the art of union with Reality. Evelyn Underhill
- This human need for mysticism – surrender to an unknown truth, union – stands at the helm of all romantic feeling. Antonella Gambotto-Burke
- The multiplicity is only apparent. This is the doctrine of the Upanishads. And not of the Upanishads only. The mystical experience of the union with God regularly leads to this view. Erwin Schrodinger
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We achieve this union through the consummating acts of meditation and prayer
- Discontent is the beginning of the search for God. When love fails many times, you start looking for a new kind of lover, a new kind of love, a new quality of love. That love affair is prayer, meditation, sannyas. Rajneesh
- Real prayer is union with God, a union as vital as that of the vine to the branch. Mother Teresa
- Unceasing prayer is the unbroken union of the soul with God, so that life from God flows into our life; and from our life, purity and holiness flow back to God. Ellen G. White
- Prayer by its nature is communion and union of man with God. Ignatius Bryanchaninov
- The most generous choices, especially the persevering, are the fruit of profound and prolonged union with God in prayerful silence. Pope John Paul II
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As we surrender to a lover, so we surrender to God’s embrace
- My own observation is: lovers don’t surrender to each other, they surrender to something unknown that exists between them. They surrender to love – call it the ‘god of love’ – they both surrender to the god of love. Hence nobody’s ego is fulfilled by your surrender; both the egos disappear in love. Rajneesh
- They deceive themselves who believe that union with God consists in ecstasies or raptures, and in the enjoyment of Him. For it consists in nothing except the surrender and subjection of our will – with our thoughts, words and actions – to the will of God. Teresa of Avila
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Some talk about the relationship between God and us as being a marriage…
- Corresponding to the image of a monotheistic God is monogamous marriage. Marriage based on exclusive and definitive love becomes the icon of the relationship between God and his people and vice versa. Meir Soloveichik
- For your husband is your Maker. For the LORD has called you come. Like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit, a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,” says your God. “I deserted you for a brief moment, but I will take you back with great compassion. Isaiah 54:5
- Return, faithless people,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I am your husband. Jeremiah 3:14a.
- In our exploration of family relationships as a metaphor for God, consider another: God our Husband. In the Old Testament several times we see the analogy of God as the Husband and Israel as the wife, who strays and is unfaithful. Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
- It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,’ declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 31:32, NIV)
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…and the relationship between bride and groom
- The soul whose bosom lust did never touch Is God’s fair bride; and maiden’s souls are such. Tertullian
- When in such sadness I earnestly elevated my spirit into God and locked my whole heart and mind along with all my thoughts and will therein, ceaselessly pressing in with God’s Love and Mercy, and not to cease until he blessed me? then after some hard storms my spirit broke through hell’s gates into the inmost birth of the Godhead, and there I was embraced with Love as a bridegroom embraces his dear bride. Jakob Bohme
- The revelation of His glory includes seeing One so high (transcendence) who went so low (condescension) to bring us so near (redemption) because we are so dear (Bride). The Most High God went so low because of such great desire to partner with us… We are awestruck by His power, overwhelmed by His humility, and made confident by His love. Mike Bickle
- The only other person I have fallen in love with that way is Jesus, and I hope that goes more smoothly. I hope I remember, when I’m bored with Him, and antsy, and sick of brushing my teeth next to the same god every morning, I hope I remember not to leave Him. I am not so worried that He will leave me. The Bible, after all, is full of stories about God sticking with His Bride, no matter how stiff-necked and prideful and unfaithful she may be. Lauren F. Winner
- Do you know who you are? God made you a woman. Accept His gift. Don’t be afraid to be feminine and to add physical and spiritual loveliness to the setting where He has placed you. You are a child of God. You are a part of the bride of Christ. Nancy Leigh DeMoss
- What would a loving bride not do for a loving bridegroom? …God will judge us not according to how much we endured, but how much we could love. Richard Wurmbrand
- The fact that Christ as the bridegroom brings forth fruit through me as the bride, through the agency of the indwelling Holy Spirit by faith, opens the way for me to begin to know in the present life the reality of the supernatural. Francis Schaeffer
- The eternal God asks a favor of his bride: “Hold me close to your heart, close as locket or bracelet fits.” No matter whether we walk or stand still, eat or drink, we should at all times wear the golden locket “Jesus” upon our heart. Henry Suso
- The Church is God’s Bride. All the saints and mystics say the ultimate purpose of human life, the highest end for which we were made, is the Spiritual Marriage. This is not socially relative; it is eternal. And in it, the soul is spiritually impregnated by God, not vice versa. That is the ultimate reason why God must always be he to us, never she. Religion is essentially heterosexual and therefore fruitful. Peter Kreeft
- The soul whose bosom lust did never touch Is God’s fair bride; and maiden’s souls are such. Tertullian
- The Head is the only begotten Son of God, the body is His Church; the bridegroom and the bride, two in one flesh. Saint Augustine
- The Bible, after all, is full of stories about God sticking with His Bride, no matter how stiff-necked and prideful and unfaithful she may be. Lauren F. Winner
- It is the consciousness of the threefold joy of the Lord, His joy in ransoming us, His joy in dwelling within us as our Saviour and Power for fruitbearing and His joy in possessing us, as His Bride and His delight; it is the consciousness of this joy which is our real strength. Our joy in Him may be a fluctuating thing: His joy in us knows no change. Hudson Taylor
- It seemed to me that I, the spirit of so many worlds, the flower of so many ages, was the Church Cosmical, fit at last to be the bride of God. Olaf Stapledon
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If we see God as lover, then we should appreciate the virtue of what exists between human lovers
- If love be a god, why should not lovers be virtuous? John Lyly
- You can study God through everything and everyone in the universe, because God is not confined in a mosque, synagogue or church. But if you are still in need of knowing where exactly His abode is, there is only one place to look for Him: in the heart of a true lover. Shams Tabrizi
- Lovers are the ones who know most about God; the theologian must listen to them. Hans Urs von Balthasar
- Now you comprehend your first and final lover / in the dark receding planets of his eyes, / and this is the hour when you know moreover / that the god you have loved always / will descend and lie with you in paradise. Gwendolyn MacEwen
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https://wisdomtrove.com/wp-content/uploads/logo-test-300x37.png 0 0 Graeme https://wisdomtrove.com/wp-content/uploads/logo-test-300x37.png Graeme2020-10-31 06:29:282022-04-18 06:52:17God as our lover (quotes)