Spirituality – it’s a deeply personal and often transformative aspect of human experience that transcends cultural and religious boundaries.
This carefully curated collection of 399 spiritual quotes offers a panoramic view of humanity’s quest for meaning, purpose, and connection to something greater than ourselves.
Drawing from a wide range of sources – including sacred texts, philosophical writings, and the insights of spiritual leaders and seekers – these quotes touch on universal themes such as love, compassion, mindfulness, and the nature of reality.
Whether you’re looking to deepen your own spiritual practice, gain new perspectives on life’s big questions, or find solace in times of difficulty, this compilation serves as a wellspring of wisdom and inspiration for your spiritual journey.
God has no religion. — Mahatma Gandhi
Wisdom begins in wonder. — Socrates
Life loves the liver of it. — Maya Angelou
You become what you believe. — Oprah Winfrey
Sleep is the best meditation. — Dalai Lama
Hate the sin, love the sinner. — Mahatma Gandhi
Coincidences are spiritual puns. — Gilbert K. Chesterton
Our intention creates our reality. — Wayne Dyer
To belittle, you have to be little. — Khalil Gibran
Your life becomes what you believe. — Jewel
Your life becomes what you believe. — Jewel
Patience is the companion of wisdom. — Saint Augustine
Dying is a wild night and a new road. — Emily Dickinson
Whatever happens, take responsibility. — Tony Robbins
You have not failed until you quit trying. — Gordon B. Hinckley
What is now proved was once only imagined. — William Blake
Lighthouses are more helpful than churches. — Benjamin Franklin
Speak only if it improves upon the silence. — Mahatma Gandhi
There’s always a way – if you’re committed. — Tony Robbins
Meditation is listening to the divine within — Edgar Cayce
What you are looking for is what is looking. — Francis of Assisi
Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal. — Thomas Moore
They’re only truly great who are truly good. — George Chapman
Never memorize something that you can look up. — Albert Einstein
We carry within us the wonders we seek without us. — Thomas Browne
We must enhance the light, not fight the darkness. — A. D. Gordon
Change is not merely necessary to life – it is life. — Alvin Toffler
Go to the truth beyond the mind. Love is the bridge. — Stephen Levine
The way to see by Faith is to shut the Eye of Reason. — Benjamin Franklin
The less people know, the more stubbornly they know it. — Rajneesh
I shall not die of a cold. I shall die of having lived. — Willa Cather
You don’t have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body. — C. S. Lewis
The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike. — Steven Weinberg
The last suit that you wear, you don’t need any pockets. — Wayne Dyer
Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth. — Albert Einstein
When you know how to use it, disobedience can be a virtue. — Paulo Coelho
Appreciation in advance brings everything you want to you. — Esther Hicks
A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it. — Albert Einstein
Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment. — Laozi
Live one day at a time emphasizing ethics rather than rules. — Wayne Dyer
I first learned the concepts of non-violence in my marriage. — Mahatma Gandhi
We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do. — Mother Teresa
Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character. — Tony Robbins
True religion is the life we lead, not the creed we profess. — Louis Nizer
Today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness. — Kalidasa
True religion is the life we lead, not the creed we profess. — Louis Nizer
All the gods, all the heavens, all the hells, are within you. — Joseph Campbell
Faith is loyalty to some inspired teacher, some spiritual hero. — Thomas Carlyle
Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature. — Helen Keller
Do all you can to preach the gospel and if necessary use words! — Francis of Assisi
Searching and learning is where the miracle process all begins. — Jim Rohn
There goes my people. I must follow them, for I am their leader. — Mahatma Gandhi
Hold ever before you the vision of the new heaven and new earth. — Eileen Caddy
What this power is, I cannot say… All I know is that it exists. — Alexander Graham Bell
What oxygen is to the lungs, such is hope to the meaning of life. — Emil Brunner
If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it. — Albert Einstein
The only sure way to avoid making mistakes is to have no new ideas. — Albert Einstein
To touch the soul of another human being is to walk on holy ground. — Stephen Covey
Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know. — Pema Chodron
What a sad era when it is easier to smash an atom than a prejudice. — Albert Einstein
The less you open your heart to others, the more your heart suffers. — Deepak Chopra
When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself. — Wayne Dyer
God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere. — Voltaire
God never ends anything on a negative; God always ends on a positive. — Edwin Louis Cole
An idea whose time has come cannot be stopped by any army or any force. — Ron Paul
Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness. — Dalai Lama
I believe in the fundamental truth of all great religions of the world. — Mahatma Gandhi
All I have seen teaches me to trust the creator for all I have not seen. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
It is wrong and immoral to seek to escape the consequences of one’s acts. — Mahatma Gandhi
Success in spiritual life lies not in being the Best, but doing the Best. — Radhanath Swami
Don’t fear the light within. May it ignite the Sacred Flame in your soul. — Paulo Coelho
Success in spiritual life lies not in being the Best, but doing the Best. — Radhanath Swami
The religion that is afraid of science dishonors God and commits suicide. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
The body is your temple. Keep it pure and clean for the soul to reside in. — B.K.S. Iyengar
You will either step forward into growth or you will step back into safety. — Abraham Maslow
Actions are but lifeless forms whose soul is the secret of sincerity in them — Ibn Ata Allah
Loving people is the highest level of spiritual warfare that we could ever do — Joyce Meyer
Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn’t. — Erica Jong
Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe. — Voltaire
Within the Scripture there is a balm for every wound, a salve for every sore. — Charles Spurgeon
Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed. — Mahatma Gandhi
The most creative act you will ever undertake is the act of creating yourself. — Deepak Chopra
Religion is a bridge to the spiritual, but the spiritual lies beyond religion. — Rachel Naomi Remen
Religion is a bridge to the spiritual, but the spiritual lies beyond religion. — Rachel Naomi Remen
In spiritual matters, knowledge is dependent upon being; as we are, so we know. — Aldous Huxley
The Ego is an exquisite instrument. Enjoy it, use it–just don’t get lost in it. — Ram Dass
You are never alone or helpless. The force that guides the stars guides you too. — Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar
Give whatever you are doing and whoever you are with the gift of your attention. — Jim Rohn
The more light you allow within you, the brighter the world you live in will be. — Shakti Gawain
In the spiritual journey, you cannot be a wine taster, you have to become a drunk. — Mooji
From spiritual connection springs kindness, connection, social activism, and love. — Dani Shapiro
When you give, you reveal a spiritual truth, that the flow of life never runs dry. — Deepak Chopra
To attain knowledge, add things every day To attain wisdom, remove things every day — Laozi
When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained. — Mark Twain
I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver. — Maya Angelou
There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in. — Graham Greene
Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life. — Gautama Buddha
Loneliness, when accepted, becomes a gift that will lead us to find a purpose in life. — Paulo Coelho
In ignorance, I am something; in understanding, I am nothing; in love, I am everything. — Rupert Spira
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. — Carl Jung
Life is growth. If we stop growing, technically and spiritually, we are as good as dead. — Morihei Ueshiba
An authentic spirituality does not cater to culture; it calls culture to accountability. — Joan D. Chittister
To become learned, each day add something. To become enlightened, each day drop something — Laozi
Whatever we do lays a seed in our deepest consciousness, and one day that seed will grow. — Sakyong Mipham
If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought. — Peace Pilgrim
Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. — Carl Sagan
This is bravery: using the challenge of daily life to sharpen our mind and open our heart. — Sakyong Mipham
The past is dead; The future is imaginary; Happiness can only be in the Eternal Now Moment. — Ken Keyes Jr.
Champions are made from something they have deep inside of them-a desire, a dream, a vison. — Mahatma Gandhi
The church is not made up of spiritual giants; only broken men can lead others to the cross. — David Bosch
Nothing is hidden that will not be made known; nothing is secret that will not come to light. — Dan Brown
Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe. — Saint Augustine
Generally the theories we believe we call facts, and the facts we disbelieve we call theories. — Felix S. Cohen
When all your desires are distilled; You will cast just two votes: To love more, And be happy. — Hafez
This mystical stream [contemplative prayer] is the Western bridge to Far Eastern spirituality. — Tilden Edwards
The highest spiritual quality, the noblest property of mind a man can have, is this of loyalty. — Algernon Charles Swinburne
People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals – that is, goals that do not inspire them. — Tony Robbins
There is one grand lie – that we are limited. The only limits we have are the limits we believe. — Wayne Dyer
The inward journey is about finding your own fullness, something that no one else can take away. — Deepak Chopra
Love sometimes wants to do us a great favor: hold us upside down and shake all the nonsense out. — Hafez
If small things have the power to disturb you, then who you think you are is exactly that: small. — Eckhart Tolle
When you expand your awareness, seemingly random events will be seen to fit into a larger purpose. — Deepak Chopra
There is no higher religion than human service. To work for the common good is the greatest creed. — Woodrow Wilson
All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, it will not change you. — Wayne Dyer
The past is behind, learn from it. The future is ahead, prepare for it. The present is here, live it. — Thomas S. Monson
The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers. — Denis Diderot
If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees. — Khalil Gibran
The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time. — Mark Twain
Leadership is based on a spiritual quality; the power to inspire, the power to inspire others to follow — Vince Lombardi
Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold. — Leo Tolstoy
It is the characteristic of the magnanimous man to ask no favor but to be ready to do kindness to others. — Aristotle
I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life, I absenteed myself from Christian assemblies. — Benjamin Franklin
We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience. — Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life. — Eckhart Tolle
Instead of asking, “what do I want from life?,” a more powerful question is, “what does life want from me? — Eckhart Tolle
In the Light of interbeing, peace and happiness in your daily life means peace and happiness in the world. — Nhat Hanh
Creating without claiming, Doing without taking credit, Guiding without interfering, This is Primal Virtue. — Laozi
The spiritual warrior hides from nothing. We jump into the fire, we dive into the ocean. We become the sea. — Charlotte Sophia Kasl
Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force – that thoughts rule the world. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances. — Mahatma Gandhi
Success is doing what you want to do, when you want, where you want, with whom you want, as much as you want. — Tony Robbins
Everyone has troubles. Finding yourself in the same boat with everyone else is the first sign of spirituality. — Arlo Guthrie
Don’t depend too much on anyone in this world because even your own shadow leaves you when you are in darkness. — Ibn Taymiyyah
Self restraint in speech, food, entertainment and vanity are the most essential fundamental of spiritual growth. — Nouman Ali Khan
Freedom comes with self-knowledge, when the mind goes above and beyond the hindrances it has created for itself. — Jiddu Krishnamurti
Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires. — Sigmund Freud
Very learned women are to be found, in the same manner as female warriors; but they are seldom or ever inventors. — Voltaire
Because I could not stop for death, He kindly stopped for me; The carriage held but just ourselves and immortality. — Emily Dickinson
I Have Learned so much from God That I can no longer call myself A Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim, A Buddhist, a Jew. — Hafez
As you awaken to your divine nature, you’ll begin to appreciate beauty in everything you see, touch and experience. — Wayne Dyer
A man after death, is not a natural but a spiritual man; nevertheless he still appears in all respects like himself. — Emanuel Swedenborg
Giving connects two people, the giver and the receiver, and this connection gives birth to a new sense of belonging. — Deepak Chopra
If I am capable of grasping God objectively, I do not believe, but precisely because I cannot do this I must believe. — Soren Kierkegaard
Grace woke you up this morning, grace started you on your way and grace enabled you to survive until this very moment. — Charles E. Blake
The answer lies within ourselves. If we can’t find peace and happiness there, it’s not going to come from the outside. — Tenzin Palmo
When you are offended at any man’s fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger. — Epictetus
Active citizenship begins with an envisioning of the desired outcome and a conscious application of spiritual principles. — Dennis Kucinich
When all is said and done, the one sole condition that makes spiritual happiness and preserves it is the absence of doubt. — Mark Twain
If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions. — Albert Einstein
We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves. — Gautama Buddha
The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it. — Terry Pratchett
The heart is always the place to go. Go home into your heart, where there is warmth, appreciation, gratitude and contentment — Ayya Khema
Without silence, there cannot be any real appreciation in life, which is as delicate in its inner fabric as a closed rosebud. — Deepak Chopra
But who prays for Satan? Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most? — Mark Twain
You alone are the judge of your worth and your goal is to discover infinite worth in yourself, no matter what anyone else thinks. — Deepak Chopra
Live neither in the past nor in the future, but let each day’s work absorb your entire energies, and satisfy your widest ambition. — William Osler
The world is a kind of spiritual kindergarten where millions of bewildered infants are trying to spell “God” with the wrong blocks. — Edwin Arlington Robinson
You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul. — Swami Vivekananda
I believe in women. I desire . . . to do those things that would advance women in moral and spiritual, as well as educational work. — Emmeline B. Wells
Anger and hatred are the real enemies that we must confront and defeat, not the ‘enemies’ who appear from time to time in our lives. — Dalai Lama
The spring of the New Age is here, bursting forth in perfect harmony, beauty and abundance; and nothing can stop it from coming about. — Eileen Caddy
If we do not fill our mind with prayer, it will fill itself with anxieties, worries, temptations, resentments, and unwelcome memories. — Scott Hahn
I think being really connected to a higher power, of having a spirituality to me, has been really good for me and I pray all the time. — Alicia Keys
Everyone focuses on the earthly state, but how cool might death be? I believe in spiritual rebirth, and I can’t wait to experience that. — Barry Zito
When you know a thing, to hold that you know it, and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it – this is knowledge. — Confucius
Spirituality is impacted not only by remembrance but by diet, stress, sleeping and eating habits among other things. Take care of yourself. — Nouman Ali Khan
Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
In any attempt to bridge the domains of experience belonging to the spiritual and physical sides of nature, time occupies the key position. — Arthur Eddington
I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended us to forego their use. — Galileo Galilei
And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that He would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence — Bertrand Russell
That which God said to the rose, and caused it to laugh in full-blown beauty, He said to my heart, and made it a hundred times more beautiful. — Rumi
Where is God? Where can I find him?” we ask. We don’t realize that’s like a fish swimming frantically through the ocean in search OF the ocean — Ted Dekker
Throughout history, every period of enlightenment has been accompanied by darkness, pushing in opposition. Such are laws of nature and balance. — Dan Brown
Show me a man who lives alone and has a perpetually clean kitchen, and 8 times out of 9 I’ll show you a man with detestable spiritual qualities. — Charles Bukowski
We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing all-powerful God, who creates faulty Humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes. — Gene Roddenberry
A boat may stay in water, but water should not stay in boat. A spiritual aspirant may live in the world, but the world should not live within him. — Ramakrishna
Of course you don’t die. Nobody dies. Death doesn’t exist. You only reach a new level of vision, a new realm of consciousness, a new unknown world. — Henry Miller
We all come to this planet as spiritual beings destined to experience a variety of challenges and situation in order to grow and evolve spiritually. — James Van Praagh
When you believe, or are led to believe, you are unable to act upon the greatest desires of the soul, the result is mental and spiritual enslavement. — Iyanla Vanzant
For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun? And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance. — Khalil Gibran
Come to God for your healing. Don’t hesitate. God, who is so full of goodness and supply, is always willing to bless, preserve, heal and restore you. — Joseph Prince
Base yourself in loyalty and trust. Don’t be companion with those who are not your moral equal. When you make a mistake, don’t hesitate to correct it. — Confucius
Recounting of a life story, a mind thinking aloud leads one inevitably to the consideration of problems which are no longer psychological but spiritual. — Paul Tournier
There’s no anger ever in a spiritual. There’s always the dream of a hope of a better day coming. That God understands the troubles that I’m experiencing. — Jessye Norman
My family inspires me, because they push me to be the best version of myself that I can be, and spirituality, because it brings more love into your life. — Kristin Cavallari
Poetry is the special medium of spiritual crazy wisdom, the form of expression that comes closest to creating a bridge between words and what is wordless. — Wes Nisker
Know that you are a spark of God and can exist fully only within the realization of that profound truth. As such, you are a light and inspiration to others. — Harold Klemp
If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise. — Robert Fritz
My boat strikes something deep. At first sounds of silence, waves. Nothing has happened; Or perhaps everything has happened. and I am sitting in my new life. — Rumi
To practice five things under all circumstances constitutes perfect virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness. — Confucius
For those who seek to understand it, death is a highly creative force. The highest spiritual values of life can originate from the thought and study of death. — Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
There are no extra pieces in the universe. Everyone is here because he or she has a place to fill, and every piece must fit itself into the big jigsaw puzzle. — Deepak Chopra
First thing I do in the morning, after I have my breakfast and do my spiritual work, is put on my makeup and fix my hair, and I can do my makeup in 15 minutes. — Dolly Parton
The child is the spiritual builder of mankind, and obstacles to his free development are the stones in the wall by which the soul of man has become imprisoned. — Maria Montessori
… it takes several years of serious fishing before a man learns enough to go through a whole season with an unblemished record of physical and spiritual anguish. — Ed Zern
Recognize that you have the courage within you to fulfill the purpose of your birth. Summon forth the power of your inner courage and live the life of your dreams. — Gurumayi Chidvilasananda
Feel the feeling as though the prayer has already been answered, and in that feeling we are speaking to the Forces of Creation, allowing the world to respond to us. — Gregg Braden
This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness. — Dalai Lama
Without self knowledge, without understanding the working and functions of his machine, man cannot be free, he cannot govern himself and he will always remain a slave. — G. I. Gurdjieff
The way to improve our schools is not more money, but the reintroduction of moral and spiritual values, as well as the four R’s: reading, ‘riting, ‘rithmatic, and Rush. — Rush Limbaugh
In the light of trust, as it develops slowly over time, you will find that you are a privileged child of the universe, entirely safe, entirely supported, entirely loved. — Deepak Chopra
The purpose of all the major religious traditions is not to construct big temples on the outside, but to create temples of goodness and compassion inside, in our hearts. — Dalai Lama
I want to congratulate all the men out there who are working diligently to be good fathers whether they are stepfathers, or biological fathers or just spiritual fathers. — T. D. Jakes
The best part of one’s life is the working part, the creative part. Believe me, I love to succeed… However, the real spiritual and emotional excitement is in the doing. — Garson Kanin
There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace. — Aldo Leopold
Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn’t you – all of the expectations, all of the beliefs – and becoming who you are. — Rachel Naomi Remen
When a pure devotee or spiritual master speak, what he says should be accepted as having been directly spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the Parampara System. — A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a function of our true capability. It is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are. — Tony Robbins
Grief is not a disorder, a disease or sign of weakness. It is an emotional, physical and spiritual necessity, the price you pay for love. The only cure for grief is to grieve. — Earl A Grollman
I believe there’s a calling for all of us. I know that every human being has value and purpose. The real work of our lives is to become aware. And awakened. To answer the call. — Oprah Winfrey
Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so you shall become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil. — James Lane Allen
Learning is the beginning of wealth. Learning is the beginning of health. Learning is the beginning of spirituality. Searching and learning is where the miracle process all begins. — Jim Rohn
If Allah has written for you happiness, no one can steal that from you, and if He has written for your heart to break, then no-one can mend it but He, so always put your trust in Allah. — Aaidh ibn Abdullah al-Qarni
Do what you can on this plane to relieve suffering by constantly working on yourself to be an instrument for the cessation of suffering. To me, that’s what the emerging game is all about. — Ram Dass
This particular school of Zen has always considered itself the Marines of the spiritual world, so it has a kind of bias against conceptual thinking in favor of a very rigorous physical life. — Leonard Cohen
Over the years I realized the damage fundamentalism did to my own spiritual and mental health. I’ve spend time recovering, studying scripture, sessions with a therapist, twelve step recovery. — Richard Rossi
It is so fatally easy to confuse an aesthetic appreciation of the spiritual life with the life itself-to dream that you have waked, washed, and dressed and then to find yourself still in bed. — C. S. Lewis
In the universe there is an immeasurable, indescribable force which shamens call intent, and absolutely everything that exists in the entire cosmos is attached to intent by a connecting link. — Carlos Castaneda
I believe God is managing affairs and that He doesn’t need any advice from me. With God in charge, I believe everything will work out for the best in the end. So what is there to worry about. — Henry Ford
Your profession is not what brings home your weekly paycheck, your profession is what you’re put here on earth to do, with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling. — Vincent Van Gogh
Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself, and know that everything in life has purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences, all events are blessings given to us to learn from. — Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
The only force that can sustain true and consistent courage is some form of spiritual belief that values like honor, duty, loyalty and integrity above the status, power, money and even security. — Michael Josephson
The spiritual life is not a life before, after, or beyond our everyday existence. No, the spiritual life can only be real when it is lived in the midst of the pains and joys of the here and now. — Henri Nouwen
I love you because all the loves in the world are like different rivers flowing into the same lake where they meet and are transformed into a single love that becomes rain and blesses the earth. — Paulo Coelho
Be kind to yourself as you proceed along this journey. This kindness, in itself, is a means of awakening the spark of love within you and helping others to discover that spark within themselves. — Tsoknyi Rinpoche
Political freedom is, or ought to be, the best guaranty for the safety and continuance of spiritual, mental, and civil freedom. It is the combination of numbers to secure the liberty to each one. — Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another’s, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises. — Leo Buscaglia
You see, it’s never the environment; it’s never the events of our lives, but the meaning we attach to the events – how we interpret them – that shapes who we are today and who we’ll become tomorrow. — Tony Robbins
The final bridge to cross is to let go of the mind-created ‘spiritual’ self. Burn that bridge behind you. Stay empty of self-image and cease looking back. Remain in the neutrality of being. That’s it! — Mooji
If you love a flower, don’t pick it up. Because if you pick it up it dies and it ceases to be what you love. So if you love a flower, let it be. Love is not about possession. Love is about appreciation. — Rajneesh
Peace does not mean an absence of conflicts; differences will always be there. Peace means solving these differences through peaceful means; through dialogue, education, knowledge; and through humane ways. — Dalai Lama
O God! if I worship Thee in fear of Hell, burn me in Hell; and if I worship Thee in hope of Paradise, exclude me from Paradise; but if I worship Thee for Thine own sake, withhold not thine everlasting beauty. — Rabia Basri
Every society rests in the last resort on the recognition of common principles and common ideals, and if it makes no moral or spiritual appeal to the loyalty of its members, it must inevitably fall to pieces. — Christopher Dawson
Culture is a window reflecting the history, culture and spiritual world of a nation, .. Cultural exchange is a bridge to enhance the mutual understanding and friendship between the people of different nations. — Hu Jintao
It does not matter how long you are spending on the earth, how much money you have gathered or how much attention you have received. It is the amount of positive vibration you have radiated in life that matters. — Amit Ray
How will you know the difficulties of being human, if you are always flying off to blue perfection? Where will you plant your grief seeds? Workers need ground to scrape and hoe, not the sky of unspecified desire. — Rumi
There comes a time in the spiritual journey when you start making choices from a very different place. And if a choice lines up so that it supports truth, health, happiness, wisdom and love, it’s the right choice. — Angeles Arrien
Blue is the male principle, stern and spiritual. Yellow the female principle, gentle, cheerful and sensual. Red is matter, brutal and heavy and always the colour which must be fought and vanquished by the other two. — Franz Marc
In the depths of your hopes and desires, lies your silent knowledge of the beyond, and like seeds dreaming beneath the snow, your heart dreams of spring. Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity. — Khalil Gibran
Look for good things about where you are, and in your state of appreciation, you lift all self-imposed limitations – and all limitations are self-imposed – and you free yourself for the receiving of wonderful things. — Esther Hicks
You can have a spiritual awakening and discover a new side of you at any age. And best of all, love can happen at any age. Life can just start to get exciting when you’re in your 40s and 50s. You have to believe that. — Salma Hayek
The unknown, our own true nature, has the capacity to wake itself up when you start to fall in love with letting go of all the mental structures you hold onto. Contemplate this: there is no such thing as a true belief. — Adyashanti
If we can bring spiritual energy, which is love, kindness, forgiveness and so on, to the problem, we can dissolve it. It’s really just a matter of changing our mind about how we’re going to process the events in our lives. — Wayne Dyer
Religion, like its votaries, while it exists on earth, must have a body as well as a soul. A religion purely spiritual might suit a being as pure, but men are compound animals; and the body too often lords it over the mind. — Charles Caleb Colton
Kindness and a good heart are the foundation for success in this life, progress on the spiritual path, and the fulfillment of our aspirations. Our need for them is not limited to any specific time, place, society, or culture. — Dalai Lama
We must not forget that what I mean by the conquest of the world by spiritual thought is the sending out of the life-giving principles, not the hundreds of superstitions that we have been hugging to our breasts for centuries. — Swami Vivekananda
There’s nothing you can do that’s more important than being fulfilled. You become a sign, you become a signal, transparent to transcendence; in this way, you will find, live, and become a realization of your own personal myth. — Joseph Campbell
A man goes to knowledge as he goes to war: wide-awake, with fear, with respect, and with absolute assurance. Going to knowledge or going to war in any other manner is a mistake, and whoever makes it might never live to regret it — Carlos Castaneda
I didn’t have to go all the way to India for spiritual enlightenment. The blue-collar spirituality of everyday life was right in front of me, it was in every nook and cranny if I wanted to seek it, but I had chosen to ignore it. — Anthony Kiedis
Now I begin to feel that that all that is important comes in quietness and waiting; activity should be only the working out, the digesting and putting forth of what one learned, so that one may become empty again to receive more. — Rodney Collin
Absolute consciousness is manifest here in every circumstance of daily life because it is everywhere full and perfect. Consciousness is said to be the cause of all things because it is everywhere emergent as each manifest entity. — Abhinavagupta
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? — Epicurus
Yet the New Testament treats of man and man’s so-called spiritual affairs too exclusively, and is too constantly moral and personal, to alone content me, who am not interested solely in man’s religious or moral nature, or in man even. — Henry David Thoreau
Evangelicalism has taken the Extrovert Ideal to its logical extreme…If you don’t love Jesus out loud, then it must not be real love. It’s not enough to forge your own spiritual connection to the divine; it must be displayed publicly. — Susan Cain
The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian. — Aiden Wilson Tozer
Man learns through experience, and the spiritual path is full of different kinds of experiences. He will encounter many difficulties and obstacles, and they are the very experiences he needs to encourage and complete the cleansing process. — Sai Baba
A warrior considers himself already dead, so there is nothing to lose. The worst has already happened to him, therefore he’s clear and calm; judging him by his acts or by his words, one would never suspect that he has witnessed everything. — Carlos Castaneda
Most of us take for granted that time flies, meaning that it passes too quickly. But in the mindful state, time doesn’t really pass at all. There is only a single instant of time that keeps renewing itself over and over with infinite variety. — Deepak Chopra
The abuse of power manifests with phony spiritual teachers and phony gurus who tell you how to run your life and what to wear and what to eat, all that sort of stuff. They abuse. People don’t realize that, listen to them and ruin their lives. — Frederick Lenz
In economics, we borrowed from the Bourbons; in foreign policy, we drew on themes fashioned by the nomad warriors of the Eurasian steppes. In spiritual matters, we emulated the braying intolerance of our archenemies, the Shite fundamentalists. — Barbara Ehrenreich
Nature does not know extinction; all it knows is transformation. … Everything science has taught me-and continues to teach me-strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death. Nothing disappears without a trace. — Wernher von Braun
In this outward and physical ceremony we attest once again to the inner and spiritual strength of our Nation. As my high school teacher, Miss Julia Coleman, used to say: ‘We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.’ — Jimmy Carter
Everyone has a purpose in life… a unique gift or special talent to give to others. And when we blend this unique talent with service to others, we experience the ecstasy and exultation of our own spirit, which is the ultimate goal of all goals. — Deepak Chopra
Appreciation of life itself, becoming suddenly aware of the miracle of being alive, on this planet, can turn what we call ordinary life into a miracle. We come awake to such a realization when we recognize our connection to a spiritual dimension. — Dan Wakefield
Only the idea of death makes a warrior sufficiently detached so that he is capable of abandoning himself to anything. He knows his death is stalking him and won’t give him time to cling to anything so he tries, without craving, all of everything. — Carlos Castaneda
Theosophy tries to bridge the gulf between Buddhism and Christianity by pointing to the fundamental spiritual truths on which both religions are built, and by winning people to regard the Buddha and the Christ as fellow-laborers, and not as rivals. — Annie Besant
If you are willing to look at another person’s behavior toward you as a reflection of the state of their relationship with themselves rather than a statement about your value as a person. then you will, over a period of time, cease to react at all. — Harbhajan Singh Yogi
When awareness expands, events that seem random actually aren’t. A larger purpose is trying to unfold through you. When you become aware of that purpose- which is unique for each person- you become like an architect who has been handed the blueprint. — Deepak Chopra
We are the only beings on the planet who lead such rich internal lives that it’s not the events that matter most to us, but rather, it’s how we interpret those events that will determine how we think about ourselves and how we will act in the future. — Tony Robbins
Being is a spiritual proposition. Gaining is a material act. Traditionally, American Indians have always attempted to be the best people they could. Part of that spiritual process was and is to give away wealth, to discard wealth in order not to gain. — Russell Means
The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
To harbor no envy, no anger, no resentment against an offender is still not to have charity for him. It is possible, without any charity, to avoid rendering evil for evil. But to render, spontaneously, good for evil – such belongs to a perfect spiritual love. — Maximus the Confessor
I do not believe the greatest threat to our future is from bombs or guided missiles. I don’t think our civilization will die that way. I think it will die when we no longer care when the spiritual forces that make us wish to be right and noble die in our hearts. — Laurence McKinley Gould
Without Easter, Good Friday would have no meaning. Without Easter, there would be no hope that suffering and abandonment might be tolerable. But with Easter, a way out becomes visible for human sorrows, an absolute future: more than a hope, a divine expectation. — Hans Urs von Balthasar
I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It’s just that the translations have gone wrong. — John Lennon
I really feel that some people neglect and overlook compassion because they associate it with religion. Of course, everyone is free to choose whether they pay religion any regard, but to neglect compassion is a mistake because it is the source of our own well-being. — Dalai Lama
Human beings will continue to deceive and overpower one another. Basically, everyone exists in the very nature of suffering, so to abuse or mistreat each other is futile. The foundation of all spiritual practice is love. That you practice this well is my only request. — Dalai Lama
Whether a person is spiritual or not, we all seek to get away from the stress, anger, and anxiety of everyday life. Some people drink, do drugs, or do worse to escape, and they hurt themselves in the process. Some people listen to music, mine included, and feel better. — Yanni
As far as inner transformation is concerned, there is nothing you can do about it. You cannot transform yourself, and you certainly cannot transform your partner or anybody else. All you can do is create a space for transformation to happen, for grace and love to enter. — Eckhart Tolle
Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path. — Brené Brown
Anxiety, heartbreak, and tenderness mark the in-between state. It’s the kind of place we usually want to avoid. The challenge is to stay in the middle rather than buy into struggle and complaint. The challenge is to let it soften us rather than make us more rigid and afraid. — Pema Chodron
It is not the end of the physical body that should worry us. Rather, our concern must be to live while we’re alive – to release our inner selves from the spiritual death that comes with living behind a facade designed to conform to external definitions of who and what we are. — Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
I ask you what is the taste of your mouth all you can do is to say: it is neither sweet nor bitter, nor sour nor astringent; it is what remains when all these tastes are not. Similarly, when all distinctions and reactions are no more, what remains is reality, simple and solid. — Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
That was what, ultimately, war did to you. It was not the physical dangers–the mines at sea, the bombs from the air, the crisp ping of a rifle bullet as you drove over a desert track. No, it was the spiritual danger of learning how much easier life was if you ceased to think. — Agatha Christie
The word ‘God’ is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, and religious scripture a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation, no matter how subtle, can (for me) change this. — Albert Einstein
When we finally know we are dying, and all other sentient beings are dying with us, we start to have a burning, almost heartbreaking sense of the fragility and preciousness of each moment and each being, and from this can grow a deep, clear, limitless compassion for all beings. — Sogyal Rinpoche
Frank Berliners spiritual memoir is beautifully crafted and written. It is a tale about love, and the great longing that springs from there—to learn, to grow, to be real, and to forge a genuine connection with oneself and others, with life, and with death. I highly recommend it. — John Welwood
Life does not end when we die. Death is a rebirth into a spirit world of light and love, a transition from the physical to the spiritual that is no more frightening or painful than passing between rooms through an open doorway. It is a joyful homecoming to our natural home, . . . — Betty Eadie
There are various forms of weaponry, intellectual weaponry, spiritual weaponry, political weaponry, economic weaponry. Because we are on the battlefield, and there are bullets flying, some symbolic, some literal and the life of the mind is a crucial place where the battle goes on. — Cornel West
Oppression costs the oppressor too much if the oppressed stands up and protests. The protest need not be merely physical-the throwing of stones and bullets-if it is mental, spiritual; if it expresses itself in silent, persistent dissatisfaction, the cost to the oppressor is terrific. — W. E. B. Du Bois
The Christian feels that the tooth of time gnaws all books but the Bible…19 centuries of experience have tested it. It has passed through critical fires no other volume has suffered and its spiritual truth has endured the flames and come out without so much as the smell of burning. — W. Sangster
Enlightened leadership is spiritual if we understand spirituality not as some kind of religious dogma or ideology but as the domain of awareness where we experience values like truth, goodness, beauty, love and compassion, and also intuition, creativity, insight and focused attention. — Deepak Chopra
When practiced to its fullest, mindful eating turns a simple meal into a spiritual experience, giving us a deep appreciation of all that went into the meal’s creation as well a deep understanding of the relationship between the food on our table, our own health, and our planet’s health. — Nhat Hanh
No kind action ever stops with itself. One kind action leads to another. Good example is followed. A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves. — Amelia Earhart
Parents who spoil their children out of ‘love’ should realize that they are performing acts of child abuse. Although there are no laws against such abuse–no man-made laws anyway–this spiritual mistreatment may result in as much long-term personal and social damage as the worst physical abuse. — Randy Alcorn
The wise stand out because they see themselves as part of the Whole. They shine because they don’t want to impress. They achieve great things because they don’t look for recognition. Their wisdom is contained in what they are, not their opinions. They refuse to argue, so no-one argues with them. — Laozi
“What can my enemies do to me?
I have in my breast both my Heaven and my Garden.
If I travel they are with me, and they never leave me.
Imprisonment for me is a religious retreat [khalwa].
To be slain for me is martyrdom [shahada]
And to be exiled from my land is a spiritual journey [siyaha].” — Ibn Taymiyyah
Try to be “good”, you’ll be judged. Try to be yourself, you’ll be criticized. Therefore, choose the second option. Evil uses the “nice good people” as puppets. It appears dressed as a poor guy, telling them that he needs help…When these people realize they have been used, it is already too late. — Paulo Coelho
It is pleasant to spend time with Him, to lie close to His breast like the Beloved Disciple and to feel the infinite love present in His Heart….how can we not feel a renewed need to spend time in spiritual converse, in silent adoration, in heartfelt love before Christ present in the Most Holy Sacrament? — Pope John Paul II
There was a famous Zen master whom people would seek out to become enlightened. He was strict and would occupy people with things having nothing to do with seeking enlightenment. You see, that is the only way to achieve enlightenment; by not focusing on achieving it. Then, one day it will just come to you. — Masaaki Hatsumi
Most pointedly, nature-based people manifest the very qualities that contemporary psychotherapy, the recovery movement, and spiritual practices continually aim for: a visible sense of inner peace, unselfconscious humility, an urge to communal cooperation, and heartfelt appreciation for the world around them. — Chellis Glendinning
If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a God who would choose to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the pattern of their words. I think he would prefer an honest and righteous atheist to a TV preacher whose every word is God, God, God and whose every deed is foul, foul, foul. — Isaac Asimov
Our practices – our most spiritual practices – are hanging laundry on the line, raising children, building strong relationships, practicing kindness as much as we can, striving for excellence in the workplace, and developing deeper self-knowledge. I wrote The Four Purposes of Life to assist in these endeavors. — Dan Millman
The highest spiritual quality, the noblest property of mind a man can have, is this of loyalty … a man with no loyalty in him, with no sense of love or reverence or devotion due to something outside and above his poor daily life, with its pains and pleasures, profits and losses, is as evil a case as man can be. — Algernon Charles Swinburne
It is a holy blessing to be born with the exquisite qualities of a daughter of God. Women of God, both old and young, are spiritual and sensitive, tender and gentle. They have a kind, nurturing nature. This is your inheritance. Never belittle the gifts God has given to you. Develop the divinity that is within you. — Margaret D. Nadauld
Our Lord might be described as the great Physician, Healer, Engineer, Chief Scout, Foreman, Builder, or the like – all showing his pre-eminence in the field concerned, and all pointing attention to his power to deal in the spiritual field with human souls as these mortal counterparts deal in their temporal pursuits. — Bruce R. McConkie
During the youthful period of mankind’s spiritual evolution human fantasy created gods in man’s own image, who, by the operations of their will were supposed to determine, or at any rate to influence, the phenomenal world. Man sought to alter the disposition of these gods in his own favour by means of magic and prayer. — Albert Einstein
To be kind, honest and have positive thoughts; to forgive those who harm us and treat everyone as a friend; to help those who are suffering and never to consider ourselves superior to anyone else: even if this advice seems rather simplistic, make the effort of seeing whether by following it you can find greater happiness. — Dalai Lama
Material objects give rise to physical happiness, while spiritual development gives rise to mental happiness. Since we experience both physical and mental happiness, we need both material and spiritual development. This is why, for our own good and that of society we need to balance material progress with inner development. — Dalai Lama
The end of the Cold War removed the immediate causes of whole destruction but not the threat contained in our knowledge. We must tame this knowledge with the ideals of justice, caring, and compassion summoned from our common human spiritual and moral heritage, if we are to live in peace and serenity in the twenty-first century. — Mahnaz Afkhami
The seeker after stillness should be told that the stillness is always there. Indeed it is in every man. But he has to learn, first, to let it in and, second, how to do so. The first beginning of this is to remember. The second is to recognize the inward pull. For the rest, the stillness itself will guide and lead him to itself. — Paul Brunton
I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own — a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms. — Albert Einstein
Prize the natural spaces and shorelines most of all, because once they’re gone, with rare exceptions they’re gone forever. In our bones we need the natural curves of hills, the scent of chapparal, the whisper of pines, the possibility of wildness. We require these patches of nature for our mental health and our spiritual resilience. — Richard Louv
A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so. — Mahatma Gandhi
Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult-once we truly understand and accept it-then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters. — M. Scott Peck
It helps certain church leaders identify the fact that they have the spiritual gift of leadership that the Bible talks about in Romans 12:8. Once you understand that God has given a gift, then training becomes more seriously. When you receive better training, you become more effective in the leadership position that God has assigned to you. — Bill Hybels
Expect your every need to be met, expect the answer to every problem, expect abundance on every level, expect to grow spiritually. You are not living by human laws. Expect miracles and see them take place. Hold ever before you the thought of prosperity and abundance and know that doing so sets in motion forces that will bring it into being. — Eileen Caddy
If God kills, lies, cheats, discriminates, and otherwise behaves in a manner that puts the Mafia to shame, that’s okay, he’s God. He can do whatever he wants. Anyone who adheres to this philosophy has had his sense of morality, decency, justice and humaneness warped beyond recognition by the very book that is supposedly preaching the opposite. — Dennis McKinsey
Learning how to be kind to ourselves, learning how to respect ourselves, is important. The reason it’s important is that, fundamentally, when we look into our own hearts and begin to discover what is confused and what is brilliant, what is bitter and what is sweet, it isn’t just ourselves that we’re discovering. We’re discovering the universe. — Pema Chodron
My loyalties will not be bound by national borders, or confined in time by one nation’s history, or limited in the spiritual dimension by one language and culture. I pledge my allegiance to the damned human race, and my everlasting love to the green hills of Earth, and my intimations of glory to the singing stars, to the very end of space and time. — Edward Abbey
Compassion and love constitute non-violence in action. They are the source of all spiritual qualities: forgiveness, tolerance, all the virtues. They give meaning to our activities and makes them constructive. There is nothing amazing about being rich or highly educated; only when the individual has a warm heart do these attributes become worthwhile. — Dalai Lama
I strongly believe that nothing is more spiritual than living at our highest potential while serving others. I believe that the more closely aligned we are to “spirit” the more fully we will give ourselves in service to the world. As such, my “spiritual path” is the path that leads me to a more complete manifestation of my unique Bodhisattvic duties. — Brian Johnson
The material and the spiritual are but two parts of one universe and one truth. By overstressing one part or the other, man fails to achieve the balance necessary for harmonious development… Practice the art of living in this world without losing your inner peace of mind. Follow the path of balance to reach the inner wondrous garden of Self-Realization. — Paramahansa Yogananda
In spiritual growth, it is important to avoid imbalances between academic or intellectual learning and practical implementation. Otherwise there is a danger that too much intellectualiza tion will kill the more contemplative practices and too much emphasis on practical implementation without study will kill the understanding. There has got to be a balance. — Dalai Lama
More than anything else today, followers believe they are part of a system, a process that lacks heart. If there is one thing a leader can do to connect with followers at a human, or better still a spiritual level, it is to become engaged with them fully, to share experiences and emotions, and to set aside the processes of leadership we have learned by rote. — Lance Secretan
If there is a central theme to what I called “a peaceful warrior’s approach to living,” and to The Four Purposes of Life, it is that there may be innumerable techniques or methods one can learn (from the Eastern spiritual cultures and from the Western psychological tradition), but that above and beyond all these technologies waits the school of everyday life. — Dan Millman
I am running on fumes, so it’s time to get centered again. I start with eating healthier and cutting out caffeine – at least cutting back on caffeine. I exercise and get outside to play. I reconnect with my spiritual practice, which is daily meditation and prayer. Most importantly, I reconnect with my family and friends. If all else fails, a few deep breaths. — Amber Valletta
We must be trained to clarify minds, heal broken hearts, and create homes where sunshine will make an environment in which mental and spiritual health may be nurtured. Our schooling must not only teach us how to bridge the Niagara River gorge, or the Golden Gate, but must teach us how to bridge the deep gaps of misunderstanding and hate and discord in the world. — Spencer W. Kimball
If a person measures his spiritual fulfillment in terms of cosmic visions, surpassing peace of mind, or ecstasy, then he is not likely to know much spiritual fulfillment. If, however, he measures it in terms of enjoying a sunrise, being warmed by a child’s smile, or being able to help someone have a better day, then he is likely to know much spiritual fulfillment. — Arthur Miller
A man’s social and spiritual discipline must answer to his corporeal. He must lean on a friend who has a hard breast, as he wouldlie on a hard bed. He must drink cold water for his only beverage. So he must not hear sweetened and colored words, but pure and refreshing truths. He must daily bathe in truth cold as spring water, not warmed by the sympathy of friends. — Henry David Thoreau
Do not be impatient with your seemingly slow progress. Do not try to run faster than you presently can. If you are studying, reflecting and trying, you are making progress whether you are aware of it or not. A traveler walking the road in the darkness of night is still going forward. Someday, some way, everything will break open, like the natural unfolding of a rosebud. — Vernon Howard
Those who first introduced compulsory education into American life knew exactly why children should go to school and learn to read: to save their souls…. Consistent with this goal, the first book written and printed for children in America was titled Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes in either England, drawn from the Breasts of both Testaments for their Souls’ Nourishment. — Dorothy H Cohen
The key is to trust in your own divinity, to know that you are a piece of God, and that you are like what you came from. As a spiritual being, you have Divinity within. When Albert Einstein was asked about the impact of quantum physics, he said, “It’s just all details, I just want to think like God thinks.” And God thinks in terms of creating, kindness, beauty and goodness. — Wayne Dyer
“Your Remedy is within you, but you do not sense it.
Your Sickness is from you, but you do not perceive it.
You Presume you are a small entity,
But within you is enfolded the entire universe.
You are indeed the evident book,
By whose alphabet the hidden becomes the manifest.
Therefore, you have no need to look beyond yourself,
What you seek is within you, if only you reflect.” — Ali ibn Abi Talib
Real spiritual journey in life is the discovery of self. I think once you take all the religious bullshit away from Jesus Christ, it’s saying it’s about this journey of discovering who you are, and what’s really important in life is simply love. That the journey of civilization, the journey of understanding, is forgiveness, is empathy. And that’s what humanity is striving for. — Matthew Modine
The law of chastity is not a negative proposition, but a positive one because in its observance there are spiritual values that far outweigh the physical dangers that we often emphasize. I believe the chances are that our children will respond to the positive attitude quicker and more thoroughly than they do to the negative. Let’s show them the values that there are in that law. — Antoine R. Ivins
This Bible, then, has a mission, grander than any mere creation of God; for in this volume are infinite wisdom, and infinite love. Between its covers are the mind and heart of God; and they are for man’s good, for his salvation, his guidance, his spiritual nourishment. If now I neglect my Bible, I do my soul a wrong; for the fact of this Divine message is evidence that I need it. — Abbott Eliot Kittredge
The main condition is that the spiritual ear should be open to overhear and patiently take in, and the will ready to obey that testimony which, I believe, God bears in every human heart, however dull, to those great truths which the Bible reveals. This, and not logic, is the way to grow in religious knowledge, to know that the truths of religion are not shadows, but deep realities. — John Campbell Shairp
Curiously, ghosts are rarely if ever seen in the nude. They appear fully clothed, and may even change clothing on subsequent appearances. They may change their form, to appear as they looked at different stages of their lives. Unless someone out there knows of an extoplasmic department store on the spiritual plane, we have to wonder, “Where do the clothes and accessories come from? — Loyd Auerbach
Don’t worry about wearing the sign; be the sign. You don’t have to wear a sandwich board saying, “I am religious and spiritual and know what you should do.” You do have to be the best of the mystical presence that your tradition brings. Certainly in Christianity, that means that you begin to go through life putting on the mind of Jesus, trying to see the world as Jesus saw the world. — Joan D. Chittister
To me this world is all one continued vision of fancy or imagination, and I feel flattered when I am told so. What is it sets Homer, Virgil and Milton in so high a rank of art? Why is the Bible more entertaining and instructive than any other book? Is it not because they are addressed to the imagination, which is spiritual sensation, and but immediately to the understanding or reason? — William Blake
A man that advances in spiritual and in temporal matters at the same time, minding to keep the spiritual first, will not let the temporal lead him; he will not place his heart upon his farm, his horses, or any possession that he has. He will place his desires in heaven, and will anchor his hope in that eternal soil; and his temporal affairs will come up as he advances in the knowledge of God. — Jedediah M. Grant
Many of us incorrectly assume that a spiritual life begins when we change what we normally do in our daily life. We feel we must change our job, our living situation, our relationship, our address, our diet, or our clothes before we can truly begin a spiritual practice. And yet it is not the act but the awareness, the vitality, and the kindness we bring to our work that allows it to become sacred. — Wayne Muller
So, from generation to generation, the spiritual church is rising upwards toward its perfection; and, though one after another the workmen pass away, the fabric remains, and the great Master-builder carries on the undertaking. Be it ours to build in our portion in a solid and substantial manner, so that they who come after us may be at once thankful for our thoroughness, and inspired by our example. — William Mackergo Taylor
Suppose you read about a pill that you could take once a day to reduce anxiety and increase your contentment. Would you take it? Suppose further that the pill has a great variety of side effects, all of them good: increased self-esteem, empathy, and trust; it even improves memory. Suppose, finally, that the pill is all natural and costs nothing. Now would you take it? The pill exists. It is meditation. — Jonathan Haidt
Education is the proper way to promote compassion and tolerance in society. Compassion and peace of mind bring a sense of confidence that reduce stress and anxiety, whereas anger and hatred come from frustration and undermine our sense of trust. Because of ignorance, many of our problems are our own creation. Education, however, is the instrument that increases our ability to employ our own intelligence. — Dalai Lama
Do you know that the words meditation and medicine come from the same root? Meditation is a kind of medicine; its use is only for the time being. Once you have learned the quality, then you need not do any particular meditation, then the meditation has to spread all over your life. Only when you are meditative twenty-four hours a day then can you attain, then you have attained. Even sleeping is meditation. — Rajneesh
Not every sky will be blue and not every day is springtime. So on the spiritual path a person learns to find this kind of happiness without needing nice things to happen on the outside. Rather, you find happiness by being who you really are. This isn’t mystical. Young children are happy being who they are. The trick is to regain such a state when you are grown and have seen the light and dark sides of life. — Deepak Chopra
There are some people who cannot help giving. Why? Because they experience a real psychological pleasure in doing so. They don’t do it with an eye to their own advantage, they do it on the quiet; they detest doing it openly because that would take away some of the satisfaction. They do it in secret, with quick trembling hands, their breasts rocked by a spiritual well being which they do not themselves understand. — Knut Hamsun
Characters exist in a flat line until we challenge them – sometimes they challenge themselves, sometimes they’re challenged by other people, by nature, by robots, or by fungal infections in and around one’s nether-country. Stories need conflict across the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual spectra. Accidents, betrayals, cataclysm, desperation, excess – these are the letters in the alphabet of conflict. — Chuck Wendig
Watching the spontaneous acts of kindness, compassion, and generosity, courage, and bravery in the aftermath of the Boston marathon bombings was so deeply moving. It is in our nature to want to help, to serve, to be part of something larger than ourselves. We have a desire to connect with others. We want to make a difference in the world. I would call this a spiritual longing to be whole, interrelated, interconnected. — Terry Tempest Williams
From the explanatory notes that Willson wrote to accompany his symphony, A Symphony of San Francisco,: “Generally speaking, the first movement is intended to convey pioneer courage, loyalty, strength of purpose and freedom.” The trumpet motive in the closing Allegro “is a call of defiance to the very elements themselves that had the temerity to dispute the spiritual strength and courage of the golden city of the West.” — Meredith Willson
People with mental problems are our neighbors. They are members of our congregations, members of our families; they are everywhere in this country. If we ignore their cries for help, we will be continuing to participate in the anguish from which those cries for help come. A problem of this magnitude will not go away. Because it will not go away, and because of our spiritual commitments, we are compelled to take action. — Rosalynn Carter
It’s in our interest to take care of others. Self-centrednes s is opposed to basic human nature. In our own interest as human beings we need to pay attention to our inner values. Sometimes people think compassion is only of help to others, while we get no benefit. This is a mistake. When you concern yourself with others, you naturally develop a sense of self-confidence . To help others takes courage and inner strength. — Dalai Lama
Oh, from what heights of blessing it is possible for a man to fall! To what depths of sin a man can descend, even with all that spiritual background! The higher the pinnacle of blessing, authority, and publicity he has attained by grace, the deeper and more staggering can be his collapse. There is never a day in any man’s life but that he is dependent upon the grace of God for power and the blood of Jesus for cleansing. — Alan Redpath
In the mystic traditions of the different religions we have a remarkable unity of spirit. Whatever religion they may profess, they are spiritual kinsmen. While the different religions in their historic forms bind us to limited groups and militate against the development of loyalty to the world community, the mystics have already stood for the fellowship of humanity in harmony with the spirit of the mystics of ages gone by. — Haile Selassie
Develop all four intelligences. PQ (physical intelligence) which represents 70 trillion cells that fight disease and digest your breakfast. IQ (intellectual intelligence) EQ (emotional intelligence) the sensing and wisdom of the heart – – and SQ (spiritual intelligence) having to do with meaning, purpose and integrity around your selected value system and your believed source. When combined, they change the world for good. — Stephen Covey
I have a family and you know very well the time that that takes. That’s good time. I have a couple hobbies. I’m a runner and play tennis. In the summer my family and I uproot ourselves and go live in Maine for the summer. We have a house on a very tiny island in Maine. Which is really my spiritual center. We’ve been going there for ten years, and it has no ferry service, no bridges, no telephone service. It’s really isolated. — Alan Lightman
Many native cultures believe that the heart is the bridge between Father Sky and Mother Earth. For these traditions, the ‘four-chambered heart,’ the source for sustaining emotional and spiritual health, is described as being full, open, clear, and strong. These traditions feel that it is important to check the condition of the four-chambered heart daily, asking: ‘Am I full-hearted, open-hearted, clear-hearted, and strong-hearted?’ — Angeles Arrien
When there is no mind, you are in yoga; when there is mind you are not in yoga. So you may do all the postures, but if the mind goes on functioning, if you go on thinking, you are not in yoga. Yoga is the state of no-mind. If you can be without the mind without doing any posture, you have become a perfect yogi. It has happened to many without doing any postures, and it has not happened to many who have been doing postures for many lives. — Rajneesh
There is a theology to gardening that few of us consider, but to understand this theology means relinquishing much control – our arsenal of books, techniques, tools, chemicals, fertilizers, fancy hybrids, and expectations. Yet, that is exactly what we must do if we are to fully embrace a more spiritual form of gardening. As a part of Nature we must learn to enter our garden as if it were truly sacred, we must learn to enter with humility. — Christopher McDowell
I know not a better rule of reading the Scripture, than to read it through from beginning to end and when we have finished it once, to begin it again. We shall meet with many passages which we can make little improvement of, but not so many in the second reading as in the first, and fewer in the third than in the second: provided we pray to him who has the keys to open our understandings, and to anoint our eyes with His spiritual ointment. — John Newton
Straight away, remove yourself from the field of spiritual progression , stay away from contemplation and skillful discourse, do not do research or meditate on the divinities, and stop concentrating and reciting textbooks! Tell me, what is the absolute nature of reality which allows no room for doubt? Listen carefully! Stop holding on to this or that, inhabit your true absolute nature, and peacefully enjoy the essence of what it is to be alive! — Abhinavagupta
All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, and regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you. The only thing blame does is to keep the focus off you when you are looking for external reasons to explain your unhappiness or frustration. You may succeed in making another feel guilty about something by blaming him, but you won’t succeed in changing whatever it is about you that is making you unhappy. — Wayne Dyer
Ordinary people do not question the commonly accepted version of reality. They conform to the standard values of subduing enemies and cherishing friends and family. Materialism, ambition and mundane achievements are the worldly hallmarks of success. We experience the phenomenal world and our minds as solid and truly existent. Very few people doubt these assertions and question their solidity. Yet, the process of disbelief is the first step on the spiritual path. — Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
People always think that loyalty is laudable. People are always saying that we must remain faithful to tradition, to family, to our class, to our ideas. Of course not! That would be equivalent to zero brain activity. If you really want to think, to seek truth, to advance intellectually, you must turn your back on clichés, on preconceived ideas – even those belonging to your spiritual family. For an intellectual, his true duty is not to fidelity, but to infidelity. — Bernard-Henri Levy
Have been reading “Genesis” several Sundays, not as a Christian reads for “spiritual consolation,” “instruction,” etc., not as aninfidel reads to carp and quarrel and criticize, but as one who wishes to be informed and furnished in the earliest and most wonderful of all literary productions. The literature of the Bible should be studied as one studies Shakespeare, for illustration and language, for its true pictures of man and woman nature, for its early historical record. — Rutherford B. Hayes
I’ve got three kids. I worry about them but the gospel freed me and freed my wife. We are not trying to make our kids think that we’re super spiritual or we’ve got it all together. They see mom and dad being real people. What they hear dad talking about at home is not different from what they see from dad [at church]. That won’t guarantee that they’ll avoid the whole PK, MK thing. But we are hopefully not contributing to what normally produces that crisis, which is pretending. — Tullian Tchividjian
History does seem to repeat itself hence it’s mindboggling to still hear the ‘avoid all negative people’ speeches from, of all people, supposedly important spiritual teachers. Ironically, their congregations would probably be the ones hiding their faces from the accuracies of truth speakers like Christ. Now, Christ was the complete opposite of negative, however the danger is that truth is often misunderstood as negativity by those who are constantly taught to only seek flattery. — Criss Jami
Life, within doors, has few pleasanter prospects than a neatly-arranged and well-provisioned breakfast-table. We come to it freshly, in the dewy youth of the day, and when our spiritual and sensual elements are in better accord than at a later period; so that the material delights of the morning meal are capable of being fully enjoyed, without any very grievous reproaches, whether gastric or conscientious, for yielding even a trifle overmuch to the animal department of our nature. — Nathaniel Hawthorne
Everyone deserves love and appreciation. If there is someone in the world whom we do not love, it is our blessing to work this out within ourselves. A very key spiritual principle, echoed in the Cayce readings as well as mainstream psychology, is that whatever we see in others that makes us angry, sad or jealous is a reflection of an issue we have in ourselves. If we can learn to love, respect and forgive ourselves, then we will not be angered and offended by what we see in others. — David Wilcock
…rise above selfishness. This includes spiritual selfishness, when one looks toward personal edification and strengthening and has no other interest than one’s own salvation. To be blessed is not an end in itself; we must be a blessing to others. All people have a talent in one way or another to touch and inspire other people’s lives. Let us not only look inward and proudly say ‘all is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth’ (2 Ne. 28:21), but let us be a light unto a chaotic world. — Hans B. Ringger
The Zen meditative approach has a simple, unstated premise: moods and attitudes shape—determine—what we think and perceive. If we feel happy, we tend to develop certain trains of thought. If we feel sad or angry, still others. But suppose, with training, we become nonattached to distractions and learn to dampen these wild, emotional swings on either side of equanimity. Then we can enter that serene awareness which is the natural soil for positive, spontaneous personal growth, often called spiritual growth. — James H. Austin
For me, spirituality includes the belief in things larger than ourselves, an appreciation of nature and beauty, a sensitivity to the world, a feeling of shared connection with other living things, a desire to help people less fortunate than ourselves. All of these things can occur with or without God. I do not believe in the existence of God, but I consider myself a spiritual person in the manner I have just described. I call myself a spiritual atheist. I would imagine that many people are spiritual atheists. — Alan Lightman
A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. — Albert Einstein
Fortunately, some are born with spiritual immune systems that sooner or later give rejection to the illusory worldview grafted upon then from birth through social conditioning. They begin sensing that something is amiss, and start looking for answers. Inner knowledge and anomalous outer experiences show them a side of reality others are oblivious to, and so begins the journey of awakening. Each step of the journey is made by following the heart instead of the crowd, and by choosing knowledge over veils of ignorance. — Henri Bergson
There are those that say, if you do the uncomfortable thing long enough, it will become comfortable. But we are really not encouragers of that. We are encouragers of coming into alignment, and then taking the action. We are encouragers always of getting rid of the fear; we would never want you to keep doing things that you feel fearful about. And maybe the path of least resistance is just not get on the horse. Maybe the path of least resistance is to get on a different horse – but we would never move forward in fear. — Esther Hicks
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. — Peace Pilgrim
Your Self, Aware Presence, knows no resistance to any appearance and, as such, is happiness itself; like the empty space of a room it cannot be disturbed and is, therefore, peace itself; like this page, it is intimately one with whatever appears on it and is thus love itself; and like water that is not affected by the shape of a wave, it is pure freedom. Causeless joy, imperturbable peace, love that knows no opposite and freedom at the heart of all experience….this is your ever-present nature under all circumstances. — Rupert Spira
I spent a month in India and where I learnt an important word for me, for everything that had come before and after, and the was the word ‘seva’ – the work you do without wanting reward, simply for the work itself, for the spiritual, for the practice and the experience it gives you by doing that work. I began to realise it was something I was searching for all my life, that I was doing theatre not for myself but for something for a search, for a seeking for something that is behind that, to find a truth somewhere about us. — George Ogilvie
A time comes when silence is betrayal. That time has come for us in relation to Vietnam. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift, is approaching spiritual death.I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor. — Martin Luther King, Jr.
There comes a time when the pain of continuing exceeds the pain of stopping. At that moment, a threshold is crossed. What seemed unthinkable becomes thinkable. Slowly, the realization emerges that the choice to continue what you have been doing is the choice to live in discomfort, and the choice to stop what you have been doing is the choice to breathe deeply and freely again. Once that realization has emerged, you can either honor it or ignore it, but you cannot forget it. What has become known can not become unknown again. — Gary Zukav
Do not entertain the notion that you ought to advance in your prayer. If you do, you will only find you have put on the brake instead of the acceleration. All real progress in spiritual things comes gently, imperceptibly, and is the work of God. Our crude efforts spoil it. Know yourself for the childish, limited and dependent soul you are. Remember that the only growth which matters happens without our knowledge and that trying to stretch ourselves is both dangerous and silly. Think of the Infinite Goodness, never of your own state. — Evelyn Underhill
The principle of self-reliance grows out of a fundamental doctrine of the Church, that of agency. Just as each individual is accountable for his choices and actions in spiritual matters, so also is he accountable in temporal matters. It is through our own efforts and decisions that we earn our way in this life. While the Lord will magnify us in both subtle and dramatic ways, he can only guide our footsteps when we move our feet. Ultimately, our own actions determine our blessings or lack of them. It is a direct consequence of both agency and accountability. — Marion G. Romney
I can worship Nature, and that fulfills my need for miracles and beauty. Art gives a spiritual depth to existence — I can find worlds bigger and deeper than my own in music, paintings, and books. And from my friends and family I receive the highest benediction, emotional contact, and personal affirmation. I can bow before the works of Man, from buildings to babies, and that fulfills my need for wonder. I can believe in the sanctity of Life, and that becomes the Revealed Word, to live my life as I believe it should be, not as I’m told to by self-appointed guides. — Neil Peart
To this day, we see all around us the Promethean drive to omnipotence through technology and to omniscience through science. The effecting of all things possible and the knowledge of all causes are the respective primary imperatives of technology and of science. But the motivating imperative of society continues to be the very different one of its physical and spiritual survival. It is now far less obvious than it was in Francis Bacon’s world how to bring the three imperatives into harmony, and how to bring all three together to bear on problems where they superpose. — Gerald Holton
As you know, shibumi has to do with great refinement underlying commonplace appearances. It is a statement so correct that it does not have to be bold, so poignant it does not have to be pretty, so true it does not have to be real. Shibumi is understanding, rather than knowledge. Eloquent silence. In demeanor, it is modesty without pudency. In art, where the spirit of shibumi takes the form of sabi, it is elegant simplicity, articulate brevity. In philosophy, where shibumi emerges as wabi, it is spiritual tranquility that is not passive; it is being without the angst of becoming. — Trevanian
Something is amiss, deeply wrong, something is deeply wrong with the way we’re living our lives collectively, with the way we are creating our collective experience on earth. And we are coming to the conclusion that the problem after all is not political, that the problem after all is not economic, that the problem after all cannot be solved with bombs or missiles or bullets, but that the problem in fact is spiritual, that the problem with the world today is as it has always been, a problem of our most basic beliefs. Without a doubt it`s a spiritual awakening and a spiritual revolution. — Neale Donald Walsch
As citizen-activists the world over merge, they can become an irresistible force to create peace and protect the planet. From here will come a new movement to abolish nuclear weapons and all weapons of mass destruction. From here will come the demand for sustainable communities, for new systems of energy, transportation and commerce. From here comes the future rushing in on us. How does one acquire the capacity for active citizenship? The opportunities exist every day…Active citizenship begins with an envisioning of the desired outcome and a conscious application of spiritual principles. — Dennis Kucinich
