To have a firm persuasion in our work, to feel that what we do is right for ourselves and good for the world at exactly the same time—is one of the great triumphs of human existence.
—David Whyte
Some things cannot be spoken or discovered until we have been stuck, incapacitated, or blown off course for awhile. Plain sailing is pleasant, but you are not going to explore many unknown realms that way.
—David Whyte
Forgiveness is a heartache and difficult to achieve because strangely, it not only refuses to eliminate the original wound, but actually draws us closer to its source. To approach forgiveness is to close in on the nature of the hurt itself, the only remedy being, as we approach its raw centre, to reimagine our relation to it.
—David Whyte
If I can reduce my work to just a job I have to do, then I keep myself safely away from the losses to be endured in putting my heart’s desires at stake.
—David Whyte
To some extent, while we think we are simply driving to work every morning to earn a living, the soul knows it is secretly engaged in a life-or-death struggle for its existence.
—David Whyte
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Kate Winslet English Actress
Daniel Day-Lewis English Actor
Robert Ranke Graves British Writer
Al Alvarez English Critic, Poet, Novelist
John Eliot American Psychologist
John Aikin British Educator
Audrey Hepburn Belgian-British Actress
John Lennon British Singer
Mary Wollstonecraft English Writer, Feminist
Joan Collins English Actress