I have come to believe that there are only two kinds of experiences in life: those that stem from our Higher Self and those that have something to teach us. We recognize the first as pure joy and the latter as struggle. But they are both perfect. Each time we confront some intense difficulty, we know there is something we haven’t learned yet, and the universe is now giving us the opportunity to learn.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
This must be your point of view: that the world and all it contains is perfect, though not completed.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
People call me a perfectionist, but I’m not. I’m a “rightist.” I do something until it’s right, and then I move on to the next thing.
—James Cameron (b.1954) Canadian Film Director, Environmentalist
Imperfections are the essence of evolution.
—Unknown
You know you’ve achieved perfection in design, not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–44) French Novelist, Aviator
Set your ideal as near to perfection as your imagination is capable of forming the conception.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
This is the very perfection of a man, to find out his own imperfection.
—Augustine of Hippo (354–430) Roman-African Christian Philosopher
Even if you be otherwise perfect, you fail without humility.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
As you start to see the possibilities in the impossible, you will begin to see that the world works “perfectly”. You can find reason and purpose in everything—if you open your mind to it.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
There are no evil people; there are perfectly good people who are of the track, but they do not need condemnation or punishment; they only need to get upon the rails again.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
Perfect love casts out fear. Where there is love there are no demands, no expectations, no dependency. I do not demand that you make me happy; my happiness does not lie in you. If you were to leave me, I will not feel sorry for myself; I enjoy your company immensely, but I do not cling.
—Anthony de Mello (1931–87) Indian-born American Theologian
Without an uninvestigated story, there’s only the perfection of life appearing as itself. You can always go inside and find the beauty that’s revealed after the pain and fear are understood.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might give others… I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent.
—Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American Inventor, Scientist, Entrepreneur
All of us have failed to reach our dream of perfection, so I rate us on the basis of our splendid failure to do the impossible.
—William Faulkner (1897–1962) American Novelist
Rich people work hard and believe it’s perfectly appropriate to be well rewarded for their efforts and the value they provide for others. Poor people work hard, but due to their feelings of unworthiness, they believe that it is inappropriate for them to be well rewarded for their efforts and the value they provide.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
Every one will be something worth while, something rare, something perfect.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
You must learn to see men and women…as perfect beings advancing to become complete.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
If we agree that the bottom line of life is happiness, not success, then it makes perfect sense to say that it is the journey that counts, not reaching the destination.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934–2021) Hungarian-American Psychologist
A single grateful thought toward heaven is the most perfect prayer.
—Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–81) German Writer, Philosopher
Perfect love is to feeling what perfect white is to color. Many think that white is the absence of color. It is not. It is the inclusion of all color. White is every other color that exists, combined. So, too, is love not the absence of an emotion (hatred, anger, lust, jealousy, covetousness), but the summation of all feeling. It is the sum total. The aggregate amount. The everything.
—Neale Donald Walsch (b.1943) American Spiritual Writer
If you perform the sacrifice of doing your duty, you do not have to do anything else. Devoted to duty, man attains perfection.
—The Bhagavad Gita Hindu Scripture
Obey your soul, have perfect faith in yourself. Never think of yourself with doubt or distrust, or as one who makes mistakes.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
Washington had performed his role to perfection. It was no enough that a leader look the part; by Washington’s rules, he must know how to act it with self-command and precision.
—David McCullough (1933–2022) American Historian
Every moment of our lives we are either growing or dying—and it’s largely a choice, not fate. Throughout its life cycle, every one of the body’s trillions of cells is driven to grow and improve its ability to use more of its innate yet untapped capacity. Research biologist Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, who was twice awarded the Nobel Prize, called this syntropy, which he defined as the “innate drive in living matter to perfect itself”. It turns conventional thinking upside down…As living cells—or as people—there is no staying the same. If we aim for some middle ground or status quo, it’s an illusion—beneath the surface what’s actually happening is we’re dying, not growing. And the goal of a lifetime is continued growth, not adulthood. As Rene Dubos put it, “Genius is childhood recaptured”. For this to happen, studies show that we must recapture—or prevent the loss of—such child-like traits as the ability to learn, to love, to laugh about small things, to leap, to wonder, and to explore. It’s time to rescue ourselves from our grown-up ways before it’s too late.
—Robert Cooper (b.1947) British Diplomat
Adopt an attitude of “It’s all happening perfectly. Let’s see what good I can create from the situation”.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
I see not any road of perfect peace which a man can walk but after the counsel of his own bosom.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides. Accept life, and you must accept regret.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
Warriors of the light are not perfect. Their beauty lies in accepting this fact and still desiring to grow and to learn.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
Hurry is a manifestation of fear; he who fears not has plenty of time. If you at with perfect faith in your own perceptions of truth, you will never be too late or too early; and nothing will go wrong.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
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