No iron chain, or outward force of any kind, could ever compel the soul of man to believe or disbelieve.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
I consider the soul of man as the ruin of a glorious pile of buildings; where, amidst great heaps of rubbish, you meet with noble fragments of sculpture, broken pillars and obelisks, and a magnificence in confusion.
—Richard Steele (1672–1729) Irish Writer, Politician
The one thing in the world, of value, is the active soul.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
If we expended all our energies solely on taking care of our own needs we would stop growing. In that respect what we call “soul” can be viewed as the surplus energy that can be invested into change and transformation. As such, it is the cutting edge of evolution.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (b.1934) Hungarian-American Psychologist
What is does a person profit if they gain the whole world and lose their soul.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
The destiny of man is in his own soul.
—Herodotus (c.485–425 BCE) Ancient Greek Historian
The man described for us, whom we are invited to free, is already in himself the effect of a subjection much more profound than himself. A ‘soul’ inhabits him and brings him to existence, which is itself a factor in the mastery that power exercises over the body. The soul is the effect and instrument of a political anatomy; the soul is the prison of the body.
—Michel Foucault (1926–84) French Philosopher, Critic, Historian
When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flown at it to hold it back from flight.
—James Joyce (1882–1941) Irish Novelist, Poet
O, how wonderful is the human voice! It is indeed the organ of the soul! The intellect of man sits enthroned visibly upon his forehead and in his eye; and the heart of man is written upon his countenance. But the soul reveals itself in the voice only; as God revealed himself to the prophet of old in the still, small voice; and in a voice from the burning bush. The soul of man is audible, not visible. A sound alone betrays the flowing of the eternal fountain, invisible to man!
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
However intense my experience, I am conscious of the presence and criticism of a part of me, which, as it were, is not a part of me, but a spectator, sharing no experience, but taking note of it, and that is no more I than it is you. When the play, it may be the tragedy, of life is over, the spectator goes his way. It was a kind of fiction, a work of the imagination only, so far as he was concerned.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
The soul, of origin divine, God’s glorious image, freed from clay, in heaven’s eternal sphere shall shine, a star of day!—The sun is but a spark of fire, a transient meteor in the sky; the soul immortal as its sire, shall never die.
—James Montgomery (1771–1854) English Hymn writer, Poet, Editor, Humanitarian
How shall the soul of a man be larger than the life he has lived?
—Edgar Lee Masters (1869–1950) American Poet, Novelist
Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Heaven-born, the soul a heavenward course must hold; beyond the world she soars; the wise man, I affirm, can find no rest in that which perishes, nor will he lend his heart to aught that doth on time depend.
—Michelangelo (1475–1564) Italian Painter, Sculptor, Architect, Poet, Engineer
As it is not proper to cure the eyes without the head, nor the head without the body, so neither is it proper to cure the body without the soul.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
The soul that is attached to anything however much good there may be in it, will not arrive at the liberty of divine union. For whether it be a strong wire rope or a slender and delicate thread that holds the bird, it matters not, if it really holds it fast; for, until the cord be broken the bird cannot fly.
—John of the Cross (1542–1591) Spanish Roman Catholic Mystic
Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Some tension is necessary for the soul to grow, and we can put that tension to good use. We can look for every opportunity to give and receive love, to appreciate nature, to heal our wounds and the wounds of others, to forgive, and to serve.
—Joan Borysenko
You can’t change the music of your soul.
—Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) American Actor, TV Personality
To look upon the soul as going on from strength to strength, to consider that she is to shine forever with new accessions of glory, and brighten to all eternity; that she will be still adding virtue to virtue, and knowledge to knowledge,—carries in it something wonderfully agreeable to that ambition which is natural to the mind of man.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
The lusts and greeds of the body scandalize the Soul; but it has to come to heel.
—Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-British Essayist, Bibliophile
You must lay aside your greed; have no unworthy motive in your desire to become rich and powerful. It is legitimate and right to desire riches, if you want them for the sake of your soul, but not if you desire them for the lists of the flesh.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
The soul refuses limits and always affirms an optimism, never a pessimism.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Four thousand volumes of metaphysics will not teach us what the soul is.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
You must always learn to see yourself as a great advancing soul.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
The countenance is the portrait of the soul, and the eyes mark its intentions.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
Man is so made that when anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish
—Jean de La Fontaine (1621–95) French Poet, Short Story Writer
How strange a thing this is! The Priest telleth me that the Soul is worth all the gold in the world, and the merchants say that it is not worth a clipped piece of silver.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
The care of every man’s soul belongs to himself. But what if he neglect the care of it? Well what if he neglect the care of his health or his estate, which would more nearly relate to the state. Will the magistrate make a law that he not be poor or sick? Laws provide against injury from others; but not from ourselves. God himself will not save men against their wills.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
Nothing can so pierce the soul as the uttermost sigh of the body.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
The soul, like the body, lives by what it feeds on.
—Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819–81) American Editor, Novelist
If you purify your soul of attachment to and desire for things, you will understand them spiritually. If you deny your appetite for them, you will enjoy their truth, understanding what is certain in them.
—John of the Cross (1542–1591) Spanish Roman Catholic Mystic
What the inner voice says will not disappoint the hoping soul.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul.
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) American Military Leader
Most people sell their souls, and live with a good conscience on the proceeds.
—Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-British Essayist, Bibliophile
We must no more ask whether the soul and body are one than ask whether the wax and the figure impressed on it are one.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
Great souls endure in silence.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
From the looks not the lips the soul speaks.
—Unknown
Begin to do small things in a great way…You must put the whole power of your great soul into every act.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
I existed from all eternity and, behold, I am here; and I shall exist till the end of time, for my being has no end.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
Whatever that be which thinks, which understands, which wills, which acts, it is something celestial and divine, and on that account must necessarily be eternal.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
The subliminal mind receives and remembers all those touches that delight the soul. Our soul takes joy in this right touching by the Essence of all experience.
—Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950) Indian Mystic, Philosopher, Poet
It’s impossible to invest your soul in a compromise.
—David Emerald
Food may be essential as fuel for the body, but good food is fuel for the soul.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
In childhood’s pride I said to Thee:
O Thou, who mad’st me of Thy breath,
Speak, Master, and reveal to me
Thine inmost laws of life and death.
Give me to drink each joy and pain
Which Thine eternal hand can mete,
For my insatiate soul can drain
Earth’s utmost bitter, utmost sweet.
Spare me no bliss, no pang of strife,
Withhold no gift or grief I crave,
The intricate lore of love and life
And mystic knowledge of the grave.
Lord, Thou didst answer stern and low:
Child, I will hearken to thy prayer,
And thy unconquered soul shall know
All passionate rapture and despair.
Thou shalt drink deep of joy and fame,
And love shall burn thee like a fire,
And pain shall cleanse thee like a flame,
To purge the dross from thy desire.
So shall thy chastened spirit yearn
To seek from its blind prayer release,
And spent and pardoned, sue to learn
The simple secret of My peace.
I, bending from my sevenfold height,
Will teach thee of My quickening grace,
Life is a prism of My light,
And Death the shadow of My face.
—Sarojini Naidu (1879–1949) Indian Feminist, Poet, Political Leader
A smile is a light in the window of the soul indicating that the heart is at home.
—Unknown
It is only to the individual that a soul is given.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
A little body often harbors a great soul.
—Common Proverb
Fear must be entirely banished. The purified soul will fear nothing.
—Plotinus (c.205–270 CE) Greek Philosopher, Founder of Neoplatonism
Had I no other proof of the immortality of the soul than the oppression of the just and the triumph of the wicked in this world, this alone would prevent my having the least doubt of it. So shocking a discord amidst a general harmony of things would make me naturally look for a cause; I should say to myself we do not cease to exist with this life; everything reassumes its order after death.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) Swiss-born French Philosopher