The most effective way to live is as a warrior. A warrior may worry and think before making any decision, but once he makes it, he goes his way, free from worries or thoughts; there will be a million other decisions still awaiting him. That’s the warrior’s way.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
Mystery magnifies danger, as a fog the sun; the hand that warned Belshazzar derived its horrifying influence from the want of a body.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
What am I, Life? A thing of watery salt held in cohesion by unresting cells. Which work they know not why, which never halt, myself unwitting where their Master dwells?
—John Masefield (1878–1967) English Poet, Novelist, Playwright
To make anything very terrible, obscurity seems, in general, to be necessary.—When we know the full extent of any danger, and can accustom our eyes to it, a great deal of the apprehension vanishes.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
Secrecy is the element of all goodness; even virtue, even beauty is mysterious.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
You ask what is the use of classification, arrangement, systemization? I answer you: order and simplification are the first steps toward the mastery of a subject-the actual enemy is the unknown.
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955) German Novelist, Critic, Philanthropist, Essayist
As I make my slow pilgrimage through the world, a certain sense of beautiful mystery seems to gather and grow.
—A. C. Benson (1862–1925) English Essayist, Poet, Academic
Only the unknown frightens men. But once a man has faced the unknown, that terror becomes the known.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–44) French Novelist, Aviator
It is the dim haze of mystery that adds enchantment to pursuit.
—Antoine de Rivarol (1753–1801) French Writer, Epigrammatist
I do not know how the great loving Father will bring out light at last, but he knows, and he will do it.
—David Livingstone (1813–73) Scottish Missionary, Explorer
No mystery is closed to an open mind.
—Unknown
Mystery has its own mysteries, and there are gods above gods. We have ours, they have theirs. That is what’s known as infinity.
—Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French Poet, Playwright, Film Director
Life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved.
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
Mysteries are due to secrecy.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
The fundament upon which all our knowledge and learning rests is the inexplicable.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
It was the experience of mystery – even if mixed with fear – that engendered religion.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
A proper secrecy is the only mystery of able men; mystery is the only secrecy of weak and cunning ones.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
The mysterious is always attractive. People will always follow a vail.
—Bede Jarrett (1881–1934) English Dominican Friar
We need the tonic of wildness…At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Mystery is not profoundness.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Each particle of matter is an immensity; each leaf a world; each insect an inexplicable compendium.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of Nature. And it is because in the last analysis we ourselves are part of the mystery we are trying to solve.
—Max Planck (1858–1947) German Theoretical Physicist
Like a morning dream, life becomes more and more bright the longer we live, and the reason of everything appears more clear. What has puzzled us before seems less mysterious, and the crooked paths look straighter as we approach the end.
—Jean Paul (1763–1825) German Novelist, Philosopher
A mystery is something of which we know that it is, though we do not know how it is.
—Joseph Cook
There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory mentioned, which states that this has already happened.
—Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English Novelist, Scriptwriter
The world is incomprehensible. We won’t ever understand it; we won’t ever unravel its secrets. Thus we must treat the world as it is: a sheer mystery.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
Speculate not too much on the mysteries of truth or providence.—The effort to explain everything, sometimes may endanger faith.—Many things God reserves to himself, and many are reserved for the unfoldings of the future life.
—Tryon Edwards (1809–94) American Theologian, Author
Where there is mystery, it is generally suspected there must also be evil.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
A religion without mystery must be a religion without God.
—Jeremy Taylor
Mystery is but another name for our ignorance; if we were omniscient, all would be perfectly plain.
—Tryon Edwards (1809–94) American Theologian, Author
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