A man is as unhappy as he has convinced himself he is.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Nothing in life is so hard that you can’t make it easier by the way you take it.
—Ellen Glasgow (1873–1945) American Novelist
What does not destroy me makes me stronger.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
—Buddhist Teaching
A verse from the Veda says, ‘What you see, you become.’ In other words, just the experience of perceiving the world makes you what you are. This is a quite literal statement.
—Deepak Chopra (b.1946) Indian-born American Physician, Public Speaker, Writer
Man is an over-complicated organism. If he is doomed to extinction he will die out for want of simplicity.
—Ezra Pound (1885-1972) American Poet, Translator, Critic
To be happy is to be able to become aware of oneself without fright.
—Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) German Literary and Marxist Critic
Stick with your own perception of yourself—living in your own world—and letting your reality, not the reality presented by other people or particular situations, control your performance.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
See simplicity in the complicated.
Achieve greatness in little things.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see the possibilities—always see them, for they’re always there.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
This girl doesn’t, it seems, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the “curiosity” level.
—Unknown
The human mind is so complex and things are so tangled up with each other that, to explain a blade of straw, one would have to take to pieces an entire universe. A definition is a sack of flour compressed into a thimble.
—Remy de Gourmont (1858–1915) French Critic, Novelist
We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are.
—Anais Nin (1903–77) French-American Essayist
To perceive means to immobilize… we seize, in the act of perception, something which outruns perception itself.
—Henri Bergson (1859–1941) French Philosopher, Evolutionist
Nihil est in intellectu quod non fuit prius in sensu:
Nothing is in the understanding, which was not first perceived by some of the senses.
—John Locke (1632–1704) English Philosopher, Physician
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
If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your own estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
There are children playing in the streets who could solve some of my top problems in physics, because they have modes of sensory perception that I lost long ago.
—J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–67) American Nuclear Physicist
What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-American Philosopher, Poet, Sculptor
With spiritual work, the terms ‘is’ or ‘are’ become progressively replaced by the term ‘seems to’, which is due to the increasing realization of the degree to which perception is the mask that hinders truth.
—David R. Hawkins (1927–2012) American Physician, Author
An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it is also more nourishing.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.
—Camille Pissarro (1830–1903) French Impressionist Artist
Poetry has to be something more than a conception of the mind. It has to be a revelation of nature. Conceptions are artificial. Perceptions are essential.
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) American Poet
The dung beetle, seeing its child on the wall, thinks it sees a pearl on a thread.
—Arabic Proverb
People only see what they are prepared to see.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Nothing exists until or unless it is observed. An artist is making something exist by observing it. And his hope for other people is that they will also make it exist by observing it. I call it “creative observation.” Creative viewing.
—William S. Burroughs (1914–97) American Novelist, Poet, Short Story Writer, Painter
Being born in a duck yard does not matter, if only you are hatched from a swan’s egg.
—Hans Christian Andersen (1805–75) Danish Author, Poet, Short Story Writer
In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king.
—Desiderius Erasmus (c.1469–1536) Dutch Humanist, Scholar
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