Either we have an immortal soul, or we have not. If we have not, we are beasts; the first and wisest of beasts it may be; but still beasts. We only differ in degree, and not in kind; just as the elephant differs from the slug. But by the concession of the materialists, we are not of the same kind as beasts; and this also we say from our own consciousness. Therefore, methinks, it must be the possession of a soul within us that makes the difference.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
Little, indeed, does it concern us in this our mortal stage, to inquire whence the spirit hath come; but of what infinite concern is the consideration whither it is going. Surely such consideration demands the study of a life.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
Most people sell their souls, and live with a good conscience on the proceeds.
—Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-British Essayist, Bibliophile
It is heartening to realize that although we may crave comfort and routine, we nourish the soul’s growth primarily through what is hard. As Darwin saw it, it’s not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but those who are most responsive to change.
—Robert Cooper (b.1947) British Diplomat
Fear must be entirely banished. The purified soul will fear nothing.
—Plotinus (c.205–270 CE) Greek Philosopher, Founder of Neoplatonism
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 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
Since our inner experiences consist of reproductions and combinations of sensory impressions, the concept of a soul without a body seems to me to be empty and devoid of meaning.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
The soul, like the body, lives by what it feeds on.
—Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819–81) American Editor, Novelist
Secrecy has been well termed the soul of all great designs. Perhaps more has been effected by concealing our own intentions, than by discovering those of our enemy. But great men succeed in both.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
It seems to me as if not only the form but the soul of man was made to walk erect and look upon the stars.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
The man who is always worrying whether or not his soul would be damned generally has a soul that isn’t worth a damn.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
What your heart thinks is great, is great. The soul’s emphasis is always right.
—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 (1934–2021) Hungarian-American Psychologist
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
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
In the dark night of the soul, bright flows the river of God.
—John of the Cross (1542–1591) Spanish Roman Catholic Mystic
Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul.
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) American Military Leader
I promise to keep on living as though I expected to live forever. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul.
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) American Military Leader
He who commends the nature of the soul as the supreme good, and condemns the nature of the flesh as evil, at once both carnally desires the soul, and carnally flies the flesh, because he feels thus from human vanity, not from divine truth.
—Augustine of Hippo (354–430) Roman-African Christian Philosopher
Man is so made that when anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish
—Jean de La Fontaine (1621–95) French Poet, Short Story Writer
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
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbow’d.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Lies but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
—William Ernest Henley (1849–1903) English Poet, Critic, Editor
Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination, because it fills the soul with an agreeable surprise, gratifies its curiosity, and gives it an idea of which it was not before possessed.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
A smile is a light in the window of the soul indicating that the heart is at home.
—Unknown
This soul, or life within us, by no means agrees with the life outside us. If one has the courage to ask her what she thinks, she is always saying the very opposite to what other people say.
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English Novelist
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
The dark night of the soul comes just before revelation.
—Joseph Campbell (1904–87) American Mythologist, Writer, Lecturer
Who can map out the various forces at play in one soul? Man is a great depth, O Lord. The hairs of his head are easier by far to count than his feeling, the movements of his heart.
—Augustine of Hippo (354–430) Roman-African Christian Philosopher
From the looks not the lips the soul speaks.
—Unknown