But the thing that I saw in your face no power can disinherit: No bomb that ever burst shatters the crystal spirit.
—George Orwell (1903–50) English Novelist, Journalist
Nothing is more repulsive than a furtively prurient spirituality; it is just as unsavory as gross sensuality.
—Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) Swiss Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Philosopher
Our intellect has achieved the most tremendous things, but in the meantime our spiritual dwelling has fallen into disrepair.
—Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) Swiss Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Philosopher
All earthly delights are sweeter in expectation than enjoyment; but all spiritual pleasures more in fruition than expectation.
—Owen Feltham (1602–68) English Essayist
You cannot believe in honor until you have achieved it. Better keep yourself clean and bright: you are the window through which you must see the world.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Spiritual energy flows in and produces effects in the phenomenal world.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
One truth stands firm. All that happens in world history rests on something spiritual. If the spiritual is strong, it creates world history. If it is weak, it suffers world history.
—Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French Theologian, Philosopher, Musician, Physician
Pure Spirit, one hundred degrees proof—that’s a drink that only the most hardened contemplation-guzzlers indulge in. Bodhisattvas dilute their Nirvana with equal parts of love and work.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Satirist, Short Story Writer
The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another’s, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises.
—Leo Buscaglia (1924–98) American Motivational Speaker
He is not the same, nor is he another.
—Buddhist Teaching
You may not believe in evolution, and that is all right. How we humans came to be the way we are is far less important than how we should act now to get out of the mess we have made for ourselves. How should the mind that can contemplate God relate to our fellow beings, the other life-forms of the world? What is our human responsibility? And what, ultimately, is our human destiny?
—Jane Goodall (b.1934) British Primatologist, Conservationist
Religion is for people who are scared to go to hell. Spirituality is for people who have already been there.
—Bonnie Raitt (b.1949) American Singer, Guitarist
I don’t have any idea of who or what God is. But I do believe in some great spiritual power. I feel it particularly when I’m out in nature. It’s just something that’s bigger and stronger than what I am or what anybody is. I feel it. And it’s enough for me.
—Jane Goodall (b.1934) British Primatologist, Conservationist
Let the spirit of adventure set the tone.
—Unknown
You cannot travel the path until you have become the path itself.
—Buddhist Teaching
The man is free to rule his world, not his world rule him.
—Indian Proverb
It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh.
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) American Military Leader
Walking uplifts the spirit. Breathe out the poisons of tension, stress, and worry; breathe in the power of God. Send forth little silent prayers of goodwill toward those you meet. Walk with a sense of being a part of a vast universe. Consider the thousands of miles of earth beneath your feet; think of the limitless expanse of space above your head. Walk in awe, wonder, and humility. Walk at all times of day. In the early morning when the world is just waking up. Late at night under the stars. Along a busy city street at noontime.
—Wilferd Arlan Peterson (1900–95) American Author
In order to experience everyday spirituality, we need to remember that we are spiritual beings spending some time in a human body.
—Barbara De Angelis (b.1951) American Self-Help Author
Amazing moments—when you seem to know something beyond what you know and to understand things you don’t understand—can’t be understood in this life.
—Jane Goodall (b.1934) British Primatologist, Conservationist
At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will.
—Thomas Merton (1915–68) American Trappist Monk
He who interrupts the course of his spiritual exercises and prayer is like a man who allows a bird to escape from his hand; he can hardly catch it again.
—John of the Cross (1542–1591) Spanish Roman Catholic Mystic
The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord.
—Common Proverb
The smallest flower is a thought, a life answering to some feature of the Great Whole, of whom they have a persistent intuition.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
The especial genius of women I believe to be electrical in movement, intuitive in function, spiritual in tendency.
—Margaret Fuller (1810–50) American Feminist, Writer, Revolutionary
The myths have always condemned those who “looked back.” Condemned them, whatever the paradise may have been which they were leaving. Hence this shadow over each departure from your decision.
—Dag Hammarskjold (1905–61) Swedish Statesman, UN Diplomat
The downside of spiritual education is the buildup of the vanity of ‘I know’ and the devaluation of people who are ‘not spiritual’. Therefore it is important as a foundation to spiritual training and education to learn how consciousness manifests as the ego and its mechanisms.
—David R. Hawkins (1927–2012) American Physician, Author
The great awareness comes slowly, piece by piece. The path of spiritual growth is a path of lifelong learning. The experience of spiritual power is basically a joyful one.
—M. Scott Peck (1936–2005) American Psychiatrist, Author
What I am trying to do is to unmuddle the metaphysical.
—Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author
I have realized that the past and the future are real illusions, that they exist only in the present, which is what there is and all that there is.
—Alan Watts (1915–73) British-American Philosopher, Author
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