The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
The internal dialogue is what grounds people in the daily world. The world is such and such or so and so, only because we talk to ourselves about its being such and such and so and so. The passageway into the world of shamans opens up after the warrior has learned to shut off his internal dialogue.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
He tries to show each person how much they are capable of achieving.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
A warrior acts as if he knows what he is doing, when in effect he knows nothing.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
The warrior: silent in his struggle, undetainable because he has nothing to lose, functional and efficacious because he has everything to gain.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
A warrior doesn’t know remorse for anything he has done, because to isolate one’s acts as being mean, or ugly, or evil is to place an unwarranted importance on the self.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
A warrior considers himself already dead, so there is nothing to lose. The worst has already happened to him, therefore he’s clear and calm; judging him by his acts or by his words, one would never suspect that he has witnessed everything.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
The self-confidence of the warrior is not the self-confidence of the average man. The average man seeks certainty in the eyes of the onlooker and calls that self-confidence. The warrior seeks impeccability in his own eyes and calls that humbleness. The average man is hooked to his fellow men, while the warrior is hooked only to infinity.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
A warrior seeks to act rather than talk.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
A warrior is a hunter. He calculates everything. That’s control. Once his calculations are over, he acts. He lets go. That’s abandon. A warrior is not a leaf at the mercy of the wind. No one can push him; no one can make him do things against himself or against his better judgment. A warrior is tuned to survive, and he survives in the best of all possible fashions.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
Whenever a warrior decides to do something, he must go all the way, but he must take responsibility for what he does. No matter what he does, he must know first why he is doing it, and then he must proceed with his actions without having doubts or remorse about them.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
We talk to ourselves incessantly about our world. In fact we maintain our world with our internal talk. And whenever we finish talking to ourselves about ourselves and our world, the world is always as it should be. We renew it, we rekindle it with life, we uphold it with our internal talk. Not only that, but we also choose our paths as we talk to ourselves. Thus we repeat the same choices over and over until the day we die, because we keep on repeating the same internal talk over and over until the day we die. A warrior is aware of this and strives to stop his internal talk.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
Every Warrior of the Light has felt afraid of going into battle. Every Warrior of the Light has, at some time in the past, lied or betrayed someone. Every Warrior of the Light has trodden a path that was not his. Every Warrior of the Light has suffered for the most trivial of reasons. Every Warrior of the Light has, at least once, believed he was not a Warrior of the Light. Every Warrior of the Light has failed in his spiritual duties. Every Warrior of the Light has said ‘yes’ when he wanted to say ‘no.’ Every Warrior of the Light has hurt someone he loved. That is why he is a Warrior of the Light, because he has been through all this and yet has never lost hope of being better than he is.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
An average man is too concerned with liking people or with being liked himself. A warrior likes, that’s all. He likes whatever or whomever he wants, for the hell of it.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
To be a warrior is not a simple matter of wishing to be one. It is rather an endless struggle that will go on to the very last moment of our lives. Nobody is born a warrior, in exactly the same way that nobody is born an average man. We make ourselves into one or the other.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
A warrior of the light…never confuses tension with anxiety.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
The spirit reveals itself to everyone with the same intensity and consistency, but only warriors are consistently attuned to such revelations.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
Rich people do not back away from problems, do not avoid problems, and do not complain about problems. Rich people are financial warriors.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
Only as a warrior can one withstand the path of knowledge. A warrior cannot complain or regret anything. His life is an endless challenge, and challenges cannot possibly be good or bad. Challenges are simply challenges.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
Warriors of the light are not perfect. Their beauty lies in accepting this fact and still desiring to grow and to learn.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
There’s no emptiness in the life of a warrior. Everything is filled to the brim. Everything is filled to the brim, and everything is equal.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
When you begin your transcendental training, focusing your best efforts, without attachment to outcomes, you will understand the peaceful warrior’s way.
—Dan Millman (b.1946) American Children’s Books Writer, Sportsperson
Intent is not a thought, or an object, or a wish. Intent is what can make a man succeed when his thoughts tell him that he is defeated. It operates in spite of the warrior’s indulgence. Intent is what makes him invulnerable. Intent is what sends a shaman through a wall, through space, to infinity.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
The humbleness of a warrior is not the humbleness of the beggar. The warrior lowers his head to no one, but at the same time, he doesn’t permit anyone to lower his head to him. The beggar, on the other hand, falls to his knees at the drop of a hat and scrapes the floor to anyone he deems to be higher; but at the same time, he demands that someone lower than him scrape the floor for him.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
The moment that he begins to walk along it, the warrior of the light recognizes the path.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
All paths are the same: they lead nowhere. However, a path without a heart is never enjoyable. On the other hand, a path with heart is easy—it does not make a warrior work at liking it; it makes for a joyful journey; as long as a man follows it, he is one with it.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore, a warrior must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if he feels that he should not follow it, he must not stay with it under any conditions. His decision to keep on that path or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition. He must look at every path closely and deliberately. There is a question that a warrior has to ask, mandatorily: ‘Does this path have a heart?’
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
Each stone, each bend cries welcome to him. He identifies with the mountains and the streams, he sees something of his own soul in the plants and the animals and the birds of the field.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
A rule of thumb for a warrior is that he makes his decisions so carefully that nothing that may happen as a result of them can surprise him, much less drain his power.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
A warrior never worries about his fear.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
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