Mental Health Quotes

"Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people."

— Carl Jung

"Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it's having the courage to show up. (Reflection 100)"

— Brené Brown

"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer."

— Albert Camus

"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. (Reflection 1001)"

— Carl Jung

"Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one. (Reflection 1003)"

— Marcus Aurelius

"Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'. (Reflection 1002)"

— Viktor Frankl

"Happiness is the highest form of self-transformation. (Reflection 1004)"

— Dalai Lama

"Surviving is important. Thriving is elegant. (Reflection 1005)"

— Maya Angelou

"Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself. (Reflection 1006)"

— Rumi

"Mindfulness helps you go home to the present. (Reflection 1007)"

— Thich Nhat Hanh

"When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid. (Reflection 1008)"

— Audre Lorde

"The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision. (Reflection 1009)"

— Helen Keller

"Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend. (Reflection 1010)"

— Albert Camus

"The human capacity for burden is like bamboo—far more flexible than you'd ever believe at first glance."

— Jodi Picoult

"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars."

— Khalil Gibran

"Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it's less good than the one you had before."

— Elizabeth Edwards

"The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places."

— Ernest Hemingway

"It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves."

— Sir Edmund Hillary

"Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny."

— C.S. Lewis

"Survival can be summed up in three words - never give up. That's the heart of it really. Just keep trying."

— Bear Grylls

"The only way to survive is to be able to transform yourself."

— Okakura Kakuzō

"Survival is nothing more than recovery."

— Dianne Feinstein

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."

— Winston Churchill

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear."

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

"Courage is grace under pressure."

— Ernest Hemingway

"The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived."

— Robert Jordan

"Man never made any material as resilient as the human spirit."

— Bernard Williams

"Turn your wounds into wisdom."

— Oprah Winfrey

"A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles."

— Christopher Reeve

"Survival is the celebration of choosing life over the abyss."

— Unknown

"You must do the thing you think you cannot do."

— Eleanor Roosevelt

"He who is brave is free."

— Seneca

"To see what is right and not do it is a want of courage."

— Confucius

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage."

— Anaïs Nin

"Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work through difficult problems."

— Gever Tulley

"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer."

— Albert Einstein

"Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life."

— J.K. Rowling

"The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths."

— Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

"Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear."

— George Addair

"Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen."

— Brené Brown

"Scars have the strange power to remind us that our past is real."

— Cormac McCarthy

"Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently."

— Henry Ford

"I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship."

— Louisa May Alcott

"Don't judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again."

— Nelson Mandela

"Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently."

— Maya Angelou

"Survival is not just about keeping the body alive; it's about keeping the spirit intact."

— Unknown

"The best way out is always through."

— Robert Frost

"If you're going through hell, keep going."

— Winston Churchill

"She stood in the storm and when the wind did not blow her way, she adjusted her sails."

— Elizabeth Edwards

"Survival is a series of small, correct decisions."

— Unknown

"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."

— A.A. Milne

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

"Fall seven times, stand up eight."

— Japanese Proverb

"He who has a why to live can bear almost any how."

— Friedrich Nietzsche

"The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials."

— Chinese Proverb

"A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor."

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

"Survival is the ability to see the future even when the present is dark."

— Unknown

"Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without."

— Buddha

"You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level."

— Eckhart Tolle

"Mindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different."

— James Baraz

"The best way to capture moments is to pay attention. This is how we cultivate mindfulness."

— Jon Kabat-Zinn

"Mindfulness isn't difficult, we just need to remember to do it."

— Sharon Salzberg

"Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor."

— Thich Nhat Hanh

"Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed."

— Thich Nhat Hanh

"The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive."

— Eckhart Tolle

"You are not your thoughts; you are the awareness behind them."

— Eckhart Tolle

"Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you."

— Anne Lamott

"If you are at peace, you are living in the present."

— Lao Tzu

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment."

— Buddha

"Wherever you are, be there totally."

— Eckhart Tolle

"Be where you are; otherwise, you will miss your life."

— Buddha

"To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work."

— Mary Oliver

"One conscious breath in and out is a meditation."

— Eckhart Tolle

"Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet."

— Thich Nhat Hanh

"Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life."

— Eckhart Tolle

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present."

— Bill Keane

"He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe."

— Marcus Aurelius

"A balanced inner calmness radiates from a peaceful centre."

— Eckhart Tolle

"Harmony makes small things grow; lack of it makes great things decay."

— Sallust

"When we create peace, and harmony, and balance in our minds, we will find it in our lives."

— Louise Hay

"Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony."

— Thomas Merton

"The more in harmony with yourself you are, the more joyful you are and the more faithful you are."

— Paulo Coelho

"Balance doesn't mean denying one part of the self for another, it means accepting every part with equal love and respect."

— Clarissa Pinkola Estés

"A life out of balance is a person who has forgotten how to flow with the rhythm of life."

— Hermann Hesse

"Harmony is one phase of the law whose spiritual expression is love."

— James Allen

"The beauty of the world lies in the diversity of its people and the harmony of their hearts."

— Unknown

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

— Leonardo da Vinci

"Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated."

— Confucius

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."

— Albert Einstein

"Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness, have few desires."

— Lao Tzu

"The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak."

— Hans Hofmann

"Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance."

— Coco Chanel

"Nature is pleased with simplicity. And nature is no dummy."

— Isaac Newton

"The greatest step towards a life of simplicity is to learn to let go."

— Steve Maraboli

"Simplicity is the glory of expression."

— Walt Whitman

"Live simply so that others may simply live."

— Mahatma Gandhi

"Simplicity is an acquired taste."

— Katharine Gerould

"The simplest things are often the truest."

— Richard Bach

"Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts."

— Thich Nhat Hanh

"In today’s rush, we all think too much — seek too much — want too much — and forget about the joy of just being."

— Eckhart Tolle

"Simplicity is not about deprivation. Simplicity is about greater appreciation for things that really matter."

— Unknown

"Harmony is the soul of our world, and our world is but the body of this soul."

— Unknown

"Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable."

— Fred Rogers

"Quiet the mind, and the soul will speak."

— Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati

"The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things."

— Henry Ward Beecher

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time."

— John Lubbock

"Self-care is giving the world the best of you, instead of what's left of you."

— Katie Reed

"Self-care is a deliberate choice to gift yourself with people, places, things, events, and opportunities that recharge our personal battery."

— Unknown

"Carve out and claim the time to care for yourself and kindle your own fire."

— Amy Ippoliti

"The most important relationship is the one you have with yourself."

— Diane Von Furstenberg

"Self-discipline is self-care."

— M. Scott Peck

"Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax."

— Mark Black

"Taking care of yourself is part of taking care of others."

— Unknown

"The world needs a sense of worth, and it will only come from each of us. (Reflection 111)"

— Fred Rogers

"An empty lantern provides no light. Self-care is the fuel that allows your light to shine brightly."

— Unknown

"Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time."

— Marthe Troly-Curtin

"Your boundaries define your personal space—and we need to be sovereign there."

— Jessica Moore

"Rest is productive."

— Unknown

"You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection."

— Buddha

"To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance."

— Oscar Wilde

"Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we'll ever do."

— Brené Brown

"Be you, love you. All ways, always."

— Alexandra Elle

"Self-love is the foundation of all love."

— RuPaul

"Love yourself first and everything else falls into line."

— Lucille Ball

"Wonder is the beginning of wisdom. (Reflection 112)"

— Socrates

"The fact that you are even here, alive, is a miracle. Treat yourself like one."

— Unknown

"How you love yourself is how you teach others to love you."

— Rupi Kaur

"Be enough for yourself first, the rest of the world can wait."

— FW

"You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress simultaneously."

— Sophia Bush

"Choosing yourself is not selfish; it's necessary for your survival."

— Unknown

"To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself."

— Thich Nhat Hanh

"Self-love has very little to do with how you feel about your outer self. It's about accepting all of yourself."

— Tyra Banks

"If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete."

— Jack Kornfield

"Compassion is the keen awareness of the interdependence of all things."

— Thomas Merton

"Our task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it."

— Rumi

"Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love."

— Lao Tzu

"Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals."

— Pema Chödrön

"Silence is a source of great strength. (Reflection 113)"

— Lao Tzu

"A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal."

— Steve Maraboli

"Compassion is the heart of forgiveness."

— Unknown

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle."

— Plato

"With compassion, we can help break the cycle of suffering in ourselves and others."

— Unknown

"Compassion is the light that reveals our shared humanity."

— Unknown

"Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolution."

— Kahlil Gibran

"True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring."

— Martin Luther King Jr.

"Gratitude turns what we have into enough."

— Melody Beattie

"The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones. (Reflection 114)"

— Confucius

"Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul."

— Henry Ward Beecher

"The more you celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate."

— Oprah Winfrey

"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others."

— Cicero

"When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears."

— Tony Robbins

"Gratitude is a divine emotion: it fills the heart, but not to bursting; it warms it, but not to fever."

— Charlotte Brontë

"Gratitude is the sign of noble souls."

— Aesop

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."

— Robert Brault

"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder."

— G.K. Chesterton

"Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom."

— Marcel Proust

"Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude."

— A.A. Milne

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. (Reflection 115)"

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Gratitude is the memory of the heart."

— Jean-Baptiste Massieu

"The only way that we can live, is if we grow. The only way that we can grow is if we change. The only way that we can change is if we learn."

— C. JoyBell C.

"Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it."

— Tori Amos

"Hope is the only thing stronger than fear."

— Robert Ludlum

"Man's search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life."

— Viktor Frankl

"Growth is the only evidence of life."

— John Henry Newman

"The soul always knows what to do to heal itself. The challenge is to silence the mind."

— Caroline Myss

"Hope is a waking dream."

— Aristotle

"Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced."

— Søren Kierkegaard

"We are not what we are, but what we are becoming."

— Benjamin Disraeli

"Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will. (Reflection 116)"

— Zig Ziglar

"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without the words."

— Emily Dickinson

"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity."

— Hippocrates

"Everything that is done in the world is done by hope."

— Martin Luther

"To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering."

— Friedrich Nietzsche

"There are no limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination, and wonder."

— Ronald Reagan

"It is not the bruise that hurts, but the shame of it."

— Maya Angelou

"Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness."

— Desmond Tutu

"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new."

— Socrates

"Healing is the application of love to the parts of ourselves that hurt."

— Iyanla Vanzant

"Gratitude turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. (Reflection 117)"

— Melody Beattie

"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope."

— Martin Luther King Jr.

"The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away."

— Pablo Picasso

"Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still."

— Chinese Proverb

"The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love."

— Hubert H. Humphrey

"Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us."

— Samuel Smiles

"Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them."

— Dalai Lama

"Growth is painful. Change is painful. But nothing is as painful as staying stuck somewhere you don't belong."

— N.R. Narayana Murthy

"Healing yourself is connected with healing others."

— Yoko Ono

"Hope is a powerful weapon, and no one on earth can deprive you of it."

— Nelson Mandela

"Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle."

— Napoleon Hill

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. (Reflection 118)"

— Mahatma Gandhi

"The art of healing comes from nature, not from the physician."

— Paracelsus

"Hope is the anchor of the soul."

— Hebrews 6:19

"The only way to do great work is to love what you do."

— Steve Jobs

"Don't go through life, grow through life."

— Eric Butterworth

"Self-forgiveness is essential to self-healing."

— Ruth Carter Stapleton

"A leader is a dealer in hope."

— Napoleon Bonaparte

"The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for."

— Fyodor Dostoevsky

"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity."

— Albert Einstein

"Healing is an art. It takes time, it takes practice. It takes love."

— Maza Dohta

"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence."

— Helen Keller

"Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads. (Reflection 119)"

— Henry David Thoreau

"What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal."

— Albert Pike

"The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams."

— Oprah Winfrey

"Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence."

— Lin Yutang

"Rest when you're weary. Refresh and renew yourself, your body, your mind, your spirit. Then get back to work."

— Ralph Marston

"The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly for newer and richer experience."

— Eleanor Roosevelt

"Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again."

— Richard Branson

"Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise."

— Victor Hugo

"The soul that is within me no man can degrade."

— Frederick Douglass

"I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become."

— Carl Jung

"The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way."

— Marcus Aurelius

"The unexamined life is not worth living."

— Socrates

"Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change. (Reflection 120)"

— Brené Brown

"Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one."

— Bruce Lee

"Man is not small, but the soul is large."

— Marsilio Ficino

"The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire."

— Ferdinand Foch

"A man is but the product of his thoughts; what he thinks, he becomes."

— Mahatma Gandhi

"The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man's heart."

— Albert Camus

"I found that I was more than I thought I was."

— Sojourner Truth

"The quiet mind is the strongest mind."

— Lao Tzu

"Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men."

— Seneca

"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul."

— William Ernest Henley

"A warrior's greatest enemy is can't."

— Unknown

"The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury."

— Marcus Aurelius

"The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven."

— John Milton

"Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body."

— Seneca

"A warrior does not give up what he loves, he finds the love in what he does."

— Dan Millman

"It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light."

— Aristotle Onassis

"Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat."

— F. Scott Fitzgerald

"The warrior's path is not paved with easy victories, but with the dust of constant effort."

— Unknown

"Hard times create strong men."

— G. Michael Hopf

"Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th."

— Julie Andrews

"The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for."

— Bob Marley

"When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. (Reflection 122)"

— Viktor Frankl

"To be able to endure is the first lesson which child ought to learn."

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today."

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

"A warrior's heart is not made of stone, but of a flame that refuses to be extinguished."

— Unknown

"Patience is not passive; on the contrary, it is active; it is concentrated strength."

— Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton

"The warrior knows that the small stuff is what builds the big stuff."

— Unknown

"You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength."

— Marcus Aurelius

"Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody."

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"The path of the warrior is lifelong, and mastery is often simply staying on the path."

— Unknown

"Believe you can and you're halfway there."

— Theodore Roosevelt

"Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths."

— Arnold Schwarzenegger

"Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself. (Reflection 123)"

— Marcus Aurelius

"Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential."

— Winston Churchill

"The soul's joy is in doing."

— Eleanor Roosevelt

"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will."

— Vince Lombardi

"Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial."

— Vince Lombardi

"A warrior is a defender, not an aggressor."

— Unknown

"Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway."

— John Wayne

"The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance."

— Alan Watts

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few."

— Shunryu Suzuki

"One is never afraid of the unknown; one is afraid of the known coming to an end."

— Jiddu Krishnamurti

"Smile, breathe and go slowly."

— Thich Nhat Hanh

"Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions. (Reflection 124)"

— Dalai Lama

"Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone."

— Alan Watts

"To study the Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self."

— Dogen Zenji

"You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself."

— Alan Watts

"The place where you are right now is the right place."

— Shunryu Suzuki

"When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky."

— Gautama Buddha

"Wisdom says I am nothing. Love says I am everything. Between the two my life flows."

— Nisargadatta Maharaj

"The truth is that you are already what you are looking for."

— Adyashanti

"Stillness is the only thing in this world that has no form. But then, it is not really a thing, and it is not of this world."

— Eckhart Tolle

"To understand everything is to forgive everything."

— Jack Kornfield

"You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. (Reflection 125)"

— Maya Angelou

"You are the sky. Everything else – it’s just the weather."

— Pema Chödrön

"We're all just walking each other home."

— Ram Dass

"The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence."

— Jiddu Krishnamurti

"Try to imagine what it will be like to go to sleep and never wake up... now try to imagine what it was like to wake up having never gone to sleep."

— Alan Watts

"Treat every moment as your last. It is not preparation for something else."

— Shunryu Suzuki

"Flowers fall even though we love them; weeds grow even though we do not love them."

— Dogen Zenji

"My house is so small that the moon itself is the only guest I can invite."

— Ryokan

"The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers."

— Matsuo Basho

"In this world we walk on the roof of hell, gazing at flowers."

— Kobayashi Issa

"Every day, priests minutely examine the Law and endlessly chant complicated sutras. Before doing that, though, they should learn how to read the love letters sent by the wind and rain, the snow and moon."

— Ikkyu

"Don't try to become anything. Just remain as you are in the Unborn."

— Bankei

"The wound is the place where the Light enters you. (Reflection 126)"

— Rumi

"All the Buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing but the One Mind, beside which nothing exists."

— Huang Po

"If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him."

— Linji

"Do not seek for the truth; only cease to cherish opinions."

— Seng-tsan

"Life always gives us exactly the teacher we need at every moment. This includes every mosquito, every personal misfortune, every red light, every boring person with a terrible story, every ailment, every depression, every loss, every moment of joy."

— Charlotte Joko Beck

"Enlightenment is a destructive process. It has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier. It is the crumbling away of untruth. It’s seeing through the facade of pretense. It’s the complete eradication of everything we imagined to be true."

— Adyashanti

"Your own Self-Realization is the greatest service you can render the world."

— Ramana Maharshi

"Keep Quiet."

— H.W.L. Poonja

"Step into the fire of self-discovery. This fire will not burn you, it will only burn what you are not."

— Mooji

"Humility is the only true wisdom by which we prepare our minds for all the possible changes of life."

— Wei Wu Wei

"To be at peace with oneself is the most difficult task one can undertake, but also the most rewarding."

— Nan-huai-chin

"Smile, breathe, and go slowly. (Reflection 127)"

— Thich Nhat Hanh

"Zen is not a philosophy, it is not a psychology, it is not a religion. It is a practice."

— Taisen Deshimaru

"Zen is just being yourself, without adding anything."

— Kodo Sawaki

"Busy with nothing, growing old."

— Sheng-yen

"If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace. If you let go completely, you will have complete peace."

— Ajahn Chah

"The mind is like a mirror; it reflects what is before it."

— Hsu Yun

"The peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief."

— Wendell Berry

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

— Mary Oliver

"Nature is not a place to visit. It is home."

— Gary Snyder

"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives."

— Annie Dillard

"Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land."

— Aldo Leopold

"Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation. (Reflection 128)"

— Audre Lorde

"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts."

— Rachel Carson

"In an age of speed, nothing is so exhilarating as going slow. In an age of distraction, nothing is so luxurious as paying attention. And in an age of movement, nothing is so urgent as sitting still."

— Pico Iyer

"We are all made of stardust."

— Alan Lightman

"The forest is a state of mind."

— Thomas Merton

"If you don't know how to say no, your body will say it for you through physical illnesses."

— Gabor Maté

"Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation."

— Rumi

"If you face the choice between feeling guilt and resentment, choose the guilt every time. Resentment is soul suicide."

— Gabor Maté

"Until I know how to say no, my 'yeses' don't mean a thing."

— Gabor Maté

"When I lose my 'no,' I lose myself."

— Gabor Maté

"Healing means learning that we no longer have to choose between being loved and being our Self."

— Gabor Maté

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it. (Reflection 129)"

— Helen Keller

"Much of what we call personality is not a fixed set of traits, but only coping mechanisms a person acquired in childhood."

— Gabor Maté

"Every human has a true, genuine, authentic self. The trauma is the disconnection from it. The healing is the reconnection with it."

— Gabor Maté

"If you want to be liked, just please everybody, never say no... They’re all going to like you—but nobody’s going to love you, because they don’t know you."

— Gabor Maté

"Boundaries are a prerequisite for compassion and empathy. We can’t connect with someone unless we’re clear about where we end and they begin."

— Brené Brown

"Compassionate people ask for what they need. They say no when they need to, and when they say yes, they mean it."

— Brené Brown

"Empathy fuels connection; sympathy drives disconnection."

— Brené Brown

"Empathy is not connecting to an experience; it’s connecting to the emotions that underpin an experience."

— Brené Brown

"Daring to set boundaries is about having the courage to love ourselves, even when we risk disappointing others."

— Brené Brown

"The definition of boundary is simply what’s okay and what’s not okay."

— Brené Brown

"Empathy, if you’ve done your work and set your boundaries, you can tread that water forever."

— Brené Brown

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."

— Lao Tzu

"If we can share our story with someone who responds with empathy and understanding, shame can’t survive."

— Brené Brown

"Empathy has no script. There is no right way or wrong way to do it. It’s simply listening, holding space, withholding judgment."

— Brené Brown

"When the impulse to share becomes obligatory, when personal boundaries are no longer respected... fusion replaces intimacy."

— Esther Perel

"Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it's having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome."

— Brené Brown

"Boundary is actually a way to stay in relationship, not a way to cut off a relationship."

— Esther Perel

"Relationship boundaries are not a topic that you negotiate only once."

— Esther Perel

"The quality of your life ultimately depends on the quality of your relationships."

— Esther Perel

"Behind every criticism is a veiled wish."

— Esther Perel

"It takes two people to create a pattern, but only one to change it."

— Esther Perel

"The grand illusion of committed love is that we think our partners are ours. In truth, their separateness is unassailable."

— Esther Perel

"Erotic excitement requires that we be able to turn toward ourselves, and focus on our own mounting sensations."

— Esther Perel

"Love is a vessel that contains both security and adventure."

— Esther Perel

"The moment we choose to love we begin to move against domination, against oppression."

— bell hooks

"Love is a combination of care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect, and trust."

— bell hooks

"If you want to change the other, you must first change yourself."

— Esther Perel

"Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape."

— bell hooks

"Love is an action, never simply a feeling."

— bell hooks

"To be loving we willingly hear the other's truth, and most important, we affirm the value of truth telling."

— bell hooks

"The practice of love is the most powerful antidote to the politics of domination."

— bell hooks

"In an ideal world we would all learn in childhood to love ourselves. We would grow, being secure in our worth and value."

— bell hooks

"The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change."

— Carl Rogers

"When someone really hears you without passing judgment on you... it feels damn good."

— Carl Rogers

"When we choose to love, we choose to move against fear, against alienation and separation."

— bell hooks

"The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination."

— Carl Rogers

"People are just as wonderful as sunsets if you let them be. I don't try to control a sunset. I watch with awe as it unfolds."

— Carl Rogers

"I'm not perfect... But I'm enough."

— Carl Rogers

"The degree to which I can create relationships which facilitate the growth of others... is a measure of the growth I have achieved in myself."

— Carl Rogers

"Boundaries are the distance at which I can love you and me simultaneously."

— Prentis Hemphill

"Accountability is an act of love. When we hold someone accountable, we are saying 'I believe you can be better.'"

— Prentis Hemphill

"If you don't set boundaries, you're not 'nice'—you're just letting yourself be used."

— Nedra Glover Tawwab

"Boundaries are not a way to control people; they are a way to control your own exposure to things that don't serve you."

— Nedra Glover Tawwab

"You can't be everything to everyone and still be something to yourself."

— Nedra Glover Tawwab

"Compassion is a muscle that gets stronger with use, especially when directed toward the parts of ourselves we'd rather hide."

— Tara Brach

"Self-compassion is simply giving ourselves the same kindness we would give to a good friend."

— Kristin Neff

"The universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose."

— J.B.S. Haldane

"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience."

— Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

"The future belongs to those who give the next generation reason for hope."

— Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

"The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me."

— Meister Eckhart

"Man is a rope stretched between the animal and the Superman—a rope over an abyss."

— Friedrich Nietzsche

"What is necessary is not to seek the solution, but to recognize the problem."

— Jiddu Krishnamurti

"It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. (Reflection 134)"

— Confucius

"Evolution is a mystery that unfolds in the silence of the heart."

— Sri Aurobindo

"The soul is the perceiver and revealer of truth. We are the receivers of its discoveries."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Consciousness is a singular of which the plural is unknown."

— Erwin Schrödinger

"To be is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly."

— Henri Bergson

"The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it."

— Eckhart Tolle

"The truth is not something outside to be discovered, it is something inside to be realized."

— Jiddu Krishnamurti

"Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it."

— Haruki Murakami

"Everything you see has its roots in the unseen world. The forms may change, yet the essence remains the same."

— Rumi

"The task is not to see what has never been seen before, but to think what has never been thought before about what you see every day."

— Erwin Schrödinger

"We are a way for the cosmos to know itself."

— Carl Sagan

"Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow."

— Lao Tzu

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. (Reflection 135)"

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The soul is not in the body; the body is in the soul."

— Ken Wilber

"Purpose is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."

— Frederick Buechner

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."

— Marianne Williamson

"Insight is the sudden leap from the known to the unknown."

— Unknown

"What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning."

— T.S. Eliot

"The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled."

— Plutarch

"Life is a progress from want to want, not from enjoyment to enjoyment."

— Samuel Johnson

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."

— Marcel Proust

"You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop."

— Rumi

"Transformation is not about becoming something else, but about becoming who you already are."

— Unknown

"Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. (Reflection 136)"

— Zig Ziglar

"Evolution is the process by which the universe becomes aware of its own existence."

— Ken Wilber

"The soul's journey is a path of constant transformation and discovery."

— Unknown

"Insight is the bridge between the seen and the unseen."

— Unknown

"Our purpose is to evolve into the highest version of ourselves."

— Unknown

"The only constant is change, and evolution is the direction of that change."

— Unknown

"Transformation is the alchemical process of turning lead into gold within the soul."

— Unknown

"The universe is a grand design, and we are its conscious observers."

— Unknown

"Evolution is the unfolding of the divine within the material world."

— Unknown

"Our purpose is to be a light in the darkness and a beacon of hope for others."

— Unknown

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. (Reflection 137)"

— Melody Beattie

"Transformation is the journey of the heart toward greater love and compassion."

— Unknown

"Insight is the spark that ignites the fire of transformation."

— Unknown

"The universe is a vast ocean of consciousness, and we are its waves."

— Unknown

"Our purpose is to discover the truth and live it authentically."

— Unknown

"Transformation is the dance of the soul with the universe."

— Unknown

"The mind is a mirror, and insight is the process of clearing the dust."

— Unknown

"Evolution is the process of the universe learning to love itself."

— Unknown

"Our purpose is to be a channel for the divine to flow through."

— Unknown

"Transformation is the emergence of the butterfly from the cocoon."

— Unknown

"Be the change that you wish to see in the world. (Reflection 138)"

— Mahatma Gandhi

"Insight is the light that guides us through the darkness of ignorance."

— Unknown

"Evolution is the eternal journey toward higher levels of being."

— Unknown

"The mind is the athlete, the body is simply the means it uses to express itself."

— Herb Elliott

"If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment."

— Marcus Aurelius

"The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile."

— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

"I don't stop when I'm tired. I stop when I'm done."

— David Goggins

"No man is free who is not master of himself."

— Epictetus

"Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution."

— Aristotle

"The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in combat."

— Richard Marcinko

"The pain of discipline is far less than the pain of regret."

— Sarah Bombell

"Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina."

— Angela Duckworth

"Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify. (Reflection 139)"

— Henry David Thoreau

"I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'"

— Muhammad Ali

"The resistance that you fight physically in the gym and the resistance that you fight in life can only build a strong character."

— Arnold Schwarzenegger

"It is not the critic who counts... The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena."

— Theodore Roosevelt

"Deep work is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task."

— Cal Newport

"I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

— Michael Jordan

"No human is limited."

— Eliud Kipchoge

"Discipline equals freedom."

— Jocko Willink

"The path to the top is not about avoiding weakness, but about refining your relationship with it."

— Josh Waitzkin

"You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems."

— James Clear

"Fortitude is the ability to endure pain without complaining."

— Naval Ravikant

"Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. (Reflection 140)"

— Brené Brown

"The only thing more contagious than a good attitude is a bad one."

— David Goggins

"Becoming is better than being."

— Carol Dweck

"The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it."

— Steven Pressfield

"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."

— Bruce Lee

"Deliberate practice involves stepping outside your comfort zone and trying activities that are just beyond your current abilities."

— Anders Ericsson

"Freedom is the capacity to pause in the face of stimuli, and from that pause, throw one’s weight toward this response rather than that one."

— Rollo May

"Meanings are not determined by situations, but we determine ourselves by the meanings we give to situations."

— Alfred Adler

"What a man can be, he must be."

— Abraham Maslow

"The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You realize that you control your own destiny."

— Albert Ellis

"Rest at the end, not in the middle."

— Kobe Bryant

"Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate. (Reflection 141)"

— Carl Jung

"If you accomplish something good with hard work, the labor passes quickly, but the good endures; if you do something shameful for pleasure, the pleasure passes quickly, but the shame endures."

— Musonius Rufus

"I begin to speak only when I’m certain what I’ll say isn’t better left unsaid."

— Cato the Younger

"I really think a champion is defined not by their wins but by how they can recover when they fall."

— Serena Williams

"It's not about being fearless, it's about learning how to control your fear."

— Alex Honnold

"The pain cave is a real place. You just have to learn how to live in it for a while."

— Courtney Dauwalter

"The brain doesn't just respond to rewards; it responds to the pursuit of rewards."

— Andrew Huberman

"The hardest thing is to keep showing up."

— Lex Fridman

"Mood follows action."

— Rich Roll

"Discipline yourself, and others won't have to."

— John Wooden

"If you're not falling, you're not learning."

— Laird Hamilton

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude. (Reflection 142)"

— Viktor Frankl

"Working hard for something we don't care about is called stress; working hard for something we love is called passion."

— Simon Sinek

"Choosing to be brave is not a one-time decision. It is a daily practice."

— Brené Brown

"The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways."

— Robert Greene

"The most successful people are those who are best at ignoring the noise."

— Maria Konnikova

"Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today."

— Jordan Peterson

"Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want."

— Naval Ravikant

"Flow is being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies."

— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

"Relentless is about finding the gear that creates a distance between you and everyone else."

— Tim Grover

"Control of consciousness determines the quality of life."

— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

"The purpose of the flow is to keep on flowing, not looking for a peak or utopia but staying in the flow."

— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

"The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts. (Reflection 143)"

— Marcus Aurelius

"Attention is our most important tool... We create ourselves by how we use this energy."

— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

"Of all the virtues we can learn no trait is more useful than the ability to transform adversity into an enjoyable challenge."

— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

"It is when we act freely, for the sake of the action itself, that we learn to become more than what we were."

— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

"The self becomes complex as a result of experiencing flow."

— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

"Most enjoyable activities are not natural; they demand an effort that initially one is reluctant to make."

— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

"Experience is in harmony when thoughts, intentions, feelings, and all the senses are focused on the same goal."

— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

"Creativity is the natural order of life. Life is energy: pure creative energy."

— Julia Cameron

"Leap, and the net will appear."

— Julia Cameron

"Progress, not perfection, is what we should be asking of ourselves."

— Julia Cameron

"Art is born in attention."

— Julia Cameron

"Perfectionism is not a quest for the best. It is a pursuit of the worst in ourselves."

— Julia Cameron

"The purpose of our lives is to be happy. (Reflection 144)"

— Dalai Lama

"The creative process is a process of surrender, not control."

— Julia Cameron

"The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention."

— Julia Cameron

"Art is not about thinking something up. It is the opposite—getting something down."

— Julia Cameron

"In order to create, we draw from our inner well... an artistic reservoir."

— Julia Cameron

"Creativity requires faith. Faith requires that we relinquish control."

— Julia Cameron

"A river of material flows through us. If we block the flow by holding it all inside, new ideas are slow to appear."

— Rick Rubin

"The object isn't to make art, it's to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable."

— Rick Rubin

"If you start from the position that there is no right or wrong, creativity is just free play."

— Rick Rubin

"Nothing is static… You can't step into the same stream twice because it's always flowing."

— Rick Rubin

"I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it. (Reflection 145)"

— Maya Angelou

"We cannot force greatness... all we can do is invite it in and await it actively."

— Rick Rubin

"The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them."

— Elizabeth Gilbert

"Only when we are at our most playful can divinity finally get serious with us."

— Elizabeth Gilbert

"Perfectionism is just fear in fancy shoes and a mink coat."

— Elizabeth Gilbert

"You must learn how to become a deeply disciplined half-ass."

— Elizabeth Gilbert

"A creative life is an amplified life... a hell of a lot more interesting life."

— Elizabeth Gilbert

"Inexperience erases fear. You do not know what is and is not possible and therefore everything is possible."

— Twyla Tharp

"Scratching is where creativity begins... the moment where your ideas first take flight."

— Twyla Tharp

"Creativity is a habit, and the best creativity is a result of good work habits."

— Twyla Tharp

"The Zen master cleans his own studio. So should you."

— Twyla Tharp

"Don't be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth. (Reflection 146)"

— Rumi

"You don’t get lucky without preparation, and there’s no sense in being prepared if you’re not open to the possibility of a glorious accident."

— Twyla Tharp

"It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child."

— Pablo Picasso

"Children know something that most people have forgotten... Children are the bearers of life in its simplest and most joyous form."

— Keith Haring

"Make chance essential."

— Paul Klee

"I provoke accidents—a form, a splotch of color. Any accident is good enough. I let the material decide."

— Joan Miró

"Nothing is a mistake. There’s no win and no fail. There’s only make."

— Corita Kent

"Above all, art should be fun."

— Alexander Calder

"Spontaneity is a meticulously prepared art."

— Oscar Wilde

"When everything goes right, a mobile is a piece of poetry that dances with the joy of life and surprise!"

— Alexander Calder

"Creative people are curious, flexible, and independent with a tremendous spirit and a love of play."

— Henri Matisse

"The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it. (Reflection 147)"

— Thich Nhat Hanh

"The essential thing is to spring forth, to express the bolt of lightning one senses upon contact with a thing."

— Henri Matisse

"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action."

— Martha Graham

"It's usually in the actual making and the process where there is something spontaneous."

— Sarah Sze

"Creativity is more about taking the facts, fictions, and feelings we store away and finding new ways to connect them."

— Twyla Tharp

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."

— Pablo Picasso

"If you have an idea of where you're going, you won't go anywhere."

— Joan Miró

"Love is an act of will—namely, both an intention and an action. Will also implies choice. We do not have to love. We choose to love."

— bell hooks

"To love well is the task in all meaningful relationships, not just romantic ones."

— bell hooks

"The practice of love offers no place of safety. We risk loss, exploitation, evasion, humiliation—to name a few."

— bell hooks

"Dominator culture has tried to keep us all afraid, to make us choose safety instead of risk, sameness instead of diversity."

— bell hooks

"I am my best work - a series of road maps, reports, recipes, redundant prayers, and bills. (Reflection 148)"

— Audre Lorde

"Rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion."

— bell hooks

"True resistance begins with people confronting pain... and looking to create a revolution of the heart."

— bell hooks

"Woundedness is not a place to stay, but it is a place to start."

— bell hooks

"A generous heart is always open, always ready to receive our going and coming."

— bell hooks

"The most important aspect of love is not in what we do, but in how much love we put into the doing."

— Ram Dass

"Living life in the face of death, we can discover what matters most. We can find the hope for freedom and the strength to love."

— bell hooks

"As long as you have certain desires about how it ought to be, you can't see how it is."

— Ram Dass

"Treat everyone you meet like God in drag."

— Ram Dass

"The heart surrenders everything to the moment. The mind judges and holds back."

— Ram Dass

"Loneliness is the craving for the other. Aloneness is the fulfillment of the self."

— Ram Dass

"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. (Reflection 149)"

— Helen Keller

"Connection is the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment."

— Ram Dass

"The feeling of separation is an illusion. We are all part of the same fabric."

— Ram Dass

"Behind the personality, behind the roles, we are all the same soul."

— Ram Dass

"The quality of our relationships determines the quality of our lives."

— Esther Perel

"Our partner is the mirror that shows us our own reflection, even the parts we'd rather not see."

— Esther Perel

"If you think you are enlightened, go spend a week with your parents."

— Ram Dass

"Family harmony is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to repair after it."

— Terry Real

"In a relationship, you can be right, or you can be married."

— Terry Real

"Listening is a high form of love. To listen is to give the other person the gift of being heard."

— Harriet Lerner

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion. (Reflection 150)"

— Albert Camus

"It’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it—and when you choose to stay silent."

— Harriet Lerner

"Small things often create the biggest shifts in connection."

— John Gottman

"Emotion is the music of the dance of connection."

— Sue Johnson

"Every interaction is a bid for connection. How we respond determines the fate of the relationship."

— John Gottman

"Love is not a mystery; it is a survival code. It is about the need for safe emotional connection."

— Sue Johnson

"The opposite of addiction is not sobriety; the opposite of addiction is connection."

— Gabor Maté

"Safety is not the absence of threat, it is the presence of connection."

— Gabor Maté

"Connection is why we're here; it's what gives purpose and meaning to our lives."

— Brené Brown

"The relationship is the therapy."

— Irvin Yalom

"Belonging is being accepted for you. Fitting in is being accepted for being like everyone else."

— Brené Brown

"We are all lonely together."

— Irvin Yalom

"Discovering the truth about ourselves is a lifetime’s work, but it’s worth the effort. (Reflection 151)"

— Fred Rogers

"We meet ourselves time and again in a thousand disguises on the path of life."

— James Hillman

"A soulful relationship is one where the other person helps you become more of who you are."

— Thomas Moore

"The person who is right for us is not the person who shares all our tastes, but the person who can negotiate differences in taste with intelligence and grace."

— Alain de Botton

"We are biological creatures who need each other to regulate our nervous systems."

— Stan Tatkin

"Love is a skill, not just an enthusiasm."

— Alain de Botton

"Relational self-awareness is the ability to take a curious look at your own role in the dance of connection."

— Alexandra Solomon

"Definitions are vital starting points for the quest of self-definition."

— bell hooks

"Commitment to truth-telling is the foundation of any real relationship."

— bell hooks

"I can do nothing for you but work on myself... you can do nothing for me but work on yourself!"

— Ram Dass

"Your problem is you are too busy holding onto your unworthiness."

— Ram Dass

"The essence of intimacy is the sharing of our internal world."

— Terry Real

"I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think. (Reflection 152)"

— Socrates

"An apology is the superglue of life."

— Harriet Lerner

"Masters of relationships are masters of repair."

— John Gottman

"The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort."

— Carl Jung

"The shadow is the person you would rather not be."

— Carl Jung

"One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious."

— Carl Jung

"In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order."

— Carl Jung

"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed."

— Carl Jung

"The doors to the world of the Wild Self are few but precious. If you have a deep scar, that is a door."

— Clarissa Pinkola Estés

"Go out in the woods, go out. If you don't go out in the woods, nothing will ever happen and your life will never begin."

— Clarissa Pinkola Estés

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. (Reflection 153)"

— Lao Tzu

"Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes."

— Carl Jung

"Shadow is the place where the soul lives when it is not in the sun."

— Clarissa Pinkola Estés

"Within every woman there lives a powerful force, filled with good instincts, passionate creativity, and ageless knowing."

— Clarissa Pinkola Estés

"To love means to stay when every cell says 'fly!'"

— Clarissa Pinkola Estés

"Be wild; that is how to clear the river."

— Clarissa Pinkola Estés

"The most important thing is to hold on, hold out, for your creative life, for your solitude, for your time to be and do, for your very life."

— Clarissa Pinkola Estés

"Failure is a greater teacher than success."

— Clarissa Pinkola Estés

"The craft of questions, the craft of stories, the craft of the hands—all these are the edge of the world."

— Clarissa Pinkola Estés

"Our task is to say 'yes' to the life that is waiting for us."

— Clarissa Pinkola Estés

"The gold is in the dark."

— Robert A. Johnson

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. (Reflection 154)"

— Confucius

"Unless we do the conscious work of shadow integration, we are doomed to project our darkness onto others."

— Robert A. Johnson

"Owning your own shadow is the holy grail of psychological work."

— Robert A. Johnson

"The shadow is the 'not-I'."

— Robert A. Johnson

"We carry our past with us, to wit, the primitive and inferior man with his desires and emotions."

— Robert A. Johnson

"The shadow is a tight knot of energy that has been suppressed."

— Debbie Ford

"Your shadow is all of the things 'they' told you not to be."

— Debbie Ford

"When we suppress any part of ourselves, we suppress the whole."

— Debbie Ford

"Our shadows are not here to hurt us, but to guide us back to our wholeness."

— Debbie Ford

"Darkness is the womb of light."

— Thomas Moore

"Paradox is the only way to grasp the fullness of life."

— James Hillman

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. (Reflection 155)"

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The shadow is the long bag we drag behind us."

— Robert Bly

"Until we have seen someone's shadow, we don't really know them."

— Robert Bly

"Care of the soul requires a tolerance for ambiguity."

— Thomas Moore

"The greatest danger to the state is the man who has no shadow."

— Carl Jung

"The unconscious is not just a trash can of repressed memories, but a wellspring of potential."

— Carl Jung

"A man who is unconscious of himself acts in a blind, instinctive way."

— Carl Jung

"Acceptance of oneself is the essence of the whole moral problem and the epitome of a whole outlook on life."

— Carl Jung

"What you resist, persists."

— Carl Jung

"The shadow is the door to the soul."

— Carl Jung

"Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude. (Reflection 156)"

— Zig Ziglar

"There is no light without shadow and no psychic wholeness without imperfection."

— Carl Jung

"The persona is that which in reality one is not, but which oneself as well as others believe one to be."

— Carl Jung

"The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely."

— Carl Jung

"The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are."

— Carl Jung

"In every adult there dwells the child that was, and which is always becoming."

— Carl Jung

"Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism."

— Carl Jung

"The fool who persists in his folly will become wise."

— William Blake

"Shame is a soul-eating emotion."

— Carl Jung

"Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly."

— G.K. Chesterton

"I would believe only in a God that knows how to dance."

— Friedrich Nietzsche

"The dream is the small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul."

— Carl Jung

"Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. (Reflection 157)"

— Melody Beattie

"It takes a long time to become young."

— Pablo Picasso

"This is the real secret of life—to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play."

— Alan Watts

"Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play."

— Heraclitus

"Dance, when you're broken open. Dance, if you've torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you're perfectly free."

— Rumi

"The goal of life is not to possess information, but to become a manifestation of the mystery."

— Henry Miller

"The most wasted of all days is one without laughter."

— E.E. Cummings

"I am the herald of the Great King."

— St. Francis of Assisi

"I sing the body electric."

— Walt Whitman

"A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement."

— Rachel Carson

"Lightness is the opposite of weight, not of depth."

— Italo Calvino

"Play is the highest form of research."

— Albert Einstein

"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. (Reflection 158)"

— Mahatma Gandhi

"The most unfortunate people are those who are most wise."

— Erasmus

"It’s never too late to have a happy childhood."

— Tom Robbins

"The sun never repents of its light or the moon of its dark."

— Mary Oliver

"The soul is healed by being with children."

— Fyodor Dostoevsky

"The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper."

— W.B. Yeats

"In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play."

— Friedrich Nietzsche

"Genius is nothing more nor less than childhood recovered at will."

— Charles Baudelaire

"Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold."

— Joseph Chilton Pearce

"Joy is the simplest form of gratitude."

— Karl Barth

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. (Reflection 159)"

— Henry David Thoreau

"The human body is the best picture of the human soul."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein

"Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over."

— F. Scott Fitzgerald

"The body is the instrument of the soul's expression."

— D.H. Lawrence

"Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can."

— Danny Kaye

"To be alive, to be able to see, to walk, to have houses, to eat, and to sleep is a miracle."

— Thich Nhat Hanh

"Your body is precious. It is your vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care."

— Buddha

"Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our minds."

— Bob Marley

"Joy is not in things; it is in us."

— Richard Wagner

"Laughter is wine for the soul - laughter soft, or loud and deep, tinged through with seriousness - the very essence of life."

— Sean O'Casey

"The bird doesn't have to seek for air, and the fish doesn't have to seek for water. And we don't have to seek for God."

— Thomas Merton

"Energy is eternal delight."

— William Blake

"A life without love is of no account. Don't ask yourself what kind of love you should seek, spiritual or material, divine or mundane, Eastern or Western."

— Shams Tabrizi

"I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of your own being."

— Hafez

"A heart full of joy is more easily made perfect than one that is sad."

— St. Philip Neri

"All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well."

— Julian of Norwich

"I am still learning."

— Michelangelo

"The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts."

— Marcus Aurelius

"True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future."

— Seneca

"The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship."

— William Blake

"A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving."

— Lao Tzu

"Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come."

— Chinese Proverb

"Serendipity is looking in a haystack for a needle and discovering a farmer's daughter."

— Julius Comroe

"Life is too important to be taken seriously."

— Oscar Wilde

"A joy that's shared is a joy made double."

— English Proverb

"If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together."

— Lilla Watson

"We must grow our souls so that we can grow our world."

— Grace Lee Boggs

"The system is not separate from us; we are the system."

— Donella Meadows

"The gift is not a gift until it is given away."

— Robin Wall Kimmerer

"Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves."

— Chief Seattle

"The greatest thing a person can do is to help another person know that they are not alone."

— Sobonfu Somé

"True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice."

— Martin Luther King Jr.

"We are here to witness the creation and to abet it."

— Annie Dillard

"Everything that is, is because of everything else."

— Thich Nhat Hanh

"The success of a system is not in its parts, but in the quality of the relationships between them."

— Peter Senge

"I am because we are."

— Ubuntu Philosophy

"Love is not a feeling; it is an action."

— Bell Hooks

"The Earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the Earth."

— Chief Seattle

"Radical simple living is the only way to ensure there is enough for everyone."

— Vandana Shiva

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others."

— Mahatma Gandhi

"We are the ones we have been waiting for."

— June Jordan

"You cannot have a sustainable system that is based on exploitation."

— Winona LaDuke

"The heart of community is the willingness to be transformed by the other."

— Margaret Wheatley

"Justice is what love looks like in public."

— Cornel West

"Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world."

— Howard Zinn

"We don't inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."

— Native American Proverb

"Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it."

— Mahatma Gandhi

"In every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations."

— Iroquois Great Law of Peace

"We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny."

— Martin Luther King Jr.

"The only way to survive is by taking care of one another."

— Grace Lee Boggs

"Service is the rent we pay for being. It is the very purpose of life, and not something you do in your spare time."

— Marian Wright Edelman

"Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare."

— Audre Lorde

"There is no such thing as a 'self-made' man."

— James Baldwin

"To build community is to create a space where everyone's gifts are welcomed and needed."

— Sobonfu Somé

"The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it."

— Mother Teresa

"You cannot dismantle the master's house with the master's tools."

— Audre Lorde

"Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent."

— Mahatma Gandhi

"A single tree cannot make a forest."

— African Proverb

"The transition from 'me' to 'we' is the most important journey a human being can take."

— Anonymous

"The more we give, the more we have. This is the divine economy."

— Dorothy Day

"Interdependence is a higher value than independence."

— Stephen Covey

"The role of the leader is to create more leaders, not more followers."

— Ralph Nader

"Every person is a philosopher."

— Antonio Gramsci

"Indigenous wisdom is not a relic of the past; it is a blueprint for the future."

— Oren Lyons

"The revolution is not a one-time event. It is being always vigilant for the smallest opportunity to make a genuine change."

— Audre Lorde

"Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes."

— Mahatma Gandhi

"Hope is a discipline."

— Mariame Kaba

"The first step in a system's change is to change the mind that created the system."

— Donella Meadows

"Emergence is the way complex systems and patterns arise out of relatively simple interactions."

— adrienne maree brown

"To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing."

— Raymond Williams

"A healthy community is like a healthy body: it is not the absence of germs, but the presence of a strong immune system."

— Sobonfu Somé

"Peace is not the goal; peace is the way."

— A.J. Muste

"We are dying every day; for every day a portion of our life is taken from us."

— Seneca

"Impermanence is a principle of harmony. When we don't struggle against it, we are in harmony with reality."

— Pema Chödrön

"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live."

— Marcus Aurelius

"This body is not me. I am not limited by this body. I am life without boundaries."

— Thich Nhat Hanh

"If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to."

— Dalai Lama

"Don't grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form."

— Rumi

"To live in this world you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go."

— Mary Oliver

"Everything is impermanent, like the bubbles on a stream."

— Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

"Death is a mirror in which the entire meaning of life is reflected."

— Sogyal Rinpoche

"To begin depriving death of its greatest advantage over us, let us adopt a way clean contrary to that common one; let us deprive death of its strangeness, let us frequent it, let us get used to it."

— Michel de Montaigne

"My religion is to live and die without regret."

— Milarepa

"The bad news is you’re falling through the air, nothing to hang on to, no parachute. The good news is, there’s no ground."

— Chögyam Trungpa

"Keep death and exile and all other things which appear terrible before your eyes... and you will never have any abject thought, nor desire anything excessively."

— Epictetus

"Life and death are one thread, the same line viewed from different sides."

— Lao Tzu