The true contemplative is one who has discovered the art of finding leisure even in the midst of his work, by working with such a spirit of detachment and recollection that even his work is a prayer — Thomas Merton
Contemplation is nothing else but a secret, peaceful, and loving infusion of God, which, if admitted, will set the soul on fire with the Spirit of love. — John of the Cross
Contemplation and wisdom are highest achievements and man is not totally at home with them. — Gabriel Marcel
In contemplative prayer we seek to become the person we are called to be, not by thinking of God, but by being with God. Simply to be with God is to be drawn into being the person God calls us to be — John Main
Christian life is not realized in developing the personality or in shaping human community and somehow changing the world but in turning away from the world and becoming free of it. — Rudolf Bultmann
Contemplative prayer [oración mental] in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us. — Teresa of Avila
Contemplation often makes life miserable. We should act more, think less, and stop watching ourselves live. — Nicolas Chamfort
Every one should find some suitable time, day or night, to sink into his depths, each according to his own fashion. Not every one is able to engage in contemplative prayer. — Johannes Tauler
Delight in meditation and solitude. Compose yourself, be happy. You are a seeker. — Buddha
The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival. — Aristotle
Teach correctly... Find delight in contemplation. — Saint Augustine
The heart and mind can find peace and harmony by contemplating the transcendental nature of the true self as supreme effulgent life. — Patanjali
What a man takes in by contemplation, that he pours out in love. — Meister Eckhart
Leisure is a form of silence, not noiselessness. It is the silence of contemplation such as occurs when we let our minds rest on a rosebud, a child at play, a Divine mystery, or a waterfall. — Fulton J. Sheen
Short Contemplative Life Quotes
Only a life of prayer and meditation will render a vessel ready for the Master's use. — George Muller
The good and the wise lead quiet lives. — Euripides
The soul becomes prudent by sitting and being quiet. — Aristotle
In dwelling, be close to the land. In meditation, go deep in the heart. — Lao Tzu
The noble soul occupies itself with wisdom and friendship. — Epicurus
For what it's worth: it's never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you're proud of, and, if you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start over.
Contemplating Life Quotes
Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. — Rachel Carson
It's a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you're ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any. — Hugh Laurie
Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature -- the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter. — Rachel Carson
Never be a prisoner of your past. It was just a lesson, not a life sentence.
To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man's life. — T. S. Eliot
I felt myself in a solitude so frightful that I contemplated suicide. What held me back was the idea that no one, absolutely no one, would be moved by my death, that I would be even more alone in death than in life. — Jean-Paul Sartre
Simply wait, be quiet, still The world will freely offer itself to you. — Franz Kafka
There comes a point in your life when you need to stop reading other people's book and write your own.
The only thing that makes life worth living is the possibility of experiencing now and then a perfect moment. And perhaps even more than that, it's having the ability to recall such moments in their totality, to contemplate them like jewels. — Paul Bowles
Magical places are always beautiful and deserve to be contemplated ... Always stay on the bridge between the invisible and the visible. — Paulo Coelho
The country life is to be preferred, for there we see the works of God; but in cities little else but the works of men. And the one makes a better subject for contemplation than the other. — William Penn
The notion of education through handicrafts rises from the contemplation of truth and love permeating life's activities. — Mahatma Gandhi
Contemplative Prayer Quotes
Prayer is looking out from a different set of eyes, which are not comparing, competing, judging, labeling or analyzing, but receiving the moment in its present wholeness and unwholeness. That is what is meant by contemplation. — Richard Rohr
If you surrender yourself, and do not rush, but meditate on the Word of God, you will find prayer forming in your heart. It is a prayer inspired by the Holy Spirit, a prayer that God will be pleased to hear. — John R. Rice
Prayer means lovingly contemplating the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, allowing our hearts to be enkindled to praise and adore the love and omnipotence of the most blessed Trinity. — Basilea Schlink
Some days I wish I could go back in life. Not to change anything, but to feel a few things twice.
The essence of meditation is a period of time set aside to contemplate the Lord, listen to Him, and allow Him to permeate our spirits. — Charles Stanley
The only thing to seek in contemplative prayer is God; and we seek Him successfully when we realize that we cannot find Him unless He shows Himself to us, and yet at the same time that He would not have inspired us to seek Him unless we had already found Him. — Thomas Merton
In vocal prayer we go to God on foot. In meditation we go to God on horseback. In contemplation we go to God in a jet. — Fulton J. Sheen
Getting knocked down in life is a given. Getting up and moving forward is a choice.
In my prayers, I want to say: Lord, don’t be far from me, and also don’t come too close. Let me contemplate the stars on the texture of your cloth, but don’t unveil your face to me. Allow me to hear the rivers that you send running, but Lord! Lord! Don’t allow me hearing your voice — Amin Maalouf
Do I want to pray or only to think about my human problems? Do I want to pray or simply kneel there contemplating my sorrow? Do I want to direct my prayer toward God or let it direct itself towards me? — Hubert Van Zeller
I've practiced centering prayer. I've contemplatively prayed. I've prayed liturgically... I've benefited from each, and I still do. In ways you'll see, elements of each style are still with me. — Larry Crabb
Another of the things I started to do during this time was what Buddhists normally call "meditation" or, in Christian terms, "contemplative prayer". It began to supersede deipnosophy as my favorite hobby. — Sara Maitland
Contemplation Quotes
The first great thing is to find yourself and for that you need solitude and contemplation - at least sometimes. I can tell you deliverance will not come from the rushing noisy centers of civilization. It will come from the lonely places. — Fridtjof Nansen
As long as the general population is passive, apathetic, diverted to consumerism or hatred of the vulnerable, then the powerful can do as they please, and those who survive will be left to contemplate the outcome. — Noam Chomsky
The more time you spend contemplating what you should have done... you lose valuable time planning what you can and will do. — Lil Wayne
The secret to living well and longer is: eat half, walk double, laugh triple and love without measure.
Place your mind before the mirror of eternity! Place your soul in the brilliance of glory! And transform your entire being into the image of the Godhead Itself through contemplation. — Clare of Assisi
The only way to comprehend what mathematicians mean by Infinity is to contemplate the extent of human stupidity. — Voltaire
Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them. — David Hume
Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life. Tip top if you must, but take the step.
The highest goal of music is to connect one's soul to their Divine Nature, not entertainment — Pythagoras
Master your breath, let the self be in bliss, contemplate on the sublime within you. — Tirumalai Krishnamacharya
Occupy yourself in beholding and bewailing your own imperfections rather than contemplating the imperfections of others. — Ignatius of Loyola
The law of floatation was not discovered by contemplating the sinking of things, but by contemplating the floating of things which floated naturally, and then intelligently asking why they did so. — Thomas Troward
Buddhist Life Quotes
Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle. Happiness never decreases by being shared. — Buddha
Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other. — Dalai Lama
I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done. — Marie Curie
Don't wait for everything to be perfect before you decide to enjoy your life.
We suffer because we want life to be different from what it is. We suffer because we try to make pleasurable what is painful, to make solid what is fluid, to make permanent what is always changing. — Sakyong Mipham
If the problem can be solved why worry? If the problem cannot be solved worrying will do you no good. — Shantideva
Life and death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to awaken. Awaken. Take heed, do not squander your life. — Dogen
Don't compare your life to others. There's no comparison between the sun and the moon. They shine when it's their time.
Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality. — Dalai Lama
One moment can change a day, One day can change a life and One life can change the world — Buddha
If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path. — Buddha
Meditation Life Quotes
Your mind is a powerful thing. When you filter it with positive thoughts, your life will start to change. — Buddha
Frustration, discouragement, and depression mean you are working against yourself. — Jaggi Vasudev
If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it? — Dogen
Life is like a piano, the white keys represent happiness and the black shows sadness, but as you go through life's journey, remember that the black keys also makes music.
Life is short and the time of death is uncertain; so apply yourself to meditation. Avoid doing evil, and acquire merit, to the best of your ability, even at the cost of life itself. In short: Act so that you have no cause to be ashamed of yourselves and hold fast to this rule. — Milarepa
Meditation is the only intentional, systematic human activity which at bottom is about not trying to improve yourself or get anywhere else, but simply to realize where you already are. — Jon Kabat-Zinn
Life is short. Time is fleeting. Realize the Self. Purity of the heart is the gateway to God. Aspire. Renounce. Meditate. Be good; do good. Be kind; be compassionate. Inquire, know Thyself. — Sivananda
Failure are part of life. If you don't fail, you don't learn. If you don't learn you'll never change.
The key is to be in a state of permanent connectedness with your inner body - to feel it at all times. This will rapidly deepen and transform your life. The more consciousness you direct into the inner body, the higher its vibrational frequency becomes. — Eckhart Tolle
We meditate so we can see miracles unfolding. Without stillness life is a blur. — Russell Simmons
Move, but don't move the way fear makes you move. — Rumi
Your goal is not to battle with the mind, but to witness the mind. — Swami Muktananda
Monastic Life Quotes
Cooperation in the most natural thing in the world — Janine Benyus
The curse should no longer rest upon the world itself, but upon that which is sinful in it, and instead of monastic flight from the world the duty is now emphasized of serving God in the world, in every position in life. — Abraham Kuyper
Working conditions for me have always been those of the monastic life: solitude and frugality. Except for frugality, they are contrary to my nature, so much so that work is a violence I do to myself. — Albert Camus
I like the monastic life... in the prayer and the praising... this has charged me with new energy, spiritual energy. This is very important for my ministry outside the monastery. — Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria
Working in film, I'm sure you have insight into this, there's something great that only comes by way of interactions with others that a monastic life does not afford. — John Maus
Monastic life cuts off the distractions and emotional entanglements one becomes involved in, in the lay life. — Tenzin Palmo
There is a basic problem that a lot of Western monks and nuns become ordained without really understanding or appreciating what the monastic life is all about. — Tenzin Palmo
My Dad used to say that the balance of the world relied on all of the monks who were living outside of society in creative isolation. I don't quite understand the ascetic life or the private life or the monastic private life. But I definitely understand privacy's value. — Sufjan Stevens
Art is a vocation, as much as anything in this world. For the real artist, it is the most natural thing in the world, not as necessary as air and water, perhaps, but as food and water. But we really do lead almost a monastic life, you know; to follow it you very often have to give up something. — Katherine Anne Porter
Monastic life thus became a living protest against the secularization of Christianity, against the cheapening of grace. — Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe, the less taste we shall have for destruction. — Rachel Carson
The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity. — Albert Einstein
By contemplating the impermanence of everything in the world, we are forced to recognize that every time we do something could be the last time we do it, and this recognition can invest the things we do with a significance and intensity that would otherwise be absent. We will no longer sleepwalk through our life. — William Braxton Irvine
Some are slaves of ambition or money, but others are interested in understanding life itself. These give themselves the name of philosophers , and they value the contemplation and discovery of nature beyond all other pursuits. — Pythagoras
Animists are people who recognize that the world is full of persons, only some of whom are human, and that life is always loved in relationship with others. Animism is lived out in various ways that are all about learning to act respectfully (carefully and constructively) toward and among other persons. — Graham Harvey
We only regard those unions as real examples of love and real marriages in which a fixed and unalterable decision has been taken. If men or women contemplate an escape, they do not collect all their powers for the task. In none of the serious and important tasks of life do we arrange such a "getaway." We cannot love and be limited. — Alfred Adler
The central purpose of the Work that Reconnects is to help people uncover and experience their innate connections with each other and with the systemic, self-healing powers of the web of life, so that they may be enlivened and motivated to play their part in creating a sustainable civilization. — Joanna Macy
So much pressure in this life of mine, I cry at times, I once contemplated suicide and woulda tried, but when I held that nine, all I could see was my mama's eyes, no one knows my struggle, they only see the trouble, not knowing it's hard to carry on when no one loves you. — Tupac Shakur
For in order that man may do well, whether in the works of the active life, or in those of the contemplative life, he needs the fellowship of friends. — Thomas Aquinas
If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I'll bet they'd live a lot differently. — Bill Watterson
A day spent without the sight or sound of beauty, the contemplation of mystery, or the search of truth or perfection is a poverty-stricken day; and a succession of such days is fatal to human life. — Lewis Mumford
In the active life all the vices are first of all to be removed by the practice of good works, so that in the contemplative life a man may, with now purified mental gaze, pass on to the contemplation of the Divine Light. — Isidore of Seville
Contemplate thy powers, contemplate thy wants and thy connections; so shalt thou discover the duties of life, and be directed in all thy ways. — Akhenaton
If you expound the teaching of the Logos from the standpoint of the moral life, using materialistic words and examples which correspond to the capacity of your hearers, you make the Logos flesh. Conversely, if you elucidate mystical theology by means of the higher forms of contemplation you make the Logos spirit. — Maximus the Confessor
Most true happiness comes from one's inner life, from the disposition of the mind and soul. Admittedly, a good inner life is difficult to achieve, especially in these trying times. It takes reflection and contemplation and self-discipline. — William L. Shirer
There is something in the nature of tea that leads us into a world of quiet contemplation of life. — Lin Yutang
Every night, contemplate: What good did I do today? How can I do better tomorrow? — Mata Amritanandamayi
One of the strange laws of the contemplative life is that in it you do not sit down and solve problems: you bear with them until they somehow solve themselves. Or until life solves them for you. — Thomas Merton
Just as a mirror, which reflects all things, is set in its own container, so too the rational soul is placed in the fragile container of the body. In this way, the body is governed in its earthly life by the soul, and the soul contemplates heavenly things through faith. — Hildegard of Bingen
It always grieves me to contemplate the initiation of children into the ways of life when they are scarcely more than infants. It checks their confidence and simplicity, two of the best qualities that heaven gives them, and demands that they share our sorrows before they are capable of entering into our enjoyments. — Charles Dickens
Just as we believe by faith that the greatest happiness of the next life consists simply in the contemplation of this divine majesty, likewise we experience that we derive the greatest joy of which we are capable in this life from the same contemplation, even though it is much less perfect. — Rene Descartes
In times of pain, when the future is too terrifying to contemplate and the past too painful to remember, I have learned to pay attention to right now. The precise moment I was in was always the only safe place for me. — Julia Cameron
Whoever is devoid of the capacity to wonder, whoever remains unmoved, whoever cannot contemplate or know the deep shudder of the soul in enchantment, might just as well be dead for he has already closed his eyes upon life. — Albert Einstein
When a garden is used as a place to pause for thought, that is when a Zen garden comes to life. When you contemplate a garden like this it will form as lasting impression on your heart. — Muso Soseki
Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation. — Hans Arp
Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation. — Jean Arp
Our rulers at the present day, with their machines and their preachers, are all occupied in putting into our heads the preposterous notion that activity rather than contemplation is the object of life. — John Cowper Powys
Beauty, the splendour of truth, is a gracious presence when the imagination contemplates intensely the truth of its own being or the visible world, and the spirit which proceeds out of truth and beauty is the holy spirit of joy. These are realities and these alone give and sustain life. — James Joyce
Sure Man was born to meditate on things, And to contemplate the eternal springs Of God and Nature, glory, bliss and pleasure: That life and love might be his eternal treasure. — Thomas Traherne
The whole of life is a journey toward youthful old age, toward self-contemplation, love, gaiety, and, in a fundamental sense, the most gratifying time of our lives. . . . "Old age" should be a harvest time when the riches of life are reaped and enjoyed, while it continues to be a special period for self-development and expansion. — Ashley Montagu
Humor is the contemplation of the finite from the point of view of the infinite. — Christian Morgenstern
It is enough for me to contemplate the mystery of conscious life perpetuating itself through all eternity, to reflect upon the marvelous structure of the universe which we dimly perceive, and to try humbly to comprehend an infinitesimal part of the intelligence manifested in nature. — Albert Einstein
In Conclusion
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