Quotes

A long long time ago I began collecting inspirational quotes and aphorisms which became my collection of quotes.

Pure joy

Published December 19 · All posts on Dec 19

I cannot believe that the inscrutable universe runs on an axis of suffering; Surely the strange beauty of the world must somewhere rest on pure joy!

~ Louise Bogan

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Grandiose fantasies

Published December 18 · All posts on Dec 18

Grandiose fantasies are a symptom of Resistance. They’re the sign of an amateur. The professional has learned that success, like happiness, comes as a by-product of work. The professional concentrates on the work and allows rewards to come or not com, whatever they like.

~ Steven Pressfield

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The artist-child

Published December 15 · All posts on Dec 15

Spending time in solitude with your artist child is essential to self-nurturing. A long country walk, a solitary expedition to the beach for a sunrise or sunset, a sortie out to strange church to hear gospel music, to an ethnic neighborhood to taste foreign sights and sounds—your artist might enjoy any of these. Or your artist might like bowling.

~ Julia Cameron

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Self-realized

Published December 13 · All posts on Dec 13

Individuals who are realized in their own lives almost never criticize others. If they speak at all, it is to offer encouragement. Watch yourself. Of all the manifestations of Resistance, most only harm ourselves. Criticism and cruelty harm others as well.

~ Steven Pressfield

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Social animal

Published December 12 · All posts on Dec 12

It is all very well to insist that man is a “social animal”—the fact is obvious enough. But that is no justification for making him a mere cog in a totalitarian machine—or in a religious one either, for that matter. In actual fact, society depends for its existence on the inviolable personal solitude of its members. Society, to merit its name, must be made up not of numbers, or mechanical units, but of persons. To be a person implies responsibility and freedom, and both these imply a certain interior solitude, a sense of personal integrity, a sense of one’s own reality and of one’s ability to give himself to society—or to refuse that gift.

~ Thomas Merton

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The play instinct

Published December 11 · All posts on Dec 11

The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.

~ Carl Jung

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Boredom

Published December 10 · All posts on Dec 10

Boredom is just “What’s the use?” in disguise. And, “What’s the use?” is fear, and fear means you are secretly in despair. So put your fears on the page. Put anything on the page. Put three pages of it on the page.

~ Julia Cameron

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Procrastination

Published December 8 · All posts on Dec 8

Procrastination is the most common manifestation of Resistance because it’s the easiest to rationalize. We don’t tell ourselves, “I’m never going to write my symphony.” Instead we say, “I’m going to write my symphony; I’m just going to start tomorrow.”

~ Steven Pressfield

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Solitude

Published December 7 · All posts on Dec 7

Solitude bears the same relation to the mind that sleep does to the body. It affords it the necessary opportunities for repose and recovery.

~ William G. Simms

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Redemption

Published December 4 · All posts on Dec 4

Because it’s elitist, an initiation into arcana. Because it’s nostalgic, rowing being a skill not much in demand in the industrial world. Because it’s fragile: The boat club is run on a shoestring, and the beat-up old boats held together by spit. Because it’s dangerous, and exercises the wits against the wind and the water. Because it’s a ritual. Because it’s redemption.

~ Barry Strauss

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Conduct of life

Published December 2 · All posts on Dec 2

Silence is the absolute poise or balance of body, mind, and spirit. The man who preserves his selfhood ever calm and unshaken by the storms of existence—not a leaf, as it were, astir on the tree; Not a ripple upon the surface of shining pool—his, in the mind of the unlettered sage, is the ideal attitude and conduct of life.

~ Charles Eastman

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