Quotes from M. Scott Peck

This feeling of being valuable is a cornerstone of self-discipline because when one considers oneself valuable one will take care of oneself in all ways that are necessary. Self-discipline is self-caring.

This strange but remarkably common assumption that things that are not easy to study do not merit study is beginning to be challenged by several relatively recent developments within science itself.

words of Carl Jung, "Neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering.

And if we take it seriously, we are going to find that this simple notion of a loving God does not make for an easy philosophy.

But the substitute itself ultimately becomes more painful than the legitimate suffering it was designed to avoid.

If we can make ourselves into totally disciplined, wholly loving individuals, then, even though we may be ignorant of theology and give no thought to God, we will have prepared ourselves well for the coming of grace.

And no matter how seemingly healthy and spiritually evolved we are, there is still a part of us, however small, that does not want us to exert ourselves, that clings to the old and familiar, fearful of any change or effort, desiring comfort at any cost and absence of pain at any price, even if the penalty be ineffectiveness, stagnation or regression.

After greeting him I remarked, Boy, I sure admire you. I've never been able to fix those kind of things or do anything like that. My neighbor, without a moment's hesitation, shot back, That's because you don't take the time.

Therefore, after analyzing each of these tools, we shall in the next section examine the will to use them, which is love.

The only real security in life lies in relishing life's insecurity.

I have a very full and busy life and occasionally I am asked, Scotty, how can you do all that you do? The most telling reply I can give is: Because I spend at least two hours a day doing nothing.

The whole course of human history may depend on a change of heart in one solitary and even humble individual - for it is in the solitary mind and soul of the individual that the battle between good and evil is waged and ultimately won or lost.

Problems do not go away. They must be worked through or else they remain, forever a barrier to the growth and development of the spirit.

But for the first time, I had a religious identity. I had come home. And so I called myself a Zen Buddhist at the age of 18.

Love is the free exercise of choice. Two people love each other only when they are quite capable of living without each other but choose to live with each other.

Real love is a permanently self-enlarging experience.

The will to grow is, in essence, the same phenomenon as love. Genuinely loving people are, by definition, growing people.

By far the most important form of attention we can give our loved ones is listening... True listening is love in action.

When we love something it is of value to us, and when something is of value to us we spend time with it, time enjoying it and time taking care of it.

True love is not a feeling by which we are overwhelmed. It is a committed, thoughtful decision.

We must be willing to fail and to appreciate the truth that often "Life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived.

There is no act of love that is not an act of work or courage. No exceptions.

Falling in love is not an extension of one's limits or boundaries; it is a partial and temporary collapse of them.

Love is too large, too deep ever to be truly understood or measured or limited within the framework of words.