Quotes About Contemplation

Amanda and I both paused to take in that bit of wisdom. And try to decide if it even was wisdom.

A person alone in a room is like the soul in the body.

Is Ronchamp reminiscent of the Ark left stranded on Ararat, or like 'bits of broken china thrown on top of the hill'? Is the roof like a bird's wing, or does the whole edifice look like a decoy? Is it an alighting dove or a sitting duck? Good taste bids us to suppress the latter in favour of the former, although the latter is as easy to see.

refusing to think about a thing only brings it more strongly to mind.

They regarded our passage not at all, and by the afternoon I felt no more significant than an ant. I had never thought to be disdained by a tree.

There are times when not thinking requires all of one's concentration.

To go without solitude is like going without salt.

He said nothing to any of them, and they knew better than to speak to the captain when he stood thus, deep in thought. He had a problem. He'd settle it without help from any of them. That was what captains did.

No. Not tonight. Not by impulse, not without thought, No. It did not matter what others did. She had to think for herself about such things.

FitzChivalry Farseer." I halted, frozen by the words. I turned slowly.

No, Fitz, this is life. And no one has time not to think of such things. Each creature in the world should consider this thing, every moment of the heart's beating. Otherwise, what is the point of arising each day?

But refusing to think about a thing only brings it more strongly to mind.

I was just thinking of all the years and times when I've sat across from you, and wondered if I'd ever truly seen you at all.

Much insight into himself could have been gained from contemplation of these things, but Wintrow reined his mind away from it. Perhaps he did not want to know himself quite that well." p. 543

I just sat, feeling something inside me go very still. I hoped it was my heart.

Is there nothing private anymore?" "Only the things we keep from ourselves," she replied sadly. She

Thinking is not always...comforting. It is always good, but not always comforting.

She wished she could pitch a tent among the stars and wait for God. That way she'd be even closer to hearing the answers when he finally whispered them in her ear.

What is it that brings me here to stand like a rock in this river of sound?

Ceremony focuses attention so that attention becomes intention.

Slow down— it's thirty years of a tree's life you've got in your hands there. Don't you owe it a few minutes to think about what you'll do with it?

You have to concentrate; you have to give yourself to the listening. It takes effort, especially in a time when we are accustomed to sound bites and immediate gratification.

My questions were bigger than science could touch.

...[K]now that however ugly the parts appear the whole remains beautiful. A severed hand Is an ugly thing, and man dissevered from the earth and stars and his history... for contemplation or in fact... Often appears atrociously ugly. Integrity is wholeness, the greatest beauty is Organic wholeness, the wholeness of life and things, the divine beauty of the universe....