Quotes About Contemplation

The Bible is not a textbook. Nor is it a manual to be studied, mastered, and mechanically applied. Instead, I believe we should listen to the Word of God and reflect upon it like poetry till it infiltrates the soul.

A bit of philosophizing leads to a wonderment of life. A lot of philosophizing leads to a contempt of it.

An hour of contemplation is preferable to a lifetime of ambition, though neither produces tangible results.

When someone casually asks me "How are you doing?", I sometimes find myself hesitating, as if caught in a micro-catatonia. The question is both petty and cosmic at the same time. Then I remember: just say "Fine.

The last word of philosophy is loneliness.

The longer we suffer, the more we dwell on suffering – eventually suffering and the thought of suffering eclipse each other entirely…

Happiness in myself makes me apprehensive.

I don't believe in saying anything unless there's something to say. As time goes on, the less I speak. Boredom, depression, equanimity.

midafternoon— and wait and watch.

Mass communication, radio, and especially television, have attempted, not without success, to annihilate every possibility of solitude and reflection.

I come home to an empty house and fill the sink with water. The pigeons above the window are clucking. I let the dishes slip under the bubbles and I close my eyes. I listen to the perfect, whole, round sounds of glass against porcelain under water.

I was shaking when I asked my mother, "Do you think you eat enough?" She was silent for a long time until she said quietly, "That is between me and God.

I regard the wheelbarrow full of fresh dirt resting above my unquiet grave. Now I'm in the hole I dug myself, I think with amusement. It feels like an accomplishment

Silence is true wisdom's best reply.

O mortal man, think mortal thoughts!

Among mortals second thoughts are wisest.

Wisdom-loving" translates philosophos. (If I dared, I'd translate it "wannabe-wise" as opposed to sophos, "having smarts," skillful.)

A wisdom-loving man must be inquiring into many things. (35)

an engaged solitary, an inward-turned observer of the world

To be an adult is to be close to death.

It's impossible. It's madness." There was a long pause. "Or is it?" the old man said.

It's not a bad idea to occasionally spend a little time thinking about things you take for granted. Plain everyday things.

She let the landscape seep through her tightly held emotions.

I answer that I cannot answer.