Quotes About Contemplation

So lonely 'twas that God himself scarce seemed there to be.

He'd jolt up in bed every morning, sit quietly for a moment, and you could feel those wheels spinning in his mind as he planned his day. Then he'd hit the floor almost on the run.

To become the spectator of one's own life is to escape the suffering of life.

Taking time to live is taking time to appreciate simple silence as better than any kind of talk, or watching a flower, or watching a guy wash the windows on a skyscraper and wondering what he is thinking.

Leisure for reverie, gay or somber, does much to enrich life.

Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in.

As Spinoza, or someone very much like him, once said . . .

An evening like this would be empty without some reference to [politics], so let's just think of this as empty.

'No' and 'Yes' are words quickly said, but they need a great amount of thought before you utter them.

I'd like to be a truck driver. I think you could run your life that way. It wouldn't be such a bad way of doing it. It would offer a chance to be alone.

Silence sweeter is than speech.

To look back is to relax one's vigil.

Journal writing is a voyage to the interior.

The only way to pray is to pray, and the way to pray well is to pray much.

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?

Prayer can assume very different forms, from quiet, blessed contemplation of God, in which eye meets eye in restful meditation, to deep sighs or sudden exclamations of wonder, joy, gratitude or adoration.

Let prayer be the key of the morning and the bolt at night.

Constant prayer quickly straightens out our thoughts.

And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

Private place and plenty of time are the life of prayer.

There is no need to get to a place of prayer; pray wherever you are.

Do not pray by heart, but with the heart.

He offered a prayer so deeply devout that he seemed kneeling and praying at the bottom of the sea.

Prayer is something deeper than words. It is present in the soul before it has been formulated in words. And it abides in the soul after the last words of prayer have passed over our lips.