Quotes About Understanding

And then came the insight that irrevocably transformed my sense of how good human life could be. I was feeling boundless love for one of my best friends, and I suddenly realized that if a stranger had walked through the door at that moment, he or she would have been fully included in this love. Love was at bottom impersonal—and deeper than any personal history could justify. Indeed, a transactional form of love—I love you because. . . —now made no sense at all.

it is actually a powerful distillation of the Muslim worldview.

There is undoubtedly an important secular debate to be had about the ethics of the death penalty, but it is just as obvious that we should be drawing upon sources that show a greater understanding of the human mind and modern society than is evident in Saint Paul.

The promise of spiritual life - indeed, the very thing that makes it 'spiritual' in the sense I invoke throughout this book - is that there are truths about the mind that we are better off knowing. What we need to become happier and to make the world a better place is not more pious illusions but a clearer understanding of the way things are.

Islam is a "religion of peace.

consciousness is never truly confined by what it knows. That which is aware of sadness is not sad. That which is aware of fear is not fearful.

The urge for retribution, therefore, seems to depend upon our not seeing the underlying causes of human behavior. Despite

Certainty about the next life is simply incompatible with tolerance in this one.

spirituality is not just important for living a good life; it is actually essential for understanding the human mind.

Consciousness is the basis of both the examined and the unexamined life. It is all that can be seen and that which does the seeing. No matter how far you have traveled from the place of your birth, and however much you now understand about the world, you have been exploring consciousness and its changes. Why not do so directly?

you are thinking without knowing you are thinking, you are confused about who and what you are.

I'm finding that the older I get, it's not that I learn new things, it's more like I find out how much of what I know is common knowledge.

Knowledge squared is wisdom, and wisdom squared is virtue.

Diamonds are obtained by mining under the earth. Dig deep within your soul, and you'll gain new riches of understanding, wisdom, and power. —James Allen

If I'm going to fly around all over the country telling these folks they're my partners, I sure owe it to them to at least hear them out when they're upset about something.

I don't subscribe much to any of these fancy investing theories, and most people seem surprised to learn that I've never done much investing in anything except Wal-Mart. I believe the folks who've done the best with Wal-Mart stock are those who have studied the company, who have understood our strengths and our management approach, and who, like me, have just decided to invest with us for the long run. We

A man can reach the heights of the Super-Man by entering the field of supra-sexuality, by knowing how to enjoy love, by knowing how to enjoy a woman, by knowing how to live with joy or with more emotion and less useless reasoning.

In order for love to exist, there has to be an affinity of thoughts, affinity of feelings, identical preoccupations.

If a violent person wishes to attack us, let us send him a gentle phrase as this will defuse his violence.

All of a sudden the world opened up and it's doing it again now. In this garden there are so many stories, so many other problems besides mine.

An eye here, lips there, all misplaced and disjointed, all make sense.

Sometimes two people need to fall apart to realize how much they need to fall back together.

It hurts me to know that there are other women out there in the world that could make you happy.

The greatest pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him, and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself, too.