Quotes About Reflection

That deep silence has a melody of its own, a sweetness unknown amid the harsh discords of the world's sounds.

When it seems humanly impossible to do more in a difficult situation, surrender yourself to the inner silence and thereafter wait for a sign of obvious guidance or for a renewal of inner strength.

The ordinary man is aware of his surroundings, first, by naming and labelling them; second, by linking them with past memory of them; and third, by relating them to his own personal self. The illumined egoless man is simply aware of them, without any of these other added activities.

Whoever wants the "I" to yield up its mysterious and tremendous secret must stop it from looking perpetually in the mirror, must stop the little ego's fascination with its own image.

Pursue the enquiry 'Who am I?' relentlessly. Analyse your entire personality. Try to find out where the I-thought begins. Go on with your meditations. Keep turning your attention within. One day the wheel of thought will slow down and an intuition will mysteriously arise. Follow that intuition, let your thinking stop, and it will eventually lead you to the goal.

The study of the self will one day prove the master-key to open all philosophical doors, all scientific conundrums, all life's locked problems. Self is the ultimate—it is the first thing we know as babes; it will be the last thing we shall know as sages. The greatest certainty in knowledge comes only in the sphere of self. We

If this interior experience was possible in the twentieth century b.c. it is also possible in the twentieth century a.d. The fundamental nature of man has not changed during the interval.

A half-hour, stolen from the day's activities or the night's rest, set apart for meditation in his own house, will in the end yield a good result.

The fruit of such meditations comes in the form of brief glimpses of the soul's flower-like beauty.

It is often advisable to be one's own guide, studying worthy books, using prayer and reflection, and following the intuitive guidance of one's Higher Self.

We need these oases of calm in a world of storm. There are times when withdrawal to retreat for such a purpose is not desertion but wisdom, not weakness but strength.

What we were in the past is not important. What we are now is important. What we intend to make of ourselves in the future is vitally important. The unity between our character and our destiny is inseparable; the connection between our way of thinking and the course of events is unerring.

If the world stands bewildered and confused in the face of its troubles, it is partly because we Westerners have made a God of activity; we have yet to learn how to be, as we have already learnt how to do.

O, when I am safe in my sylvan home, I tread on the pride of Greece and Rome; And when I am stretched beneath the pines, Where the evening star so holy shines, I laugh at the lore and the pride of man, At the sophist schools and the learned clan; For what are they all, in their high conceit, When man in the bush with God may meet. —Ralph Waldo Emerson.

My countenance in my old-age does injustice to my heart. John Quincy Adams

I carry too much of the week into the Sabbath , and too little of the Sabbath into the week. John Quincy Adams

No sermon I have heard or read touched my heart with half the force of this puppet show. John Quincy Adams

Adams was in a hurry and ordered his horse drawn carriage to wait for him in front of his house. The horses were spooked before he got in the carriage, and the carriage was destroyed in an accident. Pondering what could have happened to him , Adams retreated to Psalm 20's injunctions against trusting in chariots and horses.

He had to pause for his usual misgivings.

I must be more sensible and realize that at my age, illusions are hardly permitted and they will always destroy me.

I ask you to pray for me, for once age has overtaken us, we find consolation only in religion.

The landscape thinks itself in me, and I am its consciousness.

The Landscape becomes reflective, human and thinks itself though me. I make it an object, let it project itself and endure within my painting....I become the subjective consciousness of the landscape, and my painting becomes its objective consciousness.

Says the wolf in Æsop's fable: "Why is it right for you to eat the lamb, when for me it is supposed to be wrong?" Is not man in the same predicament as the wolf, and does not mankind slaughter more animals than all the wolves in the world ever ate?