Contemplation Quotes - Page 20

• One may live as a conqueror, a king, or a magistrate; but he must die a man. The bed of death brings every human being to his pure individuality, to the intense contemplation of that deepest and most solemn of all relations - the relations between the creature and his Creator.

  Daniel Webster

  Kings, Men, Individuality

  DANIEL WEBSTER (1853). “THE WORKS OF DANIEL WEBSTER; VOLUME II”, p.301

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• I think the greatest gift we can give our children is the experience of deep quiet. If we don’t help our children cultivate contemplation, reflection, prayer, meditation, or whatever other practice of mindfulness, then they’re likely to be completely spun out of their center by the time they’re in grade school.

  Marianne Williamson

  Prayer, Children, School

  "Marianne Williamson on Consciousness, Women and Politics". Interview with Marianne Schnall, www.huffingtonpost.com. November 9, 2012.

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• Recitation of the Qur'an without contemplation and thought is futile.

  Ali ibn Abi Talib

  Recitation

  "'Bihar al-Anwar' ('Seas of Lights')". Hadith book by Mohammad-Baqer Majlesi, Volume 92,

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• While you have a future do not live too much in contemplation of your past: unless you are content to walk backward the mirror is a poor guide.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Past, Mirrors, Too Much

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.1221, Delphi Classics

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• As there must be moderation in other things, so there must be moderation in self-criticism. Perpetual contemplation of our own actions produces a morbid consciousness, quite unlike that normal consciousness accompanying right actions spontaneously done; and from a state of unstable equilibrium long maintained by effort, there is apt to be a fall towards stable equilibrium, in which the primitive nature reasserts itself. Retrogression rather than progression may hence result.

  Herbert Spencer

  Fall, Self, Long

  "The Principles of Ethics" by Herbert Spencer, (Ch. 10), 1897.

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• When people can't abide things as they are, when they can't abide the present, they do one of two things ... either they ... either they turn to a contemplation of the past ... or they set about to ... alter the future. And when you want to change something ... YOU BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

  Edward Albee

  Change, Past, Two

  EDWARD ALBEE (1962). “WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?”

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• Acts which are essentially dishonourable must not be done; they would be justified only by calm contemplation of their correctness in abstract cases.

  Aleister Crowley

  Would Be, Done, Calm

  Aleister Crowley (1991). “Magick: In Theory and Practice”, Book Sales

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• "It is light that reveals, light that obscures, light that communicates. It is light I "listen" to. The light late in the day has a distinct quality, as it fades toward the darkness of evening. After sunset there is a gentle leaving of the light, the air begins to still, and a quiet descends. I see magic in the quiet light of dusk. I feel quiet, yet intense energy in the natural elements of our habitat. A sense of magic prevails. A sense of mystery. It is a time for contemplation, for listening - a time for making photographs. "

  John Sexton

  Photography, Sunset, Light

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• Mystics knew how to channel grace through prayer and they knew the power of that. They knew how to receive guidance through reflection and contemplation; they knew how to share the gift of illumination with each other. These are great gifts of life and profound grace that we are capable of providing for each other and the world. This is what it means to be a mystic without a monastery. You make a commitment to your own interior illumination and through that discover the "sacred" part of your "contract" and the true meaning of your highest potential.

  Caroline Myss

  Prayer, Mean, Commitment

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• One hour of contemplation surpasses sixty years of worship.

  Elijah Muhammad

  Inspiration, Meditation Practice, Years

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• Islamic culture has given us majestic arches and soaring spires; timeless poetry and cherished music; elegant calligraphy and places of peaceful contemplation.

  Barack Obama

  Islamic, Peaceful, Culture

  A New Beginning: Speech at Cairo University, delivered 4 June 2009, Cairo, Egypt

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• A Christian receives divine wisdom in three ways: by the commandments, teachings, and faith. The commandments free the mind from passions. Teachings lead it to true knowledge of nature. Faith leads to the contemplation of the Holy Trinity.

  Maximus the Confessor

  Inspirational, Christian, Religious

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• The fly that touches honey cannot use it's wings; so too the soul that clings to spiritual sweetness ruins it's freedom and hinders contemplation.

  Sri Aurobindo

  Spiritual, Freedom, Wings

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• The one who acts is always without conscience; nobody has a conscience but the contemplative person.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Action, Contemplative, Persons

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• Magic comprises the most profound contemplation of the most secret things, their nature, power, quality, substance, and virtues, as well as the knowledge of their whole nature.

  Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa

  Profound, Magic, Secret

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• The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation. During the minute that it takes me to compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive, many others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear, others are slowly being devoured from within by rasping parasites, thousands of all species are dying of starvation, thirst, and disease. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.

  Richard Dawkins

  Running, Animal, Years

  "River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life". Book by Richard Dawkins, 1995.

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• Our souls must become expanded by the contemplation of Nature's grandeur, before we can fully comprehend the greatness of man.

  Heinrich Heine

  Greatness, Men, Soul

  Heinrich Heine (1873). “Scintillations from the Prose Works of Heinrich Heine: I. Florentine Nights. II. Excerpts”, p.169

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• Death itself is less painful when it comes upon us unawares than the bare contemplation of it, even when danger is far distant.

  Blaise Pascal

  Death, Painful, Danger

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• Birth and death are the most singular events we experience - and the contemplation of death, as of birth, should be a thing of beauty, not ignobility.

  Jacob K. Javits

  Events, Birth, Should

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• What you find I think in the mystical strain of Catholicism is that you're put in relationship with God, and you have many opportunities not only of talking with God in petitionary prayer, but also of listening to God, being attentive to God, as happens in contemplation.

  Kevin Hart

  Prayer, Opportunity, Thinking

  "The Poetry and Prayers of Kevin Hart". Interview with Carmel Howard, www.abc.net.au. June 5, 2011.

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• Catholicism is the big house of Christianity. It's got many, many rooms in it. And I've always been attracted to the rooms which are to do with prayer. The mystical strain is the strain whereby the whole day can be given over to prayer through what we call lectio divina, prayerful reading of Scripture, through practice of meditation of when one uses the imagination and the intellect with respect to images, and then finally, and most difficult of all, contemplation, where one empties the mind of all images and all ideas, all concepts, in order to be completely attentive to God.

  Kevin Hart

  Prayer, Reading, Order

  "The Poetry and Prayers of Kevin Hart". "Encounter" with Carmel Howard, www.abc.net.au. June 5, 2011.

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• ... the word "theory" ... was originally an Orphic word, which Cornford interprets as "passionate sympathetic contemplation" ... For Pythagoras, the "passionate sympathetic contemplation" was intellectual, and issued in mathematical knowledge ... To those who have reluctantly learnt a little mathematics in school this may seem strange; but to those who have experienced the intoxicating delight of sudden understanding that mathematics gives, from time to time, to those who love it, the Pythagorean view will seem completely natural.

  Bertrand Russell

  School, Views, Giving

  Bertrand Russell (2008). “History of Western Philosophy”, p.33, Simon and Schuster

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• The law of flying was not discovered by the contemplation of things staying on the ground.

  Wayne Dyer

  Law, Flying, Staying

  "Wayne Dyer Interview: On God and goodness, inspiration and presence". Interview with Ray Hemachandra, rayhemachandra.com. September 5, 2015.

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• Without my attempts in natural science, I should never have learned to know mankind such as it is. In nothing else can we so closely approach pure contemplation and thought, so closely observe the errors of the senses and of the understanding, the weak and strong points of character.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Strong, Character, Errors

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann (2014). “Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann”, p.346, Ravenio Books

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• Art is about asking questions and engaging a dialog. By challenging or investigating conventions contemporary art helps promote an on-going sense of discovery, contemplation, and understanding. I think these are all important things.

  Kim Anderson

  Art, Thinking, Asking Questions

  "Interview with Kim Anderson: Material Matters". Sarasota Visual Art Interview, sarasotavisualart.com.

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