Elusive Quotes

• In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Inspirational, Motivational, Attitude

  Mahatma Gandhi (2011). “The Way to God: Selected Writings from Mahatma Gandhi”, p.55, North Atlantic Books

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• The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.

  John Buchan

  Fishing, Trout, Fisherman

  John Buchan (1921). “Great Hours in Sport”, London : T. Nelson

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• What was any art but a mould in which to imprison for a moment the shining elusive element which is life itself - life hurrying past us and running away, too strong to stop, too sweet to lose.

  Willa Cather

  Running, Sweet, Art

  Willa Cather (2013). “The Best of Willa Cather”, p.375, Simon and Schuster

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• Failure is inevitable. Success is elusive.

  Steven Spielberg

  Inevitable

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• Endings are elusive, middles are nowhere to be found, but worst of all is to begin, to begin, to begin.

  Donald Barthelme

  Writing, Found, Worst

  1972 Sadness,'The Rise of Capitalism'.

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• Mysteriously, as elusive as it is, this moment--where the eye is what it sees, where the heart is what it feels--this moment shows us that what is real is sacred

  Mark Nepo

  Real, Heart, Eye

  Mark Nepo (2011). “The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have (Gift Edition)”, p.35, Conari Press

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• The distinction between sanity and insanity is narrower than a razor’s edge, sharper than a hound’s tooth, more agile than a mule deer. It is more elusive than the merest phantom. Perhaps it does not even exist; perhaps it is a phantom.

  Philip K. Dick

  Insanity, Teeth, Doe

  Philip K. Dick (2011). “The VALIS Trilogy”, p.56, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Leadership is an elusive concept, hard to describe and impossible to prescribe. It is more evident in its absence, so that when leadership is needed, its lack is sorely felt.

  Patrick Dodson

  Leadership, Elusiveness, Impossible

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• life hurrying past us and running away, too strong to stop, too sweet to lose.

  Willa Cather

  Life, Running, Sweet

  Willa Cather (2013). “The Best of Willa Cather”, p.375, Simon and Schuster

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• Don't seek happiness. If you seek it, you won't find it, because seeking is the antithesis of happiness. Happiness is ever elusive, but freedom from unhappiness is attainable now, by facing what is rather than making up stories about it.

  Eckhart Tolle

  Happiness, Stories, Antithesis

  Eckhart Tolle (2008). “Oneness With All Life: Inspirational Selections from A New Earth”, p.12, Penguin

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• Truth is mysterious, elusive, always to be conquered. Liberty is dangerous, as hard to live with as it is elating. We must march toward these two goals, painfully but resolutely, certain in advance of our failings on so long a road.

  Albert Camus

  Two, Long, Goal

  ALBERT CAMUS (1971). “NOBEL PRIZE LIBRARY”

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• In looking for my mind, I discovered that it seems to be in many different places. Sometimes it is drinking a glass of water, remembering swimming in the summer, feeling the breeze. In this contemplation I observed that the self is more elusive than I thought.

  Sakyong Mipham

  Summer, Drinking, Swimming

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• The adventure of composition is a mystery. The muse has her ways, she hides from you, comes for you in the middle of the night, at midday, at dawn. You must believe wholeheartedly in this divine power. Its an elusive gift that can appear at any time, anywhere. Artists are in awe of it.

  Mickey Hart

  Believe, Adventure, Artist

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• Mind is elusive, you cannot hold it in your hand. You cannot force it into a test-tube. The only way to know it is to know it from within, from your witnessing self. The more you become aware, the more you can watch your mind - its subtle functioning. The functioning is tremendously complex and beautiful. Mind is the most complex phenomenon on the earth, the most subtle flowering of consciousness. If you want to really understand what the mind is, then you will have to detach yourself from your mind, and you will have to learn how to be just a witness. That's what meditation is all about.

  Rajneesh

  Beautiful, Self, Hands

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• Man you can define; but the true essence of any man, say, for instance, of Abraham Lincoln, remains the endlessly elusive and mysterious object of the biographer's interest, of the historian's comments, of popular legend, and of patriotic devotion.

  Josiah Royce

  Patriotic, Men, Essence

  Josiah Royce (1952). “The Religious Philosophy of Josiah Royce; Edited, with an Introductory Essay, by Stuart Gerry Brown”

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• Ideas are elusive, slippery things. Best to keep a pad of paper and a pencil at your bedside, so you can stab them during the night before they get away.

  Earl Nightingale

  Night, Ideas, Paper

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• Through all he said, even through his appalling sentimentality, I was reminded of something-an elusive rhythm, a fragment of lost words, that I heard somewhere a long time ago. For a moment a phrase tried to take shape in my mouth and my lips parted like a dumb man's, as though there was more struggling upon them than a wisp of startled air. But they made no sound and what I had almost remembered was uncommunicable forever.

  F. Scott Fitzgerald

  Struggle, Men, Air

  F. Scott Fitzgerald (2007). “The Great Gatsby”, p.127, Broadview Press

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• The most elusive knowledge of all is self-knowledge and it is usually acquired laboriously through experience outside the classroom.

  Mirra Komarovsky

  Education, School, Self

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• I believe that traditional wisdom is incomplete. A composer can have all the talent of Mozart and a passionate desire to succeed, but if he believes he cannot compose music, he will come to nothing. He will not try hard enough. He will give up too soon when the elusive right melody takes too long to materialize.

  Martin Seligman

  Giving Up, Believe, Passionate Desire

  Martin E. P. Seligman (1998). “Learned Optimism”, Free Press

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• Don't Let the Elusive Present Moment Get Used Up by Thoughts that Aren't in the Here & Now

  Wayne Dyer

  Moments, Used, Present Moment

  Dr. Wayne W. Dyer (2016). “10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace”, p.71, Hay House, Inc

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• There is something about saying, 'We always do this,' which helps keep the years together. Time is such an elusive thing that if we keep on meaning to do something interesting, but never do it, year would follow year with no special thoughtfulness being expressed in making gifts, surprises, charming table settings, and familiar, favorite food. Tradition is a good gift intended to guard the best gifts.

  Edith Schaeffer

  Years, Interesting, Together

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• If happiness were easy, everybody would feel it all the time, and it wouldn't seem like such an elusive prize.

  Bethenny Frankel

  Easy, Feels, Prize

  Bethenny Frankel, Eve Adamson (2011). “A Place of Yes: 10 Rules for Getting Everything You Want Out of Life”, p.315, Simon and Schuster

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• Everything in life is elusive.

  Gloria Vanderbilt

  Life Is

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• Knowledge is not enough to get desired results. You must have the more elusive ability to teach and to motivate. This defines a leader; if you can't teach and you can't motivate, you can't lead.

  John Wooden

  Basketball, Nba, Leader

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• That time of day when the sun hasn’t come up yet, but you can already feel it coming. It’s an elusive warmth, like a subtle promise whispered in your ear and you can go on with your day knowing you’ve been given another chance to get it right.

  Cassia Leo

  Knowing, Promise, Sun

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