Inward Quotes - Page 9

• Suppose you turn your attention inward in search of this 'I'. You may encounter nothing more than an ever changing stream of consciousness, a flow of thoughts and feelings in which there is no real self to be discovered.

  Jim Holt

  Real, Self, Feelings

  Jim Holt (2012). “Why Does the World Exist?: One Man's Quest for the Big Answer”, p.256, Profile Books

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• The attempt to satisfy greed is like drinking salty water when thirsty.
  When lost in greed we look outward rather than inward for satisfaction, yet we never find enough to fill the emptiness we wish to escape.
  The real hunger we feel is for knowledge of our true nature.

  Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

  Nature, Real, Drinking

  Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, Mark Dahlby (2004). “The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep”, p.38, Motilal Banarsidass Publ.

  14 Copy quote

  Show source

• In order to swim one takes off all one's clothes--in order to aspire to the truth one must undress in a far more inward sense, divest oneself of all one's inward clothes, of thoughts, conceptions, selfishness etc., before one is sufficiently naked.

  Soren Kierkegaard

  Truth, Order, Clothes

  7 Copy quote

• For if the talent or individuality is there, it should be expressed. If it doesn't find its way out into the air, it can be turned inward and gnaw like the fox at the Spartan boy's belly.

  Shirley MacLaine

  Boys, Air, Individuality

  5 Copy quote

• One must not look inward too much, while the inside is yet tender. I do not wish to frighten myself until I can stand it.

  Djuna Barnes

  Wish, Looks, Too Much

  Djuna Barnes (2016). “Vivid and Repulsive as the Truth: The Early Works of Djuna Barnes”, p.207, Courier Dover Publications

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• The physical domain of the country had its counterpart in me. The trails I made led outward into the hills and swamps, but they led inward also. And from the study of things underfoot, and from reading and thinking, came a kind of exploration, myself and the land. In time the two became one in my mind. With the gathering force of an essential thing realizing itself out of early ground, I faced in myself a passionate and tenacious longing--- to put away thought forever, and all the trouble it brings, all but the nearest desire, direct and searching.

  John Haines

  Country, Reading, Thinking

  4 Copy quote

• I have an inward treasure born with me, which can keep me alive if all the extraneous delights should be withheld or offered only at a price I cannot afford to give.

  Adrienne Rich

  Giving, Delight, Alive

  4 Copy quote

• Never be hurried in anything. Do all things calmly and in a spirit of repose. Do not lose your inward peace even if everything seems to be going wrong. What is anything in life compared to peace of soul?

  Saint Francis de Sales

  Soul, Spirit, Ifs

  155 Copy quote

• Readers and writers are united in their need for solitude, in their pursuit of substance in a time of ever-increasing evanescence: in their reach inward, via print, for a way out of loneliness.

  Jonathan Franzen

  Loneliness, Solitude, Needs

  Jonathan Franzen (2007). “How to Be Alone: Essays”, p.88, Macmillan

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• When we look outside of that on which we depend we ignore our unity; looking outward we see many faces; look inward and all is one head. If a man could but be turned about, he would see at once God and himself and the All.

  Plotinus

  Men, Unity, Looks

  Plotinus (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Plotinus - Complete Enneads (Illustrated)”, p.676, Delphi Classics

  22 Copy quote

  Show source

• Most people define learning too narrowly as mere 'problem-solving', so they focus on identifying and correcting errors in the external environment. Solving problems is important. But if learning is to persist, managers and employees must also look inward. The need to reflect critically on their own behaviour, identify the ways they often inadvertently contribute to the organisation’s problems, and then change how they act.

  Chris Argyris

  Errors, People, Focus

  "Teaching Smart People How to Learn". hbr.org. June 1991.

  44 Copy quote

  Show source

• He whose pure mind turns inward and searches whence does this 'I' arise, knows the Self and merges in You, the Lord, as a river into the sea.

  Ramana Maharshi

  Self, Sea, Rivers

  14 Copy quote

• If I rest, if I think inward, I go mad.

  Sylvia Plath

  Thinking, Mad, Ifs

  Sylvia Plath (2013). “The Journals of Sylvia Plath”, p.17, Anchor

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• I wont deny that I have a far more productive writing life without the Internet, mostly because I rekindle my ability to concentrate on one thing for a period of longer than three minutes. My curiosity is channeled inward rather than Internet-ward.

  Heidi Julavits

  Writing, Curiosity, Three

  6 Copy quote

• There is a vast difference between the outward clothing of the Spirit's power and the inward filling of the Spirit's life. In the first, despite the power, the hidden man of the heart may remain unchanged. In the latter, that monster is dealt with.

  Gene Edwards

  Heart, Men, Differences

  Gene Edwards (2016). “The Gene Edwards Collection: A Tale of Three Kings / The Prisoner in the Third Cell / The Divine Romance”, p.40, NavPress

  18 Copy quote

  Show source

• We have real difficulty here because everyone thinks of changing the world, but where, oh where, are those who think of changing themselves? People may genuinely want to be good, but seldom are they prepared to do what it takes to produce the inward life of goodness that can form the soul. Personal formation into the likeness of Christ is arduous and lifelong.

  Richard J. Foster

  Real, Thinking, People

  53 Copy quote

• Sometimes when we read the words of those who have been more than conquerors, we feel almost despondent. I feel that I shall never be like that. But they won through step by step, by little bits of wills, little denials of self, little inward victories, by faithfulness in very little things. They became what they are. No one sees these little hidden steps. They only see the accomplishment, but even so, those small steps were taken. There is no sudden triumph, no spiritual maturity. That is the work of the moment.

  Amy Carmichael

  Spiritual, Taken, Maturity

  149 Copy quote

• In the West, there's a myth that freedom means free expression-that to follow all desires wherever they take one is true freedom. In fact, as one serves the mind, one sees that following desires, attractions, and repulsions is not at all freedom, but is a kind of bondage. A mind filled with desires and grasping inevitably entails great suffering. Freedom is not to be gained through the ability to perform certain external actions. True freedom is an inward state of being. Once it is attained, no situation in the world can bind one or limit one's freedom.

  Jack Kornfield

  Mean, Expression, Mind

  6 Copy quote

• It is the only thing we can do. Each of us must turn inward and destroy in himself all that he thinks he ought to destroy in others. And remember that every atom of hate that we add to this world makes it sill more inhospitable

  Etty Hillesum

  Hate, Healing, Thinking

  Etty Hillesum, K. A. D. Smelik, Arnold Pomerans (2002). “Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, p.529, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

  55 Copy quote

  Show source

• How can you expect God to speak in that gentle and inward voice which melts the soul, when you are making so much noise with your rapid reflections? Be silent and God will speak again.

  Francois Fenelon

  God, Prayer, Reflection

  40 Copy quote

• The journey of true success and lasting leaderships begins with the inward journey to the soul.

  James Arthur Ray

  Journey, Soul, Lasting

  25 Copy quote

• The doorway to success swings outward not inward.

  Robin Sharma

  Swings, Doorways

  Robin Sharma (2006). “The Greatness Guide: One of the World's Most Successful Coaches Shares His Secrets for Personal and Business Mastery”, p.100, Jaico Publishing House

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• The outward work can never be small if the inward one is great, and the outward work can never be great or good if the inward is small or of little worth.

  Meister Eckhart

  Littles, Ifs

  Eckhart (Meister) (1963). “Treatises and sermons of Meister Eckhart”

  14 Copy quote

  Show source

• Golf is a worrier's game, inward, concentrated, a matter of inches, invented by the same people who gave us Presbyterianism.

  Robert Hass

  Golf, Games, People

  Robert Hass (1984). “Twentieth century pleasures: prose on poetry”, Ecco Pr

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• As breath stills our mind, our energies are free to unhook from the senses and bend inward.

  B.K.S. Iyengar

  Mind, Energy, Stills

  8 Copy quote