Many / One

A database of 11,000+ illuminated guiding quotations in 40 categories from 600+ inspired books by our most brilliant and influential authors.
Compiled by JoAnn Kite

SHOW detailed search and navigation | Quotes | References | JoAnn

One | Circle | Center | Opposites | Archetypes | Good | Ethics | Living Wholeness | Random

The World's Religions
Huston Smith
Chapters on Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Islam, Judaism and Christianity, plus chapters on primal religions such as native traditions of the Americas, Australia, Africa and Oceania, with expanded sections on the inner dimensions of these great religions.

1 "A typical feature of religion is grace, the belief - ..that Reality is ultimately on our side. In last resort the universe is friendly; we can feel at home in it."

2 "The will remains free. The lawfulness of things makes the present state the product of prior acts, but within the present the will is influenced but not controlled. People remain at liberty to shape their destinies."

3 "God is being, awareness, and bliss. Utter reality, utter consciousness, and utterly beyond all possibility of frustration."

4 "The welfare of everything in creation is affected to some degree by what each individual contributes to or detracts from it."

5 "The Supreme Being is…everything in his creation. The various forms of creation have some of his spirit within them." Carl Gorman, Navajo (Native American) artist

6 "Myths plumb depths that the intellect can see only obliquely. Parables and legends present ideals in ways that make hearers long to embody them."

7 "The entire world should be pervaded with thoughts of loving-kindness."

8 "Every moment…is Indra's cosmic net, laced with jewels at every juncture. Each jewel reflects the others, together with all the reflections IN the others."

9 "The overwhelming thrust of the Koran is to proclaim the unity, omnipotence, omniscience, and mercy of God."

10 "Every religion mixes universal principles with local peculiarities. The former, when lifted out and made clear, speak to what is generically human in us all."

11 "To the eye of the heart, the world IS God-in-disguise, God veiled."

12 "Seen in perspective, the world is ultimately benign."

13 "The career of a soul as it threads its course…is guided by its choices, which are controlled by what the soul wants and wills at each stage of the journey."

14 "We live in a world in which there is no chance or accident. Those words are simply covers for ignorance."

15 "When a heart is illumined by true knowledge, it knows that above all these wars of sects and sectarians presides the one indivisible, eternal, all-knowing bliss." Ramakrishna

16 "The One is none other than the All, the All none other than the One. Take your stand on this, and the rest will follow of its own accord." Seng Ts'an, 'Trust in the Heart'

17 "Underlying the human self and animating it is a reservoir of being that never dies, is never exhausted, and is unrestricted in consciousness and bliss."

18 "The integrating principle of the whole – the Spirit, as it were, of the universe – instinct without contrivance, flows with purpose." George Romanes, Charles Darwin's colleague

19 "My heart has opened unto every form. It is a pasture for gazelles, a cloister for Christian monks, a temple for idols, the Ka'ba of the pilgrim, the tablets of the Torah and the book of the Koran. I practice the religion of Love; in whatsoever directions its caravans advance, the religion of Love shall be my religion and my faith." Ibn 'Arabi

20 "Reality is in fact one and perfect."

21 "Human bodies are of course separate, but on a deeper level we are joined like icebergs in a common floe."

22 "The various religions are but different languages through which God speaks to the human heart. 'Truth is one; sages call it by different names.' [the Vedas]"

23 "Every human being, simply by virtue of his or her humanity, is a child of God and therefore in possession of rights that even kings must respect."

24 "Twenty-five hundred years ago it took an exceptional man like Diogenes to exclaim, 'I am not an Athenian or a Greek but a citizen of the world.' Today we must all be struggling to make those words our own. We have come to the point in history when anyone who is only Japanese or American, only Oriental or Occidental, is only half human. The other half that beats with the pulse of all humanity has yet to be born."

25 "All of us dwell on the brink of the infinite ocean of life's creative power. We carry it within us: supreme strength, the fullness of wisdom, unquenchable joy. It is never thwarted and cannot be destroyed."

This body of quotes compiled by JoAnn Kite