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
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"Love is the sublime teacher." |
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"The Upanishads relate that Brahman, being-knowledge-joy, is the Atman or soul, the innermost nature of all beings, ourselves included." |
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"The Vedanta philosophical tradition, based on the Upanishads, speaks of Brahman as 'sat-chit-ananda' – being, knowledge, bliss or joy, and this is primordial reality, the horizonless sea of which we are each a cresting wave…of the same stuff as the profoundest depths." |
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"The supreme ethical imperative of compassion is an imperative because it is simply the ethical expression of the universe's unity." |
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"Difficulties are opportunities." |
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"Joy is the still point at the center of the dance." |
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"Affirm the good that is really there. This is the key to reconciling full engagement with life." |
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"All the divinity, all the love, all the deep joy in the universe are already in us and all around us, nearer than hands and feet. All we need to do is awaken to them, prepare for them, clean out the channels through which they ought to flow into consciousness." |
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"God is comprised as both one and infinitely many." |
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"Ultimate joy – call it intimacy with God, the Buddha-nature within, the Holy Spirit – is the ground of our being." |
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"The older and deeper all-pervading joy is there…even when evil or pain is being endured on the level of consciousness controlled by individualized existence. Joy is always in the revels of the atoms and molecules making up the flesh and blood of the sufferer, in the swing of the planet on which he or she stands, in the sun which gives warmth and life. It is there…and can be tapped even in the darkest suffering." |
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"When we are in the pits of a Dark Night of the Soul, it can be most helpful to realize that others have already been there and have come out the other side to something far better than they had ever known before." |
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"Through sharing a broad range of feelings with another, from sorrow to rapture, we KNOW the other – and in the process ourselves….And in knowing is joy. Beneath knowing is joy. For knowing KNOWS – and for us creates – the unity of the universe." |
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"Our deepest nature as a self, as well as the quintessential nature of God, is joy!" |
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"God is a Presence deep within." |
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"Buddhism emphasizes that the wisdom of enlightenment must always be conjoined with compassion, for if wisdom is seeing the interrelatedness of all beings, love is the ethical expression of the same truth." |
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"Caring love will tell you what to do." |
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"There is a deep joy in this universe which is accessible to everyone everywhere, which is everyone's birthright. It can enhance the happiest circumstances and be tapped for strength in the most adverse. It is our own true nature." |
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"When you suffer in mind or body, the road forks. You can go the route of feeling sorry for yourself, dwelling on your pain and the unfairness of a life which dealt you that card…or you can determine to let this experience open you to learning more about human life in all its dimensions." |
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"As you work or play or walk down the street, essentially you are the Atman – God, Brahman, the Essence of the Universe – replete with being-knowledge-joy, birthless and deathless, unconditioned by space, time, or motion. You are a role the universe is playing, and you are also the One who is playing this and all other roles. You are one and the One." |
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"We can know more of our inner subtle states of consciousness. We can think and understand. We can love those who come to us, and we can delight in deep joy. All this comes from choosing the right fork in the road." |
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"Compassion is simply expressing in action the interrelatedness of all life, all being." |
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"In any situation, there is some good….In the most hopeless and heartless situation, even a concentration camp, some opportunity for good remains, if only, as for Betsie tenBoom [holocaust survivor], the opportunity to love and undergo a purifying ordeal." |
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"Compassion or love and joy are closely related, both articulating the unity of the universe. Love struggles for unity, joy sings out the even deeper truth that it is already there." |
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"Deep deathless joy is the innermost reality of the universe, and of ourselves as sons and daughters of that universe." |