Week 2023-17: Carl G Jung - Collected Quotes

"Intuition does not denote something contrary to reason, but something outside of the province of reason." (Carl G Jung, "Psychological types: or, The psychology of individuation", 1926)

"The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves. " (Carl G Jung, "Psychological types: or, The psychology of individuation", 1926)

"The meaning and design of a problem seem not to lie in its solution, but in our working at it incessantly." (Carl G Jung, "Modern Man in Search of a Soul", 1933)

"By a symbol I do not mean an allegory or a sign, but an image that describes in the best possible way the dimly discerned nature of the spirit. A symbol does not define or explain; it points beyond itself to a meaning that is darkly divined yet still beyond our grasp, and cannot be adequately expressed in the familiar words of our language." (Carl G Jung, "The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche", 1960)

"Language, in its origin and essence, is simply a system of signs or symbols that denote real occurrences or their echo in the human soul." (Carl G Jung, "The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche", 1960)

"Once we give serious consideration to the hypothesis of the unconscious, it follows that our view of the world can be but a provisional one; for if we effect so radical an alteration in the subject of perception and cognition as this dual focus implies, the result must be a world view very different from any known before." (Carl G Jung, "The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche", 1960)

"We want to have certainties and no doubts - results and no experiments - without even seeing that certainties can arise only through doubt and results only thorough experiment." (Carl G Jung, "The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche", 1960)

"Myth is more individual and expresses life more precisely than does science. Science works with concepts of averages which are far too general to do justice to the subjective variety of an individual life." (Carl G Jung, "Memories, Dreams, Reflections", 1963)

"A dream that is not understood remains a mere occurrence; understood it becomes a living experience." (Carl G Jung, "The Practice of Psychotherapy", 1966)

"Madness is a special form of the spirit and clings to all teachings and philosophies, but even more to daily life, since life itself is full of craziness and at bottom utterly illogical. Man strives toward reason only so that he can make rules for himself. Life itself has no rules. That is its mystery and its unknown law. What you call knowledge is an attempt to impose something comprehensible on life." (Carl G Jung, "Liber Novus", 2009)

"Continuous creation is to be thought of not only as a series of successive acts of creation, but also as the eternal presence of the one creative act." (Carl G Jung)

"Error is just as important a condition of life as truth." (Carl G Jung)

"Intuition is perception via the unconscious that brings forth ideas, images, new possibilities and ways out of blocked situations." (Carl G Jung)

"It would be simple enough, if only simplicity were not the most difficult of all things." (Carl G Jung)

"The squaring of the circle is a stage on the way to the unconscious, a point of transition leading to a goal lying as yet unformulated beyond it. It is one of those paths to the centre." (Carl G Jung)

"Ultimate truth, if there be such a thing, demands the concert of many voices." (Carl G Jung)

Week 2023-16: Albert Einstein - Collected Quotes

"Most teachers waste their time by asking questions which are intended to discover what a pupil does not know whereas the true art of questioning has for its purpose to discover what the pupil knows or is capable of knowing." (Albert Einstein, 1920)

"Creating a new theory is not like destroying an old barn and erecting a skyscraper in its place. It is rather like climbing a mountain, gaining new and wider views, discovering unexpected connections between our starting point and its rich environment. But the point from which we started out still exists and can be seen, although it appears smaller and forms a tiny part of our broad view gained by the mastery of the obstacles on our adventurous way up." (Albert Einstein & Leopold Infeld, "The Evolution of Physics", 1938)

"The formulation of a problem is often more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science." (Albert Einstein & Leopold Infeld, "The Evolution of Physics", 1938)

"The words of the language, as they are written or spoken, do not seem to play any role in any mechanism of thought. The physical entities which seem to serve as elements in thought are certain signs and more or less clear images which can be 'voluntarily' reproduced or combined. […]  But taken from a psychological viewpoint, this combinatory play seems to be the essential feature in productive thought - before there is any connection with logical construction in words or other kinds of signs which can be communicated to others. The above-mentioned elements are, in my case, of visual and some of muscular type. Conventional words or other signs have to be sought for laboriously only in a secondary stage, when the mentioned associative play is sufficiently established and can be reproduced at will. " (Albert Einstein, [letter to Hadamard, in (Jacques Hadamard, "The Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field,1945)])

"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. " (Albert Einstein)

"It is an outcome of faith that nature - as she is perceptible to our five senses - takes the character of such a well formulated puzzle. " (Albert Einstein)

"That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God. " (Albert Einstein)

"The aim [of education] must be the training of independently acting and thinking individuals who, however, see in the service to the community their highest life achievement." (Albert Einstein)

"The truth of a theory is in your mind, not in your eyes." (Albert Einstein)

"Truth is what stands the test of experience. " (Albert Einstein)

"We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them." (Albert Einstein)

"What I’m really interested in is whether God could have made the world in a different way; that is, whether the necessity of logical simplicity leaves any freedom at all. " (Albert Einstein)

Week 2023-15: Anthony Robbins - Collected Quotes

"How do I define a hero? A hero is a person who courageously contributes under even the most trying circumstances; a hero is an individual who acts unselfishly and who demands more from himself or herself than others would expect; a hero is a man or woman who defies adversity by doing what he or she believes is right in spite of fear." (Anthony Robbins, "Awaken the Giant Within", 1991)

"If you don’t set a baseline standard for what you’ll accept in your life, you’ll find it’s easy to slip into behaviors and attitudes or a quality of life that’s far below what you deserve. You need to set and live by these standards no matter what happens in your life." (Anthony Robbins, "Awaken the Giant Within", 1991)

"One of the most important decisions you can make to ensure your long-term happiness is to decide to use whatever life gives you in the moment." (Anthony Robbins, "Awaken the Giant Within", 1991)

"Strive for balance rather than perfection. Most people live in a black-and-white world where they think that they’re either a volunteer with no life of their own, or just a materialistic, achievement-oriented person who doesn’t care to make a difference. Don’t fall into this trap. Life is a balance between giving and receiving, between taking care of yourself and taking care of others." (Anthony Robbins, "Awaken the Giant Within", 1991)

"Each of us is endowed with innate resources that enable us to achieve all we’ve ever dreamed of—and more. The floodgates can be opened by one decision, bringing us joy or sorrow, prosperity or poverty, companionship or solitude, long life or early death. What decisions have you made or failed to make int he past that powerfully influence your life today?" (Anthony Robbins)

"In order to succeed at anything and not be stressed, you have to be able to take a whole variety of action items and group them smartly so that they help you accomplish a common outcome. If you take a project and try to do the whole thing at once, you'll be overwhelmed; if you break something into too many small steps, it'll be equally daunting and frustrating." (Anthony Robbins)

"It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped. Choose well." (Anthony Robbins)

"It's not what we do once in a while that counts, but our consistent actions. And what is the father of all action? What ultimately determines who we become and where we go in life? The answer is our decisions. It's in these moments that our destiny is shaped. More than anything else, I believe our decisions - not the conditions of our lives - determine our destiny." (Anthony Robbins)

"Make a decision today that can immediately change or improve the quality of your life. Do something you’ve been putting off, master a new set of skills, treat people with newfound respect and compassion, call someone you haven’t spoken to in years. Just know that all decisions have consequences. Even making no decision at all is a decision in its own way." (Anthony Robbins)

"Most people fail in life because they major in minor things." (Anthony Robbins)

"Most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year - and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade!" (Anthony Robbins)

"Rewards are disproportionate when you reach an outstanding level of achievement - and outstanding is just one small notch above excellent." (Anthony Robbins)

"Small visions have no power to move us. For most people, their challenge is not that they are not motivated or that they don’t have the intelligence to figure out how to get what they want. Most people simply don’t have a large and compelling enough vision." (Anthony Robbins)

"The only impossible journey is the one you never begin." (Anthony Robbins)

"The quality of your growth is a direct reflection of how much discomfort you can comfortably live with" (Anthony Robbins)

"The way to get good at making decisions is to make more of them. Then if you make the wrong ones, you'll learn more quickly and you can use what you've learned to make better decisions in the future." (Anthony Robbins)

"There are no failures in life, only results." (Anthony Robbins)

"There is always room in your life for thinking bigger, pushing limits, imagining the unimaginable." (Anthony Robbins)

"We are not creatures of circumstance; we are creators of circumstance." (Anthony Robbins)

"What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a function of our true capability." (Anthony Robbins)

Week 2023-14: Bhagavad Gita - Collected Quotes

"A gift is pure when it is given from the heart to the right person at the right time and at the right place, and when we expect nothing in return." (Bhagavad Gita)

"All this visible universe comes from my invisible being. All beings have their rest in me, but I have not my rest in them." (Bhagavad Gita)

"Anyone who is steady in his determination for the advanced stage of spiritual realization and can equally tolerate the onslaughts of distress and happiness is certainly a person eligible for liberation." (Bhagavad Gita)

"As a strong wind sweeps away a boat on the water, so the mind dwelling on even one of the senses carries away the intelligence." (Bhagavad Gita)

"But they that spread a feast all for themselves eat sin and drink of sin." (Bhagavad Gita)

"Curving back within myself I create again and again." (Bhagavad Gita)

"For him who has no concentration, there is no tranquility." (Bhagavad Gita)

"For the uncontrolled there is no wisdom, nor for the uncontrolled is there the power of concentration; and for him without concentration there is no peace. And for the unpeaceful, how can there be happiness?" (Bhagavad Gita)

"It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else's life with perfection." (Bhagavad Gita)

"Looking to thine own duty thou shouldst not tremble; for there is nothing more welcome to a Kshattriya (Warrior) than righteous war offered unsought as an open door to heaven." (Bhagavad Gita)

"The happiness which comes from long practice, which leads to the end of suffering, which at first is like poison, but at last like nectar - this kind of happiness arises from the serenity of one's own mind." (Bhagavad Gita)

"The peace of God is with them whose mind and soul are in harmony, who are free from desire and wrath, who know their own soul." (Bhagavad Gita)

"The self is the friend of a man who masters himself through the self, but for a man without self-mastery, the self is like an enemy at war." (Bhagavad Gita)

"The soul that moves in the world of senses and yet keeps the senses in harmony ... finds rest in quietness." (Bhagavad Gita)

"There's no wisdom from a man without harmony, and without harmony there is no contemplation. Without contemplation there cannot be peace, and without peace there can be no joy..." (Bhagavad Gita)

"Without self-mastery he has no understanding of inner power; without inner power, he has no peace; and without peace, where is joy?" (Bhagavad Gita)

Week 2023-13: Pema Chödrön - Collected Quotes

"By not knowing, not hoping to know, and not acting like we know what’s happening, we begin to access our inner strength." (Pema Chödrön)

"Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity." (Pema Chödrön)

"If it weren’t for my mind, my meditation would be excellent." (Pema Chödrön)

"In Buddhism, we call the notion of a fixed identity 'ego clinging'. It's how we try to put solid ground under our feet in an ever shifting world. Meditation practice starts to erode that fixed identity." Pema Chödrön

"It's helpful to remind yourself that meditation is about opening and relaxing with whatever arises, without picking and choosing." (Pema Chödrön)

"Life is glorious, but life is also wretched. Knowing pain is a very important ingredient of being there for another person. Gloriousness and wretchedness need each other. One inspires us, the other softens us. They go together." (Pema Chödrön)

"Meditation is not a matter of trying to achieve ecstasy, spiritual bliss, or tranquillity, nor is it attempting to become a better person. It is simply the creation of a space in which we are able to expose and undo our neurotic games, our self-deceptions, our hidden fears and hopes." (Pema Chödrön & Chogyam Trungpa)

"Meditation takes us just as we are, with our confusion and our sanity. This complete acceptance of ourselves as we are is a simple, direct relationship with our being. We call this maitri, loving-kindness toward ourselves and others." (Pema Chödrön)

"Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know." (Pema Chödrön)

"The root of compassion is compassion for oneself." (Pema Chödrön)

"The teacher serves as a mirror but also encourages your ability to trust in yourself. You begin to trust in your basic goodness instead of identifying with your neurosis. There’s a shift of allegiance. Then the obstacles begin to seem temporary, and what’s permanent is the wisdom. To the degree that you become intimate with your neurosis - not acting-out and not repressing - to that degree you discover your wisdom." (Pema Chödron)

"There is nobody on the planet, neither those whom we see as the oppressed nor those whom we see as the oppressor, who doesn’t have what it takes to wake up. We all need support and encouragement to be aware of what we think, what we say, and what we do. Notice your opinions. If you find yourself becoming aggressive about your opinions, notice that. If you find yourself being nonaggressive, notice that. Cultivating a mind that does not grasp at right and wrong, you will find a fresh state of being. The ultimate cessation of suffering comes from that. Finally, never give up on yourself. Then you will never give up on others. Wholeheartedly do what it takes to awaken your clear-seeing intelligence, but one day at a time, one moment at a time. If we live that way, we will benefit this earth." (Pema Chödrön)

"When you open yourself to the continually changing, impermanent, dynamic nature of your own being. [...] You’re able to keep your eyes open, your heart open, and your mind open. [...] you begin to think of your life as offering endless opportunities to start to do things differently." (Pema Chödrön)

"While we are sitting in meditation, we are simply exploring humanity and all of creation in the form of ourselves. We can become the world’s greatest experts on anger, jealousy, and self-deprecation, as well as on joyfulness, clarity, and insight. Everything that human beings feel, we feel. We can become extremely wise and sensitive to all of humanity and the whole universe simply by knowing ourselves, just as we are." (Pema Chödrön)

"Without anger there is no enemy… When hatred consumes us we perceive enemies everywhere." (Pema Chödrön)