Fuel for the Soul: Quotes to Celebrate Life in Every Breath

“We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.”

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought.”

“There is no path to happiness: happiness is the path.”

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.” 

“No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.”

“A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but if he is peaceful, loving and fearless, then he is in truth called wise.”

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”

“Do not dwell on the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”

“If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts, happiness follows him like his never-departing shadow.”

“Happiness never decreases by being shared.”

“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened.”

“The root of suffering is attachment.”

“Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.”

“Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts.”

“If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, sorrow follows him like the wheel that follows the foot of the ox.”

“The world, like a dream full of attachments and aversions, seems real until the awakening.”

“Do not be proud of wealth, people, relations and friends, or youth. All these are snatched by time in the blink of an eye. Giving up this illusory world, know and attain the Supreme.”

“Reality can be experienced only with the eye of understanding, not just by a scholar.”

“Do not look at anybody in terms of friend or foe, brother or cousin; do not fritter away your mental energies in thoughts of friendship or enmity. Seeking the Self everywhere, be amiable and equal-minded towards all, treating all alike.”

“Knowing that I am different from the body, I need not neglect the body. It is a vehicle that I use to transact with the world. It is the temple which houses the Pure Self within.”

“Curb your senses and your mind and see the Lord within your heart.”

“As gold purified in a furnace loses its impurities and achieves its own true nature, the mind gets rid of the impurities of the attributes of delusion, attachment and pride through meditation and attains Reality.”

“Even after the Truth has been realised, there remains that strong, obstinate impression that one is still an ego—the agent and experiencer. This has to be carefully removed by living in a state of constant identification with the supreme non-dual Self. Full Awakening is the eventual ceasing of all the mental impressions of being an ego.”

"As long as one identifies with the body and the mind, one suffers; when one realizes the Self, all sorrow ceases.”

“Give up identification with this mass of flesh as well as with what thinks it a mass. Both are intellectual imaginations. Recognise your true self as undifferentiated awareness, unaffected by time, past, present or future, and enter Peace.”

“What is enquiry into the Truth? It is the firm conviction that the Self is real, and all, other than That, is unreal.”

“Thus one should know oneself to be of the nature of Existence–Consciousness–Bliss [Sat-Chit-Ananda].”

“There is sorrow in finitude. The Self is beyond time, space and objects. It is infinite and hence of the nature of absolute happiness.”

“That which is beyond all thought, beyond all speech, beyond all dualities—realize that as your own Self, and there is liberation.”

“All the manifested world of things and beings are projected by imagination upon the substratum which is the Eternal All-pervading Vishnu, whose nature is Existence-Intelligence; just as the different ornaments are all made out of the same gold.”

“Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached.”

“We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.”

“You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you… There is no other teacher but your own soul.”

“Let the brain, the body, muscles, nerves… be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone.”

“All power is within you. Believe in that, do not believe that you are weak… Stand up and express the Divinity within you.”

“Purity, patience and perseverance overcome all obstacles. All great things must of necessity be slow.”

“To succeed, you must have tremendous perseverance… ‘I will drink the ocean,’ says the persevering soul…”

“Never fear what will become of you; depend on no one.”

“This world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong.”

“In a conflict between the heart and the brain, follow your heart.” 

“Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this Divinity within…”

“The more we come out and do good to others, the more our hearts will be purified.”

“They alone live, who live for others.”

“You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself.”

“The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves.”

 “Your own Self-Realization is the greatest service you can render the world.”

“Happiness is your nature. … Begin liberating it from its restlessness…”

“There is neither creation nor destruction, neither destiny nor free will, neither path nor achievement.”

“Happiness is your nature. … What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside.”

“If one’s mind has peace, the whole world will appear peaceful.”

“Man’s search for happiness is an unconscious search for his true Self.”

“Wanting to reform the world without discovering one’s true Self is like trying to cover the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones. The wiser way is to wear shoes.”

“There is only the Present.”

“Your duty is to be, and not to be this or that. I Am That I Am sums up the whole truth.”

“Take care of the present, the future will take care of itself.”

“Silence is also conversation.”

“Grace is ever present. All that is necessary is that you surrender to it.”

“Realisation is not something to be gained afresh; it is already there. All that is necessary is to get rid of the thought ‘I have not realized.’”

“The inquiry ‘who am I’ turns the mind inward and makes it calm.”

“Without struggle, no progress and no result. Every breaking of habit produces a change in the machine.”

“I ask you to believe nothing that you cannot verify for yourself.”

“It is the greatest mistake to think that man is always one and the same. A man is never the same for long…”

“Without self-knowledge, without understanding the working and functions of his machine, man cannot be free…”

“Conscious faith is freedom. Emotional faith is slavery. Mechanical faith is foolishness.”

“The power of changing oneself lies not in the mind, but in the body and the feelings…”

“A man can only attain knowledge with the help of those who possess it…”

“Sincerity is the key which will open the door through which you will see your separate parts…”

“Man must use what he has, not hope for what is not.”

“When we speak of prayer … Many of them are, so to speak, recapitulations…”

“One of man's important mistake is his illusion in regard to his I”

“Remember you come here having already understood the necessity of struggling with yourself—only with yourself…”

““Man is a machine.”

“Let us take some event in the life of humanity… It signifies that several millions of sleeping people are trying to destroy…”

 “Idiots are always dead sure about every damn thing they are doing in their life.”

“The most beautiful moments in life are moments when you are expressing your joy, not when you are seeking it.”

“If you resist change, you resist life.”

“When pain, misery, or anger happen, it is time to look within you, not around you.”

“Every moment there are a million miracles happening around you, life is nothing short of a daily miracle.”

“Love is your quality. Love is not what you do. The whole experience is contained within.”

“Learning to listen is the essence of intelligent living.”

“If you want to become life sensitive, live the way the Creator made you—utterly blissful and infinitely responsible.”

“You are always a winner. Sometimes you win, sometimes you make others win.”

“On this Guru Purnima day, dedicate yourself to your inner wellbeing. Do your sadhana, make a miracle of your mind.”

“If you operate out of the straitjacket of logic, you remain a clown in the circus of life.”

“Create a loving, supportive atmosphere and let your child be free to grow.”

“Always remember that you belong to no one, and no one belongs to you. Reflect that some day you will suddenly have to leave everything in this world – so make the acquaintanceship of God now.”

“Solve all your problems through meditation. Exchange unprofitable religious speculations for actual God-contact. Clear your mind of dogmatic theological debris; let in the fresh, healing waters of direct perception. Attune yourself to the active inner Guidance; the Divine Voice has the answer to every dilemma of life.”

“Cease being a prisoner of the body; using the secret key of Kriya, learn to escape into Spirit.”

“All time is wasted that is not spent in seeking God.”

“Seek divine wealth, not the paltry tinsel of earth. After acquiring inward treasure, you will find that outward supply is always forthcoming.”

“Whenever anyone utters with reverence the name of Babaji, that devotee attracts an instant spiritual blessing.”

“I am ever with those who practice Kriya Yoga. I will guide you to the Cosmic Home through your enlarging perceptions.”

“Our eagerness for worldly activity kills in us the sense of spiritual awe.”

“He only is wise who devotes himself to realizing, not reading only, the ancient revelations.”

“By serving wise and ignorant sadhus, I am learning the greatest of virtues, pleasing to God above all others — humility.”

“If you don’t invite God to be your summer Guest, He won’t come in the winter of your life.”

“Meditate unceasingly, that you may quickly behold yourself as the Infinite Essence, free from every form of misery.”

“Through delusion you are perceiving yourself as a bundle of flesh and bones, which at best is a nest of troubles.”

“Prepare yourself for the coming astral journey of death by daily riding in the balloon of God-perception.”

“Even in the world, remain as a yogi.”

“Instead of searching for what you do not have, find out what it is that you have never lost.”

“Wisdom is knowing ‘I am nothing’; Love is knowing ‘I am everything’; and between these two, my life turns.”

“The world is only a reflection of yourself. Attend to yourself, set yourself right; mentally and emotionally. The physical self will follow automatically.”

“Shift your attention from words to silence and you will hear.”

“To know that you are a prisoner of your mind is the dawn of wisdom.”

“You are not the mind. If you know you are not the mind, then what difference does it make if it’s busy or quiet?”

“When pain is accepted for what it is, the separation between pain and pleasure breaks down.”

“Meet your own Self. Be with your own Self, listen to it, obey it, cherish it. You need no other guide.”

“Once you realize that the road is the goal and that you are always on the road. Life ceases to be a task and becomes natural and simple.”

“When you sit quiet and watch yourself, don’t react. All that matters is mindfulness, total awareness of oneself.”

“You are complete here and now; you need absolutely nothing.”

“Put your awareness to work, not your mind. The timeless can be reached only by the timeless.”

“When I look inside and see that I am nothing, that’s wisdom. When I look outside and see that I am everything, that’s love.”

“You will receive everything you need when you stop asking for what you do not need.”

 “Divine happiness, even the tiniest particle of a grain of it, never leaves one again; and when one attains to the essence of things and finds one’s Self—this is supreme happiness.”

“As you love your own body, so regard everyone as equal to your own body.”

“Whenever you possibly can, sustain the flow of a sacred Name. To repeat His name is to be in His presence.”

“When by the flood of your tears the inner and the outer have fused into one, you will find Her, nearer than the nearest, the very breath of life.”

“Whether you worship Christ, Krishna, Kali or Allah, you actually worship the one Light that is also in you, since It pervades all things.”

“Wherever God may keep you at any time, from there itself must you undertake the pilgrimage to God-realization… The way to Peace lies in the remembrance of Him and of Him alone.”

“Saints are like trees. They do not call to anyone, neither do they send anyone away.”

“When the mind is full of worldly desires, it is their very nature to confuse the mind. Withdraw the mind from outer things and turn it inwards.”

“Who is it that loves and who that suffers? He alone stages a play with Himself; who exists save Him?”

“How many lives are frittered away, age after age, in endless coming and going. Find out who you are!”

“There is One unchanging indivisible Reality which reveals Itself in infinite multiplicity and diversity.”

“Widen your shriveled heart, make the interests of others your own.”

“Either melt by devotion the sense of separateness, or burn it by knowledge. What will happen then? You come to know your Self.”

“It may be asked, why there cannot be one and the same path for all? Because He reveals Himself in infinite ways and forms. The One is all of them.” 

“Every moment belongs to God; endeavor to keep your mind dedicated to His Feet. God, the Ocean of Mercy pours out His grace at all times.”

“Even the hills nod in agreement if one is eloquent in speech; even the hills grimace in anger when one is harsh in words.”

“Patience is the highest virtue; through it, all obstacles are overcome.”

“A kind word is like a spring day; harsh words bring winter’s chill.”

“Eat according to the limits of your provisions; walk according to the length of your step.”

“He who has had enough to eat thinks of serving God; the hungry think of stealing.”

“Words are mere bubbles of water; deeds are drops of gold.”

“Learn to stand up where one falls.”

“A fool who pretends to be clever only highlights his foolishness.”

“Even a single step forward on the path is better than a thousand days of inaction.”

“Cling not to experiences, for they are ever-changing.”

“A single thread doesn’t make a cloth; a single tree doesn’t make a forest.”

“The secret to living well and longer is: eat half, walk double, laugh triple and love without measure.”

“With a resolute heart, a mouse can lift an elephant.”

“Wherever you have friends, that’s your country. Wherever you receive love, that’s your home.”

“Wisdom lies in knowing when to speak and when to remain silent.”