Authors:

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

Alan Watts Quotes - Page 2

All Quotes Acceptance Anxiety Art Attitude Awakening Belief Birth Buddhism Change Chaos Consciousness Culture Curiosity Dance Dancing Darkness Death Desire Effort Ego Energy Enlightenment Environment Expectations Failing Faith Feelings Fighting Freedom Frustration Future Giving God Heart Human Nature Identity Ignorance Imagination Inspirational Inspiring Journey Joy Language Laughter Learning Leaving Letting Go Life Listening Love Lying Meditation Memories Mindfulness Moon Morning Motivational Nature Overcoming Pain Past Philosophy Pleasure Purpose Rain Reality Religion Risk Running Silence Simplicity Skins Sleep Soul Spirituality Suffering Taoism Technology Time Understanding Unity Universe Vision War Water Wisdom Worry Writing

A person who thinks all the time has nothing to think about except thoughts. So he loses touch with Reality, and lives in a world of illusion.

A person who thinks all the time has nothing to think about except thoughts. So he loses touch with Reality, and lives in a world of illusion.

Wisdom, Reality, Thinking

"Alan Watts Teaches Meditation". Audiobook by Alan Watts, 1992.

Insecurity is the result of trying to be secure.

Insecurity, Trying, Results

Alan Watts (1951). “The Wisdom of Insecurity”, Vintage

The 'you' who you think you are does not exist.

Thinking, Doe

You must not be afraid of playing wrong notes. Just forget it, play it wrong! But play!

Play, Forget, Notes

For there is never anything but the present, and if one cannot live there, one cannot live anywhere.

Ifs

Alan W. Watts (2011). “The Way of Zen”, p.128, Vintage

What I am really saying is that you don’t need to do anything, because if you see yourself in the correct way, you are all as much extraordinary phenomenon of nature as trees, clouds, the patterns in running water, the flickering of fire, the arrangement of the stars, and the form of a galaxy. You are all just like that, and there is nothing wrong with you at all.

Inspiring, Running, Stars

Alan Watts (2010). “Still the Mind: An Introduction to Meditation”, p.92, New World Library

For unless one is able to live fully in the present, the future is a hoax. There is no point whatever in making plans for a future which you will never be able to enjoy. When your plans mature, you will still be living for some other future beyond. You will never, never be able to sit back with full contentment and say, "Now, I've arrived!" Your entire education has deprived you of this capacity because it was preparing you for the future, instead of showing you how to be alive now.

Contentment, Alive, Able

Better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing than a long life spent in a miserable way.

Short Life, Long, Way

It takes time for an acorn to turn into an oak, but the oak is already implied in the acorn.

Acorns, Turns, Take Time

Alan Watts (2017). “Out of Your Mind: Tricksters, Interdependence, and the Cosmic Game of Hide and Seek”, p.24, Sounds True

As muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone, it could be argued that those who sit quietly and do nothing are making one of the best possible contributions to a world in turmoil.

Freedom, Water, Leaving

Alan W. Watts (2011). “The Way of Zen”, p.157, Vintage

Faith is, above all, openness; an act of trust in the unknown.

Spirituality, Openness

You can make any human activity into meditation simply by being completely with it and doing it just to do it.

Meditation, Humans, Human Activity

Alan Watts (2010). “Still the Mind: An Introduction to Meditation”, p.67, New World Library

The sound of the rain needs no translation.

Rain, Sound, Needs

Nothing is more creative than death, since it has the whole secret of life. It means that the past must be abandoned, that the unknown cannot be avoided, that 'I' cannot continue, and that nothing can be ultimately fixed. When a man knows this, he lives for the first time in his life. By holding his breath, he loses it. By letting go he finds it.

Letting Go, Mean, Men

Alan Watts (1951). “The Wisdom of Insecurity”, Vintage

When a man no longer confuses himself with the definition of himself that others have given him, he is at once universal and unique.

Unique, Men, Definitions

Alan Watts (2017). “Psychotherapy East & West”, p.7, New World Library

The destination of life is this eternal moment.

Life, Moments, Destination

Alan Watts (2011). “In My Own Way: An Autobiography”, p.324, New World Library

We see what we believe rather than what we see.

Believe

Don't hurry anything. Don't worry about the future. Don't worry about what progress you're making. Just be entirely content to be aware of what is.

Future, Worry, Progress

Alan Watts (1977). “The essence of Alan Watts”, Celestial Arts Publishing Company

Of course, you can’t force your mind to be silent. That would be like trying to smooth ripples in water with a flatiron. Water becomes clear and calm only when left alone.

Water, Mind, Trying

Buddha's doctrine: Man suffers because of his craving to possess and keep forever things which are essentially impermanent...this frustration of the desire to possess is the immediate cause of suffering.

Acceptance, Frustration, Men

Nirvana is where you are, provided you don't object to it.

Where You Are, Objects

Alan Watts (2017). “Out of Your Mind: Tricksters, Interdependence, and the Cosmic Game of Hide and Seek”, p.89, Sounds True

The more a thing tends to be permanent, the more it tends to be lifeless.

Human Nature, Lifeless, Permanent

Alan Watts (1982). “Play to Live: Selected Seminars”

Real religion is the transformation of anxiety into laughter.

Laughter, Real, Anxiety

Alan Watts (2011). “In My Own Way: An Autobiography”, p.57, New World Library

The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple.

Inspirational, Life, Simple

We are living in a culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion of time

Culture, Illusion, Illusion Of Time

You May Also Like: