Aleister Crowley Quotes - Page 2

Magick is the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will.

May the New Year bring you courage to break your resolutions early!

The customer is usually wrong, but statistics indicate that it doesn't pay to tell him so

Intolerance is evidence of impotence.

Love is the only principle which makes life tolerable.

One must find out for oneself, and make sure beyond doubt, 'who' one is, 'what' one is, 'why' one is... Being thus conscious of the proper course to pursue, the next thing is to understand the conditions necessary to following it out. After that, one must eliminate from oneself every element alien or hostile to success, and develop those parts of oneself which are specially needed to control the aforesaid conditions.

Tell the truth, but lead so improbable a life that the truth will never be believed.

What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over.

I slept with faith and found a corpse in my arms on awakening; I drank and danced all night with doubt and found her a virgin in the morning.

There are no "standards of Right". Ethics is balderdash. Each Star must go on its own orbit. To hell with "moral principle"; there is no such thing.

It's no good trying to teach people who need to be taught.

Happiness lies within one's self, and the way to dig it out is cocaine.

The essence of independence has been to think and act according to standards from within, not without.

The Quest of the Holy Grail, the Search for the Stone of the Philosophers - by whatever name we choose to call the Great Work - is therefore endless. Success only opens up new avenues of brilliant possibility. Yea, verily, and Amen! the task is tireless and its joys without bounds; for the whole Universe, and all that in it is, what is it but the infinite playground of the Crowned and Conquering Child, of the insatiable, the innocent, the ever-rejoicing Heir of Space and Eternity, whose name is MAN?

Every intentional act is a magical act.

The Way of Mastery is to break all the rules—but you have to know them perfectly before you can do this; otherwise you are not in a position to transcend them.

Paganism is wholesome because it faces the facts of life.

Ordinary morality is only for ordinary people.

There is a single main definition of the object of all magical Ritual. It is the uniting of the Microcosm with the Macrocosm. The Supreme and Complete Ritual is therefore the Invocation of the Holy Guardian Angel; or, in the language of Mysticism, Union with God.

To me, every dirty act was simply a sacrament of sin, a passionately religious protest against Christianity, which was for me the symbol of all vileness, meanness, treachery, falsehood and oppression.

I was not content to believe in a personal devil and serve him, in the ordinary sense of the word. I wanted to get hold of him personally and become his chief of staff.

This serpent, SATAN, is not the enemy of Man, but He who made Gods of our race, knowing Good and Evil; He bade 'Know Thyself!' and taught Initiation.

It is necessary, in this world, to be made of harder stuff than one's environment.

Your friends will notice at once that glib vacuities fail to impress, and hate you, and tell lies about you. It's worth it.

This Universe is a wild revel of atoms, men, and stars, each one a Soul of Light and Mirth, horsed on Eternity.