Anthony de Mello Quotes - Page 8

A master was once unmoved by the complaints of his disciples that, though they listened with pleasure to his parables and stories, they were also frustrated for they longed for something deeper. To all their objections he would simply reply: 'You have yet to understand, my friends, that the shortest distance between a human being and truth is a story.'

So love the thought of death, love it.

Name one practical, down-to-earth effect of spirituality," said the skeptic who was ready for an argument. "Here's one," said the Master. "When someone offends you, you can raise your spirits to heights where offenses cannot reach.

The Rose does not preen herself to catch my eye. She blooms because she blooms. A saint is a saint until he knows he is one.

The genius of a composer is found in the notes of his music; but analyzing the notes will not reveal his genius. The poet's greatness is contained in his words; yet the study of his words will not disclose his inspiration. God reveals himself in creation; but scrutinize creation as minutely as you wish, you will not find God, any more than you will find the soul through careful examination of your body.

Spirituality practiced in the state of activity is incomparably superior to that practiced in a state of withdrawel.

The sun and its light, the ocean and the wave, the singer and his song — not one. Not two.

Can one talk about the ocean to a frog in a well or about the divine to people who are restricted by their concepts?

You are only a disciple because your eyes are closed. The day you open them you will see there is nothing you can learn from me or anyone.

My experience is that it's precisely the ones who don't know what to do with this life who are all hot and bothered about what they are going to do with another life.

Drop your false ideas. See through people. If you see through yourself, you will see through everyone. Then you will love them. Otherwise you spend the whole time grappling with your wrong notions of them, with your illusions that are constantly crashing against reality.

The master never seemed to have his fill of gazing at his firstborn child. "What do you want him to be when he grows up?" someone asked. "Outrageously happy," said the master.

You can will an act of service but you cannot will love.

If you make me your authority, you harm yourself because you will not see things for yourself, and you harm me too because you refuse to see me as I am.

A thought is a screen, not a mirror; that is why you live in a thought envelope, untouched by Reality.

There's nothing you can do to see — it is a gift.

Look for competence not claims.

You're not living until it doesn't matter a tinker's damn to you whether you live or die. At that point you live. When you're ready to lose your life, you live it.

To relate is to react. To react is to understand oneself. To understand oneself is to be enlightened. Relationships are schools for enlightenment.

We're crazy, We're living on crazy ideas about love, about relationships, about happiness, about joy, about everything.

I leave you free to be yourself: to think your thoughts, indulge your tastes, follow your inclinations, behave in ways that you decide are to your liking.

Has it ever occurred to you that you can only love when you are alone?

A disciple, in his reverence for the Master, looked upon him as God incarnate. "Tell me, O Master," he said, "why you have come into this world." "To teach fools like you to stop wasting their time worshiping Masters.

A lost coin is found by means of a candle; the deepest truth is found by means of a simple story.

All I did was sit on the riverbank handing out river water. After I'm gone, I trust you will notice the river.