Carlos Castaneda Quotes
Eventually I saw that the path of the heart requires a full gesture, a degree of abandon that can be terrifying. Only then is it possible to achieve a sparkling metamorphosis.
It doesn't matter how one was brought up. What determines the way one does anything is personal power.
When nothing is for sure, we remain alert, perennially on our toes. It is more exciting not to know which bush the rabbit is hiding behind than to behave as though we knew everything.
It is best to erase all personal history because that would make us free from the encumbering thoughts of other people
A rule of thumb for a warrior is that he makes his decisions so carefully that nothing that may happen as a result of them can surprise him, much less drain his power.
A warrior must learn to make every act count, since he is going to be here in this world for only a short while, in fact, too short for witnessing all the marvels of it.
Learn to see, and then you'll know that there is no end to the new worlds of our vision.
A man goes to knowledge as he goes to war, wide awake, with fear, with respect, and with absolute assurance.
A warrior thinks of death when things become unclear. The idea of death is the only thing that tempers our spirit.
Conclusions arrived at through reasoning have very little or no influence in altering the course of our lives.
Intent is what can make a man succeed when his thoughts tell him that he is defeated.
A warrior takes his lot, whatever it may be, and accepts it in ultimate humbleness. He accepts in humbleness what he is, not as a grounds for regret but as a living challenge.
For me the world is weird because it is stupendous, awesome, mysterious, unfathomable; my interest has been to convince you that you must assume responsibility for being here.
To die with elation is a crappy way of dying... A warrior dies the hard way. His death must struggle to take him. A warrior does not give himself to it.
Look at every path closely and deliberately, then ask ourselves this crucial question: Does this path have a heart? If it does, then the path is good. If it doesn't, it is of no use.
We have to balance the lineality of the known universe with the nonlineality of the unknown universe.
And so you're afraid of the emptiness of your friend's life. But there's no emptiness in the life of a man of knowledge, I tell you. Everything is filled to the brim and everything is equal.
The world is incomprehensible. We won't ever understand it; we won't ever unravel its secrets. Thus we must treat the world as it is: a sheer mystery.
Once it has learned to dream the double, the self arrives at this weird crossroad and a moment comes when one realizes that it is the double who dreams the self.
You're chained to you reason ... Understanding is only a very small affair, so very small
A warrior, on the other hand, is a hunter. He calculates everything. That's control. But once his calculations are over he acts. He lets go. That's abandon.
Our senses perceive the way they do because a specific feature of our awareness forces them to do so...because we learn what to perceive.
We are men and our lot in life is to learn and to be hurled into inconceivable new worlds.
...the spirit reveals itself to everyone with the same intensity and consistency, but only warriors are consistently attuned to such revelations.
Knowledge for a warrior is something that comes at once, engulfs him, and passes on
You see all of us go through the same doubts. We are afraid of being mad; unfortunately for us, of course, all of us are already mad.
For my teachers, unfortunately, certain things were, as they are for you, only tales of power
Before you embark on it you ask the question: Does this path have a heart? If the answer is no, you will know it, and then you must choose another path.
A warrior takes responsibility for his acts, for the most trivial of acts. An average man acts out his thoughts, and never takes responsibility for what he does.
The warrior: silent in his struggle, undetainable because he has nothing to lose, functional and efficacious because he has everything to gain.
Whenever the internal dialogue stops, the world collapses, and extraordinary facets of ourselves surface, as though they had been kept heavily guarded by our words.
The things shamans deal with are extremely practical. They break down parameters of normal historical reality. Magical passes are just one aspect of that.
If you were a warrior, you would know that the worst thing one can do is confront human beings directly.
