Contemplation Quotes

Who am I, where have I been, and where am I going?

The great increase of our population throughout the Union will alone produce an important effect, and in no quarter will it be so sensibly felt as in those in contemplation.

I was obliged, at last, to come to the conclusion that the contemplation of nature alone is not sufficient to fill the human heart and mind.

That which a man acquires by contemplation he should spend in love.

Our goodness comes solely from thinking on goodness; our wickedness from thinking on wickedness. We too are the victims of our own contemplation.

Self-contemplation is infallibly the symptom of disease.

Whatever we think about and question a lot becomes questionable.

Instead of yielding to idle conversation it might profit one to cultivate silence and contemplation.

Contemplation of life after retirement and life after death can help you deal with contemporary challenges.

The contemplation of truth and beauty is the proper object for which we were created, which calls forth the most intense desires of the soul, and of which it never tires.

When holy and devout religious men are at their beads, 'tis hard to draw them thence; so sweet is zealous contemplation.

MAN, n. An animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks he is as to overlook what he indubitably ought to be.

The greatest enemy of good thinking is busyness.

True contemplation is not a psychological trick but a theological grace. It can come to us ONLY as a gift, and not as a result of our own clever use of spiritual techniques.

Contemplation is a luxury, requiring time and alternatives.

I looked back at the summit of the mountain, which seemed but a cubit high in comparison with the height of human contemplation, were in not too often merged in the corruptions of the earth.

Holidays and vacations can help to balance activity with contemplation, haste with more natural rhythms, noise with the heralding silence of peace.

Vice: Whatever was passion in the contemplation of man, being brought forth by his will into action.

The man incapable of contemplation cannot be an artist, but only a skillful workman.

Trees are good for contemplation. Plato and Aristotle did their best thinking in the groves of olives and figs around Athens, and Buddha found enlightenment beneath a bo or peepul tree.

For contemplation he and valour formed; / For softness she and sweet attractive grace, / He for God only, she for God in him: / His fair large front and eye sublime declared / Absolute rule.

The life of wisdom must be a life of contemplation combined with action.

I have created a life style that supports contemplation, service to words.

There is nothing so depressing as a constant contemplation of one's self, and the greatest moral cowardice in the world's opinion comes from consulting one's own personal convenience.

Self-recognition, the self-contemplation of spirit is the primary movement out of which all creativeness proceeds.

This Ariyan Eightfold Path, that is to say: Right view, right aim, right speech, right action, right living, right effort, right mindfulness, right contemplation.

It is necessary for the perfection of human society that there should be men who devote their lives to contemplation.

Never trust a thought that didn't come by walking.

Society develops wit, but its contemplation alone forms genius.

We want a state wise in its contemplation - just in its actions - and moderate in the reach of government into our lives.

We have wasted our spirit in the regions of the abstract and general just as the monks let it wither in the world of prayer and contemplation.

Do not contemplate on death; it is just an incident in life; contemplate on God, who is the master of all life.

Contemplate sweetly on love, and the wisdom of God shall find you.

Work without contemplation is never enough.

But unfortunately Locke treated ideas of reflection as if they were another class of objects of contemplation beside ideas of sensation.

The mind is exercised by the variety and multiplicity of the subject matter, while the character is moulded by the contemplation of virtue and vice.

It may be added, to prevent misunderstanding, that when I speak of contemplated objects in this last phrase as objects of contemplation, the act of contemplation itself is of course an enjoyment.

I feel like I'm stepping into a place of spiritual contemplation every time I enter a studio; it's always had a certain magic to me that has never worn off with familiarity.

...music is the living God in our bosoms.

The first ideas of religion arose, not from contemplation of the works of nature, but from a concern with regard to the events of life.

I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved.

When you are in doubt, wait. Fall back on the contemplation of your vision, and increase your faith and purpose. And by all means, in times of doubt and indecision, cultivate gratitude.

I can recommend nothing better... than that you endeavor to infuse into your works what you learn from the contemplation of the works of others.

Works of art must persist as objects of contemplation.

I decided years ago that if I'm going to keep teaching contemplation, then the last years of my life should be contemplative.

The law of flying was not discovered by the contemplation of things staying on the ground.

If love is blind, then maybe a blind person that loves has a greater understanding of it.

The man who has a library of his own collection is able to contemplate himself objectively, and is justified in believing in his own existence.

The ultimate meaning of the active life is to make possible the happiness of contemplation.

We must not imitate the externals of nature with so much fidelity that the picture fails to evoke that wonderful teasing recurrence of emotion that marks the contemplation of a work of art.