xy

@xy, member from Sept. 25, 2023

Favourite quotes (21448)

“The master was never impressed by diplomas or degrees. He scrutinized the person, not the certificate.
He was once heard to say, 'When you have ears to hear a bird in song, you don't need to look at its credentials.”

Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer

Source: Anthony De Mello : Writings (1999), p. 76

“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.”

Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer

Source: One Minute Nonsense (1992), p. 80

“The Master never ceased to attack the notions about God that people entertain.”

Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer

Prayer
One Minute Wisdom (1989)

“Silence is not the absence of sound, but the absence of self.”

Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer

Emptiness
One Minute Wisdom (1989)

“One year of life is worth more than twenty years of hibernation.”

Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer

Source: One Minute Nonsense (1992), p. 73

“I seek the meaning of existence." said the stranger.
"You are of course, assuming." said the Master, "that existence has a meaning."
"Doesn't it?"
"When you experience existence as it is — not as you think it is — you will discover that your question has no meaning.”

Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer

Source: One Minute Nonsense (1992), p. 171

“The law is an expression of God's holy will and as such must be honored and loved," said the preacher piously.
"Rubbish," said the Master. "The law is a necessary evil and as such must be cut down to the barest minimum. Show me a lover of the law and I will show you a muttonheaded tyrant.”

Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer

Source: One Minute Nonsense (1992), p. 67

“There were rules in the monastery, but the Master always warned against the tyranny of the law.
"Obedience keeps the rules," he would say. "Love knows when to break them."”

Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer

Revolution
One Minute Wisdom (1989)

“My commitment is not to consistency but to the Truth.”

Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer

Source: One Minute Nonsense (1992), p. 31

“Never complain about what you permit.”

Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer

Mike Murdock, in The One-Minute Devotional (1994), p. 168
Misattributed

“To a disciple who was forever complaining about others the Master said, "If it is peace you want, seek to change yourself, not other people. It is easier to protect your feet with slippers than to carpet the whole of the earth."”

Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer

Transformation
One Minute Wisdom (1989)

“Wisdom can be learned. But it cannot be taught.”

Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer

Source: One Minute Nonsense (1992), p. 53

“The Master once referred to the Hindu notion that all creation is "leela" — God's play — and the universe is his playground. The aim of spirituality, he claimed, is to make all life play.
This seemed too frivolous for a puritanical visitor. "Is their no room then for work?"
"Of course there is. But work becomes spiritual only when it is transformed into play."”

Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer

Source: One Minute Nonsense (1992), p. 96
("Leela" is more commonly spelled "Lila")

“You are so proud of your intelligence," said the master. "You are like a like a condemned man, proud of the vastness of his prison cell.”

Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer

“The world is right because I feel good.
p. 83, Awareness, copyright 1990”

Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer

“As the Arabs say, "The nature of rain is the same, but it makes thorns grow in the marshes and flowers in the gardens.”

Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer

Source: Awareness: Conversations with the Masters

“the greatest learning of the ages lies in accepting life exactly as it comes to us.”

Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer

Source: The Prayer Of The Frog, Vol. 1

“You have yet to understand, my friends, that the shortest distance between a human being and truth is a story.”

Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer

Source: Anthony De Mello : Writings (1999), p. 8
Context: 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."

“Thought can organize the world so well that you are no longer able to see it.”

Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer

Thought
Source: One Minute Wisdom (1989)

“The one who would be constant in happiness must frequently change.”

Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer

Source: Awareness: Conversations with the Masters