Quotes about the soul page 3
“Your shallowness or greatness of the soul shows up in your aura.”
Harbhajan Singh Yogi (1929–2004) Indian-American Sikh Yogi
The Eight Human Talents (2001)
Martin Luther (1483–1546) seminal figure in Protestant Reformation
Weimar edition of Martin Luther's Works, English translation edited by J. Pelikan [Concordia: St. Louis], Vol. 4, 694
Thomas Fuller (1608–1661) English churchman and historian
Life of the Duke of Alva (1642). Compare: "A fiery soul, which, working out its way, Fretted the pigmy-body to decay, And o'er-inform'd the tenement of clay", John Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel, part i. line 156.
“All thoughts that mould the age begin
Deep down within the primitive soul.”
James Russell Lowell (1819–1891) American poet, critic, editor, and diplomat
An Incident in a Railroad Car
“Everybody is born good and everybody has got the same size soul. We're here to connect with that.”
James Hetfield (1963) American musician, songwriter and record producer
at St Quentin during the videoshoot for St Anger
Martin Luther (1483–1546) seminal figure in Protestant Reformation
Source: The Freedom of a Christian (1520), p. 51
“And you, the living soul, you over there
get away from all these people who are dead.”
Dante Alighieri book Inferno
Canto III, lines 88–89 (tr. Mark Musa).
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Inferno
Elvis Presley (1935–1977) American singer and actor
All Shook Up, written by Otis Blackwell and Elvis Presley (1957)
Song lyrics
Diogenes Laërtius (180–240) biographer of ancient Greek philosophers
122, in Moral Exhortation (1986), p. 33
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 200 A.D.), Book 10: Epicurus
Dante Alighieri book Purgatorio
Canto XIV, lines 109–111 (tr. Longfellow).
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Purgatorio
Dante Alighieri book Inferno
Canto III, lines 61–63 (tr. Mark Musa).
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Inferno
Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–1747) French writer, a moralist
Source: Reflections and Maxims (1746), pp. 185-186.
“Got more soul (sole) than a sock with a hole.”
MF Doom (1971) hip hop artist from America
As Madvillain, "Rhinestone Cowboy", Madvillainy (2004)
Sourced Lines
Marion Woodman (1928–2018) Canadian writer
Source: Bone: Dying into Life (2000), p. 165
“Salvation lies in the soul experiencing its intrinsic joy.”
Madhvacharya (1199–1278) Hindu philosopher who founded Dvaita Vedanta school
Beginner’s Guide to Sri MadhvAchArya’s Life and Philosophy
Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–1747) French writer, a moralist
Source: Reflections and Maxims (1746), p. 188.
John of the Cross (1542–1591) Spanish mystic and Roman Catholic saint
Note to Stanza 29 part 8
Spiritual Canticle of The Soul and The Bridegroom, Notes to the Stanzas
Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952) Yogi, a guru of Kriya Yoga and founder of Self-Realization Fellowship
The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, (2004) by Yogananda
“Virtue is the health of the soul.”
Aristo of Chios (-300) ancient greek philosopher
Stoicorum veterum fragmenta, fragment 359
Dante Alighieri book Inferno
Canto VII, lines 64–66 (tr. Longfellow).
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Inferno
Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876) Russian revolutionary, philosopher, and theorist of collectivist anarchism
Letter http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/anarchist_archives/bakunin/letters/toherzenandogareff.html to Aleksandr Ivanovich Herzen and Ogareff from San Francisco (3 October 1861); published in Correspondance de Michel Bakounine (1896) edited by Michel Dragmanov
Dante Alighieri book Inferno
Canto III, lines 34–36 (tr. John D. Sinclair).
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Inferno
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
Source: 1910s, Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays http://archive.org/stream/mysticism00russuoft/mysticism00russuoft_djvu.txt (1918), Ch. 1: Mysticism and Logic
Chuck Berry (1926–2017) American rock-and-roll musician
"Roll Over Beethoven" (1956) · Live performance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT3kCVFFLNg <br class="br">Song lyrics
Edvard Munch (1863–1944) Norwegian painter and printmaker
T 2760 (January 1892); as quoted in Edvard Much – behind the scream, Sue Prideaux; Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2007, p. 119
1880 - 1895
Adam Weishaupt (1748–1830) German philosopher and founder of the Order of Illuminati
"Greeting to the newly integrated illuminatos dirigentes", in Nachtrag von weitern Originalschriften vol. 2 (1787) p. 45.
Arthur Miller (1915–2005) playwright from the United States
Paris Review (Summer 1966)
Context: Success, instead of giving freedom of choice, becomes a way of life. There's no country I've been to where people, when you come into a room and sit down with them, so often ask you, "What do you do?" And, being American, many's the time I've almost asked that question, then realized it's good for my soul not to know. For a while! Just to let the evening wear on and see what I think of this person without knowing what he does and how successful he is, or what a failure. We're ranking everybody every minute of the day.
Horace Mann (1796–1859) American politician
Congressional speech (1849)
Context: I affirm, in words as true and literal as any that belong to geometry, that the man who withholds knowledge from a child not only works diabolical miracles for the destruction of good, but for the creation of evil also. He who shuts out truth, by the same act opens the door to all the error that supplies its place. Ignorance breeds monsters to fill up all the vacuities of the soul that are unoccupied by the verities of knowledge. He who dethrones the idea of law, bids chaos welcome in its stead. Superstition is the mathematical complement of religious truth; and just so much less as the life of a human being is reclaimed to good, just so much more is it delivered over to evil. The man or the institution, therefore, that withholds knowledge from a child, or from a race of children, exercises the awful power of changing the world in which they are to live, just as much as though he should annihilate all that is most lovely and grand in this planet of ours, or transport the victim of his cruelty to some dark and frigid zone of the universe, where the sweets of knowledge are unknown, and the terrors of ignorance hold their undisputed and remorseless reign.
Matka Tereza (1910–1997) Roman Catholic saint of Albanian origin
On her dark night of spiritual desolation amidst devotion, in a letter addressed to Jesus, as quoted in Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light (2007) edited by Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, p. 192; regarding this quote, Fr. Kolodiejchuk writes: "...when addressing Jesus — that is, in prayer — she could express herself with ease. Fufilling her confessor's request, she sent to him a letter addressed to Jesus, enclosing it with her letter dated September 3, 1959." https://books.google.com/books?id=P4cqT0nK_joC&pg=PA192&dq=%22when+addressing+Jesus+-+that+is,+in+prayer+-+she+could+express+herself+%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjk0IOm5vTOAhVF1x4KHYdRDE4Q6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=%22when%20addressing%20Jesus%20-%20that%20is%2C%20in%20prayer%20-%20she%20could%20express%20herself%20%22&f=false <br class="br">1950s <br class="br">Context: My own Jesus,<br>They say people in hell suffer eternal pain because of the loss of God – they would go through all that suffering if they had just a little hope of possessing God. In my soul I feel just that terrible pain of loss, of God not wanting me, of God not being God, of God not really existing (Jesus, please forgive my blasphemies, I have been told to write everything). That darkness that surrounds me on all sides. I can’t lift my soul to God – no light or inspiration enters my soul. I speak of love for souls, of tender love for God, words pass through my words sic, lips], and I long with a deep longing to believe in them! What do I labour for? If there be no God—there can be no soul.—If there is no soul then Jesus—You also are not true... Jesus don't let my soul be deceived—nor let me deceive anyone. In the call You said that I would have to suffer much.—Ten years—my Jesus, You have done to me according to Your will—and Jesus hear my prayer—if this pleases You—if my pain and suffering—my darkness and separation gives You a drop of consolation—my own Jesus, do with me as You wish—as long as You wish, without a single glance at my feelings and pain... I beg of You only one thing—please do not take the trouble to return soon.—I am ready to wait for You for all eternity.
“Just as science is the intellect of the world, art is its soul.”
Maxim Gorky (1868–1936) Russian and Soviet writer
Untimely Thoughts (1917-18) (original: Наиболее успешно и могуче будит в нашей душе ее добрые начала сила искусства. Как наука является разумом мира, так искусство — сердце его.)
Context: The good qualities in our soul are most successfully and forcefully awakened by the power of art. Just as science is the intellect of the world, art is its soul.
Isaac Newton book Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica
Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687), Scholium Generale (1713; 1726)
Context: This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all: And on account of his dominion he is wont to be called Lord God παντοκρáτωρ or Universal Ruler. For God is a relative word, and has a respect to servants; and Deity is the dominion of God, not over his own body, as those imagine who fancy God to be the soul of the world, but over servants. The supreme God is a Being eternal, infinite, absolutely perfect; but a being, however perfect, without dominion, cannot be said to be Lord God; for we say, my God, your God, the God of Israel, the God of Gods, and Lord of Lords; but we do not say, my Eternal, your Eternal, the Eternal of Israel, the Eternal of Gods; we do not say, my Infinite, or my Perfect: These are titles which have no respect to servants. The word God usually signifies Lord; but every lord is not a God. It is the dominion of a spiritual being which constitutes a God; a true, supreme or imaginary dominion makes a true, supreme or imaginary God. And from his true dominion it follows, that the true God is a Living, Intelligent and Powerful Being; and from his other perfections, that he is Supreme or most Perfect. He is Eternal and Infinite, Omnipotent and Omniscient; that is, his duration reaches from Eternity to Eternity; his presence from Infinity to Infinity; he governs all things, and knows all things that are or can be done. He is not Eternity or Infinity, but Eternal and Infinite; he is not Duration or Space, but he endures and is present. He endures for ever, and is every where present; and by existing always and every where, he constitutes Duration and Space. Since every particle of Space is always, and every indivisible moment of Duration is every where, certainly the Maker and Lord of all things cannot be never and no where. Every soul that has perception is, though in different times and in different organs of sense and motion, still the same indivisible person. There are given successive parts in duration, co-existant parts in space, but neither the one nor the other in the person of a man, or his thinking principle; and much less can they be found in the thinking substance of God. Every man, so far as he is a thing that has perception, is one and the same man during his whole life, in all and each of his organs of sense. God is the same God, always and every where. He is omnipresent, not virtually only, but also substantially; for virtue cannot subsist without substance. In him are all things contained and moved; yet neither affects the other: God suffers nothing from the motion of bodies; bodies find no resistance from the omnipresence of God. 'Tis allowed by all that the supreme God exists necessarily; and by the same necessity he exists always and every where. Whence also he is all similar, all eye, all ear, all brain, all arm, all power to perceive, to understand, and to act; but in a manner not at all human, in a manner not at all corporeal, in a manner utterly unknown to us. As a blind man has no idea of colours, so have we no idea of the manner by which the all-wise God perceives and understands all things. He is utterly void of all body and bodily figure, and can therefore neither be seen, nor heard, nor touched; nor ought to be worshipped under the representation of any corporeal thing. We have ideas of his attributes, but what the real substance of any thing is, we know not. In bodies we see only their figures and colours, we hear only the sounds, we touch only their outward surfaces, we smell only the smells, and taste the favours; but their inward substances are not to be known, either by our senses, or by any reflex act of our minds; much less then have we any idea of the substance of God. We know him only by his most wise and excellent contrivances of things, and final causes; we admire him for his perfections; but we reverence and adore him on account of his dominion. For we adore him as his servants; and a God without dominion, providence, and final causes, is nothing else but Fate and Nature. Blind metaphysical necessity, which is certainly the same always and every where, could produce no variety of things. All that diversity of natural things which we find, suited to different times and places, could arise from nothing but the ideas and will of a Being necessarily existing. But by way of allegory, God is said to see, to speak, to laugh, to love, to hate, to desire, to give, to receive, to rejoice, to be angry, to fight, to frame, to work, to build. For all our notions of God are taken from the ways of mankind, by a certain similitude which, though not perfect, has some likeness however. And thus much concerning God; to discourse of whom from the appearances of things, does certainly belong to Natural Philosophy.
"Letter to Menoeceus" http://www.epicurus.net/en/menoeceus.html, as translated in Stoic and Epicurean (1910) by Robert Drew Hicks, p. 167<br>Variant translation: Let no one delay to study philosophy while he is young, and when he is old let him not become weary of the study; for no man can ever find the time unsuitable or too late to study the health of his soul. And he who asserts either that it is not yet time to philosophize, or that the hour is passed, is like a man who should say that the time is not yet come to be happy, or that it is too late. So that both young and old should study philosophy, the one in order that, when he is old, he many be young in good things through the pleasing recollection of the past, and the other in order that he may be at the same time both young and old, in consequence of his absence of fear for the future. <br class="br">Context: Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search of it when he has grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul. And to say that the season for studying philosophy has not yet come, or that it is past and gone, is like saying that the season for happiness is not yet or that it is now no more. Therefore, both old and young alike ought to seek wisdom, the former in order that, as age comes over him, he may be young in good things because of the grace of what has been, and the latter in order that, while he is young, he may at the same time be old, because he has no fear of the things which are to come. So we must exercise ourselves in the things which bring happiness, since, if that be present, we have everything, and, if that be absent, all our actions are directed towards attaining it.
“Hence the love of God in the pure and simple soul is almost continually in act.”
John of the Cross (1542–1591) Spanish mystic and Roman Catholic saint
The Sayings of Light and Love
Context: Souls will be unable to reach perfection who do not strive to be content with having nothing, in such fashion that their natural and spiritual desire is satisfied with emptiness; for this is necessary in order to reach the highest tranquility and peace of spirit. Hence the love of God in the pure and simple soul is almost continually in act.
Ellen G. White book Christ's Object Lessons
Christ's Object Lessons (1900)
Context: Through the creation we are to become acquainted with the Creator. The book of nature is a great lesson book, which in connection with the Scriptures we are to use in teaching others of His character, and guiding lost sheep back to the fold of God. As the works of God are studied, the Holy Spirit flashes conviction into the mind. It is not the conviction that logical reasoning produces; but unless the mind has become too dark to know God, the eye too dim to see Him, the ear too dull to hear His voice, a deeper meaning is grasped, and the sublime, spiritual truths of the written word are impressed on the heart.
In these lessons direct from nature, there is a simplicity and purity that makes them of the highest value. All need the teaching to be derived from this source. In itself the beauty of nature leads the soul away from sin and worldly attractions, and toward purity, peace, and God.
Keith Haring (1958–1990) American artist and social activist whose work responded to the New York City street culture of the 1980s b…
G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English mystery novelist and Christian apologist
Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton : The Illustrated London News, 1905-1907 (1986), p. 191
Margherita Hack (1922–2013) Italian astrophysicist and popular science writer
Quoted in " Goodbye Margherita Hack, “The Lady of the Stars.”", iitaly.org (1 July 2013) http://www.iitaly.org/magazine/focus/facts-stories/article/goodbye-margherita-hack-lady-stars?mode=colorbox.
Edgar Allan Poe book The Black Cat
Have we not a perpetual inclination, in the teeth of our best judgement, to violate that which is Law, merely because we understand it to be such?
The Black Cat (1843)
Arvo Pärt (1935) Estonian composer
Read from his musical diaries while speaking at St. Vladimir’s Seminary https://vimeo.com/221011528/
Tatian (120–180) Syrian writer
Source: Address to the Greeks, Chapter XIII
“Our dedication to good actions as human beings is what most nourishes our souls”
Angelo Vulpini (2003) Venezuelan recording artist
Source: Posted on @angelovulpini, Instagram (June 15, 2019)
Angelo Vulpini (2003) Venezuelan recording artist
Source: Posted on instagram @angelovulpini, September 2nd, 2021.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CTVVtsfrRvh/
“All men's souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine.”
Socrates (-470–-399 BC) classical Greek Athenian philosopher
Syed Ahmed Khan (1820–1898) Indian educator and politician
Source: Sir Syed A. Khan quoted in Jain, M. (2010). Parallel pathways: Essays on Hindu-Muslim relations, 1707-1857. quoting Ashraf 2007, also in 1857 in the Muslim Historiography, Muḥammad Ikrām Cug̲h̲tāʼī. also in Rebellion 1857 A Symposium (1957)" https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.52043/2015.52043.Rebellion-1857-A-Symposium-1957_djvu.txt
Kanye West (1977) American rapper, singer and songwriter
Through the Wire
Lyrics, The College Dropout (2004)
“The human soul is very much older than the human mind.”
Konrad Lorenz (1903–1989) Austrian zoologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1973.
“The pure soul is a pure lie.”
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist
“The foolish rush to end their lives.
Only the steadfast soul survives.”
Christine de Pizan (1365–1430) Italian French late medieval author
Source: Lyric Poetry
“Is it not strange that sheep's guts could hail souls out of men's bodies?”
William Shakespeare book Much Ado About Nothing
Source: Much Ado About Nothing
Ram Dass (1931–2019) American contemporary spiritual teacher and the author of the 1971 book Be Here Now
Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935) Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher and philosopher
“I can't do everything for you. You must walk alone to find your soul.”
Variant: You must walk alone to find your soul.
Source: Speak
H.P. Lovecraft book The Thing on the Doorstep
Fiction
Source: "The Thing on the Doorstep" (1937), first published in Weird Tales
“I must get back my soul from you; I am killing my flesh without it.”
Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer
Draft of letter to Richard Sassoon (1956-03-01)
The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath (2000)
Source: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
Henry Miller (1891–1980) American novelist
Variant: It is with the soul that we grasp the essence of another human being, not with the mind, nor even with the heart.
“my spirit is too ancient to understand the separation of soul & gender”
Ntozake Shange for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Source: for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
W.E.B. Du Bois book The Souls of Black Folk
Source: The Souls of Black Folk (1903), Ch. I: Of Our Spiritual Strivings
Context: After the Egyptian and Indian, the Greek and Roman, the Teuton and Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world, — a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness, — an American, a Negro; two warring souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife, — this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self.
“Little Alice fell
d
o
w
n
the hOle,
bumped her head
and bruised her soul”
Lewis Carroll book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Source: Alice in Wonderland
John Muir (1838–1914) Scottish-born American naturalist and author
The Yosemite http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/the_yosemite/ (1912), chapter 15: Hetch Hetchy Valley <br class="br">1910s <br class="br">Variant: Everybody needs beauty... places to play in and pray in where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to the body and soul alike.
“By my soul I swear, there is no power in the tongue of man to alter me.”
William Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice
Source: The Merchant of Venice
Herman Melville (1818–1891) American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet
Source: Pierre or the Ambiguities
Friedrich Nietzsche book Twilight of the Idols
Letter to Elisabeth Nietzsche, Bonn, 1865-06-11. Quoted in Walter Kaufmann, The Faith of a Heretic (opening epigram).
Variant: Here the ways of men divide. If you wish to strive for peace of soul and happiness, then believe; if you wish to be a disciple of truth, then inquire.
Source: Twilight of the Idols
Max Ehrmann (1872–1945) American writer, poet, and attorney
Variant: Be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
“What men call the shadow of the body is not the shadow of the body, but is the body of the soul.”
Oscar Wilde book A House of Pomegranates
Source: A House of Pomegranates
“Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.”
Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray
Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray
“She who saves a single soul, saves the universe.”
Lewis Carroll (1832–1898) English writer, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer
Source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass