“Transform effort into an easy and sovereign overflowing of the soul-strength; let all thyself be conscious force. This is thy goal.”

“Transform enjoying into an even and objectless ecstasy; let all thyself be bliss. This is thy goal.”

Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950) Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru and poet

“Transform the divided individual into the world-personality; let all thyself be the divine. This is thy goal.”

Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950) Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru and poet

“Thou must be true thyself,
If thou the truth wouldst teach;
Thy soul must overflow, if thou
Another's soul would'st reach!
It needs the overflow of heart
To give the lips full speech.Think truly, and thy thoughts
Shall the world's famine feed;
Speak truly, and each word of thine
Shall be a fruitful seed;
Live truly, and thy life shall be
A great and noble creed.”

Horatius Bonar (1808–1889) British minister and poet

“Order thyself so, that thy Soul may always be in good estate; whatsoever become of thy body.”

Pythagoras (-585–-495 BC) ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher

“Though Christ a thousand times
in Bethleham be born
And not within thyself,
Thy soul will be forlorn”

Angelus Silesius (1624–1677) German writer

“O my Lord, Thy hand holding the sacred drum has made and ordered the heavens and earth and other worlds and innumerable souls. Thy lifted hand protects both the conscious and unconscious order of thy creation. All these worlds are transformed by Thy hand bearing fire. Thy sacred foot, planted on the ground, gives an abode to the tired soul struggling in the toils of causality. It is Thy lifted foot that grants eternal bliss to those that approach Thee. These Five-Actions are indeed Thy Handiwork.”

Ananda K. Coomaraswamy (1877–1947) Ceylon-American art historian

“The highest strength is acquired not in overcoming the world, but in overcoming one’s self. Learn to be cruel to thyself, to withstand thy appetites, to bear thy sufferings, and thou shalt become free and able.”

John Lancaster Spalding (1840–1916) Catholic bishop

“Body and soul, let's all go / transformed into arrows! / Piercing the air / body and soul, let's go / with no turning back.”

Ko Un (1933) korean poet

“It was the wise all-seeing soul
Who counselled neither war nor peace:
'Only be thou thyself that goal
In which the wars of time shall cease.”

George William Russell (1867–1935) Irish writer, editor, critic, poet, and artistic painter