
Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 123.
1960s, Freedom From The Known (1969)
Context: That is the first thing to learn — not to seek. When you seek you are really only window-shopping. The question of whether or not there is a God or truth or reality, or whatever you like to call it, can never be answered by books, by priests, philosophers or saviours. Nobody and nothing can answer the question but you yourself and that is why you must know yourself. Immaturity lies only in total ignorance of self. To understand yourself is the beginning of wisdom.
Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 123.
“Whoso obedience from his subjects seeks,
'Tis fitting that he first should learn to rule.”
Chi vuole aver soggetti, che obbediscano,
Convien, che prima sappia comandare.
Act II, scene i
Timone (c. 1487)
“Seek first the virtues of the mind; and other things either will come, or will not be wanted”
Primum quaerite bona animi; caetera aut aderunt, aut non oberunt
Book II, xxxi
The Advancement of Learning (1605)
“Seek ye first the political kingdom and all things shall be added unto you.”
The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah
“First thing you learn
is that you've
always got to wait”
"I'm Waiting for the Man"
Lyrics
“The first thing a psychologist learns is to keep her mouth shut around laymen.”
Source: …And All the Stars a Stage (1971; [serialized in 1960]), Chapter 13 (p. 180)
The Second Revelation, Chapter 10
Context: It is God’s will that we have three things in our seeking: — The first is that we seek earnestly and diligently, without sloth, and, as it may be through His grace, without unreasonable heaviness and vain sorrow. The second is, that we abide Him steadfastly for His love, without murmuring and striving against Him, to our life’s end: for it shall last but awhile. The third is that we trust in Him mightily of full assured faith. For it is His will that we know that He shall appear suddenly and blissfully to all that love Him.
For His working is privy, and He willeth to be perceived; and His appearing shall be swiftly sudden; and He willeth to be trusted. For He is full gracious and homely: Blessed may He be!