“The more difficult the struggle, the more triumphant one is in the end.
An incredible reward is self-realization.
Fulfillment of one's own potential puts one
on a completely different
level.
It is an explosively
prodigious orgasmic experience.”

—  Stephie Pahlavi Zan

Last update Sept. 6, 2022. History

Related quotes

Tenzin Gyatso photo

“With the realization of ones own potential and self-confidence in ones ability, one can build a better world.”

Tenzin Gyatso (1935) spiritual leader of Tibet

““Rebelling acts as a substitute for the more difficult process of struggling through to one’s own autonomy, to new beliefs,” writes Rollo May, as if one could struggle through to one’s own identity without rebelling.”

Russell Jacoby (1945) American historian

Source: Social Amnesia: A Critique of Conformist Psychology from Adler to Laing (1975), p. 51

“It is not that there are different Purushas to experience but the same Purusha is experienced differently at different levels. There is the experience of Divinity at the level of purified manas, but the same is also experienced at the level of buddhi. ... In the first, the experience is more particularised; in the second it puts on a more universal aspect. ... Manas particularizes; buddhi generalises. In the movement from manas to buddhi, spirituality rises from a spiritual experience to a spiritual truth. .... One need not grade the two experiences but one should try to understand the difference between them. At the level of purified mans, there is faith, joy, sonship, prophethood, inspired utterances, luminous visions, chosen destinies, unique roles....”

Ram Swarup (1920–1998) Indian historian

Source: Meditations. Yogas, Gods, Religions (2000), p. 101 ff

Dorothy L. Sayers photo

“To subdue one's self to one's own ends might be dangerous, but to subdue one's self to other people's ends was dust and ashes. Yet there were those, still more unhappy, who envied even the ashy saltness of those dead sea apples.”

Dorothy L. Sayers book Gaudy Night

Source: Gaudy Night

Oscar Wilde photo

“To regret one’s own experiences is to arrest one’s own development. To deny one’s own experiences is to put a lie into the lips of one’s own life. It is no less than a denial of the soul.”

Oscar Wilde book De Profundis

Source: De Profundis

Sam Harris photo

“On one level, wisdom is nothing more than the ability to take your own advice.”

Sam Harris (1967) American author, philosopher and neuroscientist

Quoted in Tim Ferris, "Tools of Titans" (2016), p. 454
2010s

“There is overwhelming evidence that the higher the level of self-esteem, the more likely one will be to treat others with respect, kindness, and generosity.”

Nathaniel Branden (1930–2014) Canadian–American psychotherapist and writer
Ramakrishna photo

“After realizing God, one does not identify oneself any more with the body. Then one knows that body and soul are two different things.”

Ramakrishna (1836–1886) Indian mystic and religious preacher

Source: The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (1942), p. 319
Context: The body was born and it will die. But for the soul there is no death. It is like the betel-nut. When the nut is ripe it does not stick to the shell. But when it is green it is difficult to separate it from the shell. After realizing God, one does not identify oneself any more with the body. Then one knows that body and soul are two different things.

Oscar Wilde photo

“To deny one's own experiences is to put a lie into the lips of one's own life. It is no less than a denial of the soul.”

Oscar Wilde book De Profundis

Source: De Profundis

Ananda K. Coomaraswamy photo

“The more superficially one studies Buddhism, the more it seems to differ from the Brahmanism in which it originated; the more profound our study, the more difficult it becomes to distinguish Buddhism from Brahmanism”

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

Ananda Coomaraswamy, Hinduism and Buddhism
Context: The more superficially one studies Buddhism, the more it seems to differ from the Brahmanism in which it originated; the more profound our study, the more difficult it becomes to distinguish Buddhism from Brahmanism, or to say in what respects, if any, Buddhism is really unorthodox. The outstanding distinction lies in the fact that Buddhist doctrine is propounded by an apparently historical founder, understood to have lived and taught in the sixth century B. C. Beyond this there are only broad distinctions of emphasis. It is taken almost for granted that one must have abandoned the world if the Way is to be followed and the doctrine understood.... but nothing could be described as a 'social reform' or as a protest against the caste system. The repeated distinction of the 'true Brahman' from the mere Brahman by birth is one that had already been drawn again and again in the Brahmanical books.

Related topics