Quotes about path
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“All of us started out normal. All of us started out as functioning human beings with the potential to do almost anything we wanted, but somewhere along the paths of our lives we got lost. Though we are here at this Clinic trying to find our way back, we all know that most of us will never get there. Things like the fight allow us to dream, and take us away from here, and allow us to imagine what the normal World must be like and how normal people must live in it.”

James Frey book A Million Little Pieces

page 332
A Million Little Pieces (2003)

People, World, Dreams, Way

“Images, memories, fragmentary shapes and forms — all those sensations, visions, half-thoughts that appear and disappear in the wink of an eye, as one sets forth to meet…. The path also disappears as I think of it, as I say it.”

Octavio Paz (1914–1998) Mexican writer laureated with the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature

Source: The Monkey Grammarian (1974), Ch. 1

Thinking, Appearance, Memory

“In other words, Alan Keyes was an ideal opponent; all I had to do was keep my mouth shut and start planning my swearing-in ceremony. And yet, as the campaign progressed, I found him getting under my skin in a way that few people ever have. When our paths crossed during the campaign, I often had to suppress the rather uncharitable urge to either taunt him or wring his neck.”

Alan Keyes (1950) American politician

Barack Obama. Quoted in The Audacity of Hope - Page 211 - by Barack Obama.

People, Way

“Centuries of husbandry, decades of diligent culling, the work of numerous hearts and hands, have gone into the hackling, sorting, and spinning of this tightly twisted yarn. Furthermore, we have not even to risk the adventure alone; for the heroes of all time have gone before us; the labyrinth is thoroughly known; we have only to follow the thread of the hero-path. And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; and where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.”

Joseph Campbell book The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Source: The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949), Chapter 1

God, World, Travel, Time

“Unlike animals, with their instincts to guide them past dangers, we humans have to rely upon our conscious decisions. We do the best we can when it comes to our career path and handling the inevitable setbacks in life. But in the back of our minds we can sense an overall lack of direction, as we are pulled this way and that way by our moods and by the opinions of others. How did we end up in this job, in this place? Such drifting can lead to dead ends. The way to avoid such a fate is to develop a sense of purpose, discovering our calling in life and using such knowledge to guide us in our decisions. We come to know ourselves more deeply—our tastes and inclinations. We trust ourselves, knowing which battles and detours to avoid. Even our moments of doubt, even our failures have a purpose—to toughen us up. With such energy and direction, our actions have unstoppable force.”

Robert Greene (1959) American author

Chap. 13 : Advance with a Sense of Purpose
The Laws of Human Nature (2018)

Life, Fate, Way, Failure

“One of the most painful things about this path is to recognize things about yourself that aren’t “as they should be”. And the reason you think things should be a certain way is because you’ve been taught that they should. Every spiritual tradition, just like greater society, comes complete with all kinds of values, expectations and beliefs. These all add up to one thing: A SHOULD STANDARD. This is how you should be. This is how you should feel. This is what you should think. This is the reality you should perceive. And the reality is, you will always fall short of that should standard.”

Teal Swan (1984) American spiritual teacher

Pain, Way, Feeling, Thinking

“For four thousand years the strong had been rushing on in the road of privilege and power, seeking greatness. Christ stood in the path, and said, " Ye seek greatness. Ye are not even in the way to it. Ye are going up, but the way to greatness is down. Let him who would be great be the love-servant of all."”

Henry Ward Beecher (1813–1887) American clergyman and activist

Greatness consists in the facility and power of going down, and not in the facility of going up.
Source: Life Thoughts (1858), p. 26

Love, Making love, Way, Strong

“When life is foggy, path is unclear and mind is dull, remember your breath. It has the power to give you the peace. It has the power to resolve the unsolved equations of life.”

Amit Ray (1960) Indian author

Beautify your Breath - Beautify your Life (2015)

Life, Peace

“Children, as I have said, use back ways and hidden paths, while adults take roads and official paths.”

Neil Gaiman book The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Source: The Ocean at the End of the Lane (2013), Chapter 10 (p. 151)

Children, Way

“Adults follow paths. Children explore. Adults are content to walk the same way, hundreds of times, or thousands; perhaps it never occurs to adults to step off the paths, to creep beneath rhododendrons, to find the spaces between fences. I was a child, which meant that I knew a dozen different ways of getting out of our property and into the lane, ways that would not involve walking down our drive.”

Neil Gaiman book The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Source: The Ocean at the End of the Lane (2013), Chapter 6 (p. 74)

Children, Way, Time

“When all the world is filled with evil, transform adversity into the path of enlightenment.”

Chekawa Yeshe Dorje (1102–1176) Buddhist meditation master

Seven Points of Mind Training

World, Evil

“We are no longer ambitious for ourselves, but are rather inspired by the vision of a healed world. Inspiration rearranges our energies. It sources within us a new power and direction. We no longer feel like we’re trying to carry a football to the finish line, clutching it to our chest and surrounded by hostile forces. We feel instead as though angels are pushing us from behind and making straight our path as we go.”

Marianne Williamson (1952) American writer

Source: A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles" (1992), Ch. 7 : Work, §9 : Sales to Service

Hostility, World, Making love, Angels

“There is, too, a sort of relief in admitting defeat. Struggling to drag a mountain from my path, acknowledging at last the mountain would remain, lying down beneath the mountain, thankful for the shade of it.”

Tanith Lee book Quest for the White Witch

Book Two, Part I “In the Wilderness”, Chapter 2 (p. 234)
Quest for the White Witch (1978)

Mountain, Lying

“We are now raring to die for our country's sake
Let's see how much of strength the assassin can display!
O traveller on the path of love, do not drop mid-way,
It is the distance of the goal that glorifies the chase.
It is the distance of the goal that glorifies the chase.
Standing by the gallows the hangman makes a call,
Come, if there be any, by the martyr's zeal enthralled.
We'll tell you all, O sky, wait till he time arrives,
How can we at this stage, our secret plans unveil?
O martyrs in the nation's cause, kudos to your sacrifice,
Even in the enemy they talk of you with praise.
Fired by patriotic fervour, many a maddened youth.
Has gathered at the crossing, itching for the cross.
Why are they mute and silent? no whisper, no talk,
Everyone that I see has got his lips locked.”

Ram Prasad Bismil (1897–1927) revolutionary, poet & writer

Masterpieces of Patriotic Urdu Poetry, p. 109
Poetry, Desire for Self-sacrifice (Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna)

Love, Secret, Youth, Making love

“It is not necessary to judge and ridicule when, thank God, you have not passed the path that I have. To them, as always, I wish everyone good and every honor on their careers and in further life a lot of success and less condemnation.”

Darko Miličić (1985) Serbian basketball player

As quoted in "Darko Responds To Carmelo About '03 Draft: 'Not Necessary To Ridicule'" https://971theticket.radio.com/articles/news/darko-responds-to-carmelo-not-necessary-to-ridicule (31 March 2020), 97.1 The Ticket 2020s

Life, God, Success

“Shedding tears we spend the night in this deepening dark,
Our day is but a long struggle against an uphill path,
Not a single moment goes when we don't bewail our lot,
Lo! we cast a lingering look on these doors and walls.
Fare thee well, my countrymen, we are going afar!
We wish you well, O friends, leave you to His care,
And entrust our Qaiser Bagh to the blowing air,
While we give our tender heart to terror and despair.
Fare thee well, my countrymen, we are going afar!
I am betrayed by my friends, whom should I excuse?
Except God the gracious, I have no refuge,
I can't escape exile, under any excuse.
Lo, we cast a lingering look on the doors and wells,
Fare thee well, my countrymen, we are going afar!
I have been told this much too, ah! the scourage of time!
The servant calls his master 'mad,' a travesty of the mind.
As for me, I cannoy help, but rot in alien climes.
Lo, we cast a lingering look on these doors and walls,
Fare thee well, my countrymen, we are gong afar!
This is the cause of my regret, to whom should I complain?
What wondrous goods of mine are subjected to disdain,
My exile has raised a storm in the whole domain.
Lo we cast a lingering look on the doors and walls,
Fare thee well, my countrymen, we are going afar!
You cannot help but suffer, O heart, the sharp strings of grief,
They didn't spare even the things essential for the mourning meets,
In the scorching summer heat, I've no cover or sheet.
Akhtar now departs from all his friends and mates,
There is little time or need to dwell upon my fate,
Save, O God, my countrymen from the dangers lying in wait!
Lo, we cast a lingering look on these doors and walls,
Fare thee well, my countrymen, we are going afar!”

Wajid Ali Shah (1822–1887) Nawab of Awadh

Masterpieces of Patriotic Urdu Poetry, p. 63-67
Poetry

God, Fate, Lying, Tear

“In the spirit of the Eightfold Path of Buddha, with its injunctions about Right Livelihood, Right Speech, and so on, we might also think in terms of Right Power—power used not as a battering ram or to glorify the ego but in service to life. Appropriate power.”

Marilyn Ferguson (1938–2008) American writer

Source: The Aquarian Conspiracy (1980), Chapter Seven, Right Power, p.190

Life, Thinking

“The best we can do is to know the approach, the means, we can utilize for dealing with the unclear path to a new desired condition, not what the content and steps of our actions—the solutions—will be.”

Mike Rother (1958) American business academic

“The ground on which we’ll unite as Americans is the higher ground of moral repair. Not Left or Right, or even Democrats or Republicans. We’ll unite as Americans, having come to realize that aligning public policy with the goodness in our hearts is our best and only path forward.”

Marianne Williamson (1952) American writer

Twitter https://twitter.com/marwilliamson (1 Oct 2019) Williamson's quotes in social media

Heart

“In order for capitalism to have a clear path, it needs to profane all that is sacred; there must be no limits to what is saleable. The totalitarian commercialism which is now the established Church throughout the West has come close to achieving this.”

Andrew Collier (philosopher) (1944–2014) British philosopher

Source: "The Masters of Suspicion", p. 85

“Whatever work I did became worship of the Lord;
Whatever word I uttered became a prayer;
Whatever this body of mine experienced became
the sadhana of Saiva Tantra
illumining my path to Parmasiva.”

Lalleshwari (1320–1392) Indian writer, mystic and saint

Lal Ded Vekhas http://ikashmir.net/lalded/vakhs.html Poetry, From Kashmiri Poetry

“The truth of a story is what the novelist strives for, and quite often the writer is taken down strange and unexpected paths on this search.”

Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) American writer

Source: The Rock that Is Higher (1993)

Truth, Search

“Let the path of the pure [khâlsâ panth] prevail all over the world, let the Hindu dharma dawn and all delusion disappear.
May I spread dharma and prestige of the Veda in the world and erase from it the sin of cow-slaughter.”

Guru Tegh Bahadur (1621–1675) The ninth Guru of Sikhism

Gobind Singh, quoted in Shourie, Arun (1993). A secular agenda: For saving our country, for welding it. New Delhi, India: Rupa. also quoted in Elst, Koenraad (2002). Who is a Hindu?: Hindu revivalist views of Animism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and other offshoots of Hinduism. ISBN 978-8185990743

World

“May God make us amongst those he allows to do good, and to practice it, and those who see the right path as none of us is without weakness; whosoever sees his weakness will forget those of others. May God make us die in the faith of Muhammad. Amen, Oh Master of the Universes.”

Ibn Hazm (994–1064) Arab theologian

ibn Hazm's style of ending a work, in Salim al-Hassani, Ibn Hazm’s Philosophy and Thoughts on Science https://muslimheritage.com/ibn-hazm-philosophy-and-science/#_ftnref23

God, Making love, Faith, Universe

“As both sides debate the path forward on reforming our immigration system, the BE SAFE Act provides a constitutional answer that guarantees funding for our needs on the border without taking away from other priorities or increasing the burden on American taxpayers.”

Rand Paul (1963) American politician, ophthalmologist, and United States Senator from Kentucky

4 March 2019 https://votesmart.org/public-statement/1331191/dr-rand-paul-introduces-be-safe-act-to-fund-border-security 2019

“NO EMOTION IS A MISTAKE

Awakening is not about deleting or transcending human emotions, for how would the ocean transcend a single wave, and how would the sun transcend one of its beloved sunbeams? It's about seeing that every emotion - from joy to despair, bliss to boredom, agony to ecstasy - is only a movement of life energy, actually a movement of yourself, a wave in your vastness. No emotion is a threat, an enemy, or a punishment. Every emotion is an invitation to remember your vastness, rest in your oceanic nature. You are on a pathless path of radical inclusion, friend, and there are no mistakes here.”

Jeff Foster (1980) Spiritual teacher

Source: https://www.facebook.com/LifeWithoutACentre/photos/no-emotion-is-a-mistakeawakening-is-not-about-deleting-or-transcending-human-emo/1109464082484532/

“Awakening is not a path for the faint of heart.”

Jeff Foster (1980) Spiritual teacher

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CGirPCJHZTS/
Context: A HUMBLING PATH

Awakening is not a path for the faint of heart.

You will be humbled. Oh yes. Brought to your knees. Many, many times.

What you thought you knew will occasionally dissolve into nothingness.
Your most brilliant insights, your astonishing expertise, your life’s work, it can all crumble to the ground.
Sometimes without warning.

You will be asked to begin again, and again, and again.

And again.

(Did I say, this is not a path for the faint of heart?)

Oh yes, you will touch the bliss and joy of existence, for sure!
You will laugh at the simplicity of things, some days, of course!

But you will also be asked to confront your deepest fears, face the darkness and the night within, go to the places where the unloved creatures dwell.

You will step into pockets of grief you never knew were there.
You will cry a billion tears for the lost and abandoned children, within and without.
You will rage to the sky, to your parents, to all the teachers who failed you, to the lies you were fed, to the ones who never showed up when you needed them the most.
You will tremble with fear some days.

Some days the ground will open up and swallow you and spit you back out.

Sometimes you will think you’ve reached the end of the path, and then you will find yourself back at the damn beginning.

Sometimes you will feel like giving up.
Sometimes you will feel like you’ve made no progress at all.
Sometimes you will curse the day you started out on this journey.

But you are healing.
Yes, you are.

You are thawing, undoing billions of years of karma. Fear-based conditioning is melting away, and you are meeting life in the raw.

You are returning to nature, to the Garden, to the wild, where you were conceived.

It’s not always easy. It’s not always peaceful.
It’s not always the spirituality you were sold.
It’s not always love and light and joy and positivity and pure undisturbed Awareness.
(These are only dreams for frightened children.)

No, it’s an authentic awakening. You are a warrior of realness now, tired of the bullshit and the false promises, weeping and raging and laughing your way into the terrible, wonderful wholeness that you are.

All your old …..

“There is a great distinction between the terms "aspirant to the Path" and "applicant for initiation."”

Alice A. Bailey (1880–1949) esoteric, theosophist, writer

He who aspires and strives towards discipleship is in no way pledged to the same specific attitude and discipline as is the applicant for initiation, and he can, if he so choose, take as long as he desires in the treading of the Probationary Path. p. 192
Initiation, Human and Solar (1922)

“Think of tonight as having a real purpose. Yes, it is dining with the dead in order to be at one with our ancestors, but at the same time, a good scoff in shared company provides solace for the unhappy, it anneals the internal stress of bereavement, it helps the living along the path of their recovery from grief.”

Lindsey Davis (1949) English novelist

“That’s a useful motto for a caterer!”
Invitation to Die

Thinking, Time, Help, Dead

“Actually, the books were never a planned career path.”

Nedim Jahić (2001) Bosnian singer

books

Books

“Life in its entirety must be purified by the flame of achievement. The great Buddha, who preordained Maitreya, prescribed the path for the whole of existence. For those wise and clear covenants, the manifestation of the new evolution is calling. The demand for the purification of the Teaching is not accidental. The dates are approaching. The Image of Maitreya is ready to rise. All the Buddhas of the past have combined their wisdom of experience and have handed it on to the Blessed Coming One.”

Helena Roerich (1879–1955) Russian philosopher

Source: Foundations of Buddhism (1930)

Life, Wisdom, Past

“The Road is trodden in the full light of day, thrown upon the Path by Those Who know and lead. Naught can then be hidden, and at each turn, a man must face himself.”

Alice A. Bailey (1880–1949) esoteric, theosophist, writer

Source: Glamour: A World Problem (1950), The Six Rules of the Path (Rules of the Road)

Light