Quotessence
Home / Authors / Alan Watts
Alan Watts

Alan Watts Quotes

Philosopher

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsWorldUniverseWayPeopleKnowsInspiringThinkingWholeTryingMindSelfMenFeelsRealityHumansHuman NatureIdeasLifeReal

Famous Alan Watts Quotes

“I am amazed that Congressmen can pass a bill imposing severe penalties on anyone who burns the American flag, whereas they are responsible for burning that for which the flag stands: the United States as a territory, as a people, and as a biological manifestation. That is an example of our perennial confusion of symbols with realities.”

PeopleStatesRealityUnitedUnited StatesExampleResponsibleBillsConfusionSymbolsBurningManifestationTerritoryFlagsPenaltiesAmazedSevereImposingCongressmanAmerican Flag
Author:Alan Watts
Create image

“We are living in a culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion of time, in which the so-called present moment is felt as nothing but an infinitesimal hairline between a causative past and an absorbingly important future. We have no present. Our consciousness is almost completely preoccupied with memory and expectation. We do not realize that there never was, is, nor will be any other experience than present experience. We are therefore out of touch with reality.”

ImportantMomentsRealityPastCultureFeltRealizingMemoriesConsciousnessIllusionExpectationsPresent MomentIllusion Of Time
Author:Alan Watts
Create image

“Life is not a problem to be solved, but an experience to be had.”

LifeProblemRealityLife IsInspirational LifeThis LifeReality Of LifeLive ByLife ExperienceLive Your LifeEnjoy LifeHuman ExperienceLife DeathLives Of OthersChanged My LifeShort LifeReality ShowsCheer UpMystery Of LifeBusy LifeProblems In LifeSource Of LifeLove Of My LifeTime Of My LifeLife And TimeLife Has ChangedLove Your LifeOld LifeJust Live Your LifeTime Of Your LifeSolved ProblemsLove Is LifeAttitude Towards LifeLife Is Not EasyLife Changing InspirationalLive Life Happy InspirationalAim Of LifeImagination RealityHappier DaysMotivational LifeLife Changing ExperienceLive Love LifeReality Of LoveGreatest LifeLive Your Life HappyMystery Of LoveImprove Your LifePowerful Life ChangingDeath NatureDaily Life Inspirational
Author:Alan Watts
Create image

“I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.”

LoveLifeRealHumorRealityPastTimeRelationshipIllusionPresent MomentLive In The MomentPsychedelicLive In The PresentMoments In TimeJust LivePast And PresentPresent TimePast PresentPast Present And FuturePast Present FutureEye OpeningLiving In The PastLive Each DayLive In The NowPresent FutureFuture And PresentPast FuturePast Present Future LoveIllusion Of Time
Author:Alan Watts
Create image

“Tomorrow and plans for tomorrow can have no significance at all unless you are in full contact with the reality of the present, since it is in the present and only in the present that you live. There is no other reality than present reality, so that, even if one were to live for endless ages, to live for the future would be to miss the point everlastingly.”

IfsRealityMotivationalWould BeAgePlansMissingTomorrowEndlessContactSignificanceLive Futures
Author:Alan Watts
Create image

“The greater the scientist, the more he is impressed with his ignorance of reality, and the more he realizes that his laws and labels, descriptions and definitions, are the products of his own thought. They help him to use the world for purposes of his own devising rather than understand and explain it.”

WorldHelpingUseRealityLawPurposeRealizingKnowledgeLearningGreaterIgnoranceProductsScientistManagementDefinitionsLabelsDescriptionImpressedDevising
Book:Wisdom Of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety
Create image

“Ego is a social institution with no physical reality. The ego is simply your symbol of yourself. Just as the word “water” is a noise that symbolizes a certain liquid without being it, so too the idea of ego symbolizes the role you play, who you are, but it is not the same as your living organism.”

IdeasPlayRealityCertainSocialWaterRolesEgoInstitutionsWho You AreNoiseSymbolsOrganismsLiquidLiving OrganismsSocial Institutions
Book:Buddhism the Religion of No-Religion
Create image

“Time is a social institution and not a physical reality. There is no such thing as time in the natural world - the world of stars and waters, clouds, mountains and living organisms. There is such a thing as rhythm - rhythm of tides, rhythm of biological processes... There is rhythm and there is motion. Time is a way of measuring motion.”

WorldWayRealitySocialStarsProcessWaterNaturalMountainInstitutionsCloudsRhythmTidesOrganismsNatural WorldMeasuringLiving OrganismsSocial Institutions
Author:Alan Watts
Create image