Quotessence
Home / Authors / Anthony de Mello
Anthony de Mello

Anthony de Mello Quotes

Writer

Filter quotes by topic

AllMastersSaidSpiritualPeopleIfsKnowsRealitySpiritualityHumansDisciplePersonsWorldAwarenessGivingMindThinkingEyeWantHeartLife

Famous Anthony de Mello Quotes

“Is it possible for the rose to say, "I will give my fragrance to the good people who smell me, but I will withhold it from the bad?" Or is it possible for the lamp to say, "I will give my light to the good people in this room, but I will withhold it from the evil people"? Or can a tree say, "I'll give my shade to the good people who rest under me, but I will withhold it from the bad"? These are images of what love is about.”

PeopleGivingLightEvilLove IsRoomsTreeRoseSmellShadeGood PeopleLampsFragranceEvil People
Book:Awareness: Conversations with the Masters
Create image

“A Jesuit once wrote a note to Father Arrupe, his superior general, asking him about the relative value of communism, socialism and capitalism. Father Arrupe gave him a lovely reply. He said, "A system is about as good or as bad as the people who use it." People with golden hearts would make capitalism or communism or socialism work beautifully.”

PeopleHeartSaidUseValuesFatherCapitalismAskingNotesLovelySocialismSuperiorsGoldenCommunismRelativeJesuitRelative Value
Book:Awareness: Conversations with the Masters
Create image

“What, concretely, is Enlightenment ?" "Seeing Reality as it is," said the Master. "Doesn't everyone see Reality as it is?" "Oh, no! Most people see it as they think it is." "What's the difference?" "The difference between thinking you are drowning in a stormy sea and knowing you cannot drown because there isn't any water in sight for miles around.”

PeopleThinkingSaidRealityWaterDifferencesKnowingSeeingSeaMastersEnlightenmentSightMilesDrowningStormyStormy Seas
Author:Anthony de Mello
Create image

“The Master was exceedingly gracious to university dons who visited him, but he would never reply to their questions or be drawn into their theological speculations. To his disciples, who marveled at this, he said, "Can one talk about the ocean to a frog in a well or about the divine to people who are restricted by their concepts?”

PeopleWellsSaidDivineMastersOceanConceptsUniversityDiscipleSpeculationGraciousFrogsTheological
Book:One Minute Wisdom
Create image

“A writer arrived at the monastery to write a book about the Master. "People say you are a genius . Are you?" he asked. "You might say so." said the Master, none too modestly. "And what makes one a genius?" "The ability to recognize." "Recognize what?" "The butterfly in a caterpillar: the eagle in an egg; the saint in a selfish human being.”

PeopleWritingHumansSaidBookMightHuman BeingsAbilityMastersGeniusSaintSelfishEggsButterflyEaglesCaterpillarsMonasteries
Book:One Minute Wisdom
Create image

“A religious belief is not a statement about Reality, but a hint, a clue about something that is a mystery, beyond the grasp of human thought. In short, a religious belief is only a finger pointing to the moon. Some religious people never get beyond the study of the finger. Others are engaged in sucking it. Others yet use the finger to gouge their eyes out. These are the bigots whom religion has made blind. Rare indeed is the religionist who is sufficiently detached from the finger to see what it is indicating - these are those who, having gone beyond belief, are taken for blasphemers.”

PeopleHumansMadeUseRealityEyeBeliefReligiousGoneStudyTakenMysteryMoonBlindFingersStatementsEngagedCluePointingHintsDetachedReligious BeliefBigotsHuman ThoughtPointing Fingers
Author:Anthony de Mello
Create image

“As soon as you look at the world through an ideology you are finished. No reality fits an ideology. Life is beyond that. That is why people are always searching for a meaning to life. But life has no meaning; it cannot have meaning because meaning is a formula; meaning is something that makes sense to the mind. Every time you make sense out of reality, you bump into something that destroys the sense you made . Meaning is only found when you go beyond meaning.”

PeopleWorldMindLooksRealitySpiritualLife IsFoundMysteryFitFinishedAwakeningIdeologyMake SensePerceiveMeaning Of LifeAwakenedMeaning Life
Author:Anthony de Mello
Create image

“Most people tell you they want to get out of kindergarten, but don't believe them. Don't believe them! All they want you to do is to mend their broken toys. "Give me back my wife. Give me back my job. Give me back my money. Give me back my reputation, my success." This is what they want; they want their toys replaced. That's all. Even the best psychologist will tell you that, that people don't really want to be cured. What they want is relief; a cure is painful.”

PeopleWantLifeGivingBelieveJobsSpiritualSuccessSpiritualityWifeBrokenGive MeDon't BelievePainfulMy WifeReputationCuresReliefToysReplacedPsychologistKindergarten
Author:Anthony de Mello
Create image

“There is another more subtle way in which the innocence of childhood is lost: when the child is infected with the desire to become somebody. Contemplate the crowds of people who are striving might and main to become, not what Nature intended them to be- musicians, cooks, mechanics, carpenters, gardeners, inventors- but "somebody": to become successful, famous, powerful; to become something that will bring not quiet and self-fulfillment, but self-glorification and self-expansion”

PeopleWayChildrenSelfMightDesireLostPowerfulSuccessfulChildhoodQuietAmbitionMusicianStriveCrowdsInnocenceCooksFulfillmentSubtleContemplatingExpansionMechanicInventorGardenerCarpenterBecoming SuccessfulGlorificationSelf FulfillmentSelf Glorification
Book:The Way to Love: Meditations for Life
Create image

“Spirituality means waking up. Most people, even though they don't know it, are asleep. They're born asleep, they live asleep, they marry in their sleep, they breed children in their sleep, they die in their sleep without ever waking up. They never understand the loveliness and the beauty of this thing that we call human existence.”

PeopleKnowsLifeHumansMeanChildrenDiesSpiritualityBornSleepExistenceKnowledgeLearningWake UpManagementAwakeningWakingAwakenedHuman ExistenceLoveliness
Author:Anthony de Mello
Create image

“You know, all mystics - Catholic, Christian, non-Christian, no matter what their theology, no matter what their religion - are unanimous on one thing: that all is well, all is well. Though everything is a mess, all is well. Strange paradox, to be sure. But, tragically, most people never get to see that all is well because they are asleep. They are having a nightmare.”

PeopleKnowsLifeWellsMatterChristianReligionOne ThingStrangeCatholicNo Matter WhatTheologyMessNightmareParadox
Book:Awareness: Conversations with the Masters
Create image

“Waking up is unpleasant, you know. You are nice and comfortable in bed. It is irritating to be woken up. That's the reason the wise guru will not attempt to wake people up. I hope I'm going to be wise here and make no attempt whatsoever to wake you up if you are asleep. It is really none of my business, even though I say to you at times, "Wake up!" My business is to do my thing, to dance my dance. If you profit from it fine; if you don't, too bad! As the Arabs say, "The nature of rain is the same, but it makes thorns grow in the marshes and flowers in the gardens."”

PeopleIfsKnowsReasonSpiritualityGrowsWiseNiceFlowerFineBedComfortableRainGardenWake UpProfitAwakeningWakingGuruBeing WiseThornsIrritatingMarshesWakes You
Book:Awareness: Conversations with the Masters
Create image