Quotessence
Home / Authors / Anthony de Mello
Anthony de Mello

Anthony de Mello Quotes

Writer

Filter quotes by topic

AllMastersSaidSpiritualPeopleIfsKnowsRealitySpiritualityHumansDisciplePersonsWorldAwarenessGivingMindThinkingEyeWantHeartLife

Famous Anthony de Mello Quotes

“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

“My life is like shattered glass." said the visitor. "My soul is tainted with evil. Is there any hope for me? "Yes," said the Master. "There is something whereby each broken thing is bound again and every stain made clean." "What?" "Forgiveness" "Whom do I forgive?" "Everyone: Life, God, your neighbor especially yourself." "How is that done?" "By understanding that no one is to blame," said the Master. "NO ONE.”

MadeSaidSoulDoneLife IsEvilUnderstandingMastersBrokenBlameForgivingCleanBoundsGlassesNeighborMy SoulLife Is LikeShatteredVisitorsStainsTaintedBroken ThingsShattered Glass
Author:Anthony de Mello
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

“A zealous disciple expressed a desire to teach others the Truth and asked the Master what he thought about this. The Master said, "Wait." Each year the disciple would return with the same request and each time the Master would give him the same reply: "Wait." One day he said to the Master, "When will I be ready to teach?" Said the Master, "When your excessive eagerness to teach has left you.”

GivingYearsSaidDesireLeftWaitingTeachReadyMastersReturnOne DayDiscipleRequestEagernessZealous
Author:Anthony de Mello
Create image

“The Master persistently warned against the attempt to encompass Reality in a concept or a name. A scholar in mysticism once asked, "When you speak of BEING, sir, is it eternal, transcendent being you speak of, or transient, contingent being?" The Master closed his eyes in thought. Then he opened them, put on his most disarming expression, and said, "Yes!"”

SaidRealityEyeNamesSpeakExpressionMastersEternalConceptsHis EyesMysticismScholarTranscendentTransientDisarming
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

“Tell me," said the atheist , "Is there a God really?" Said the master, "If you want me to be perfectly honest with you, I will not answer." Later the disciples demanded to know why he had not answered. "Because the question is unanswerable," said the Master. "So you are an atheist?" "Certainly not. The atheist makes the mistake of denying that of which nothing may be said... and the theist makes the mistake of affirming it.”

IfsKnowsWantMaySaidAnswersMistakeHonestMastersAtheistWant MeDiscipleYou Want MeAffirmingTheistIf You Want Me
Author:Anthony de Mello
Create image

“The philosopher Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king. Said Aristippus, "If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils." Said Diogenes, "Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.”

IfsSaidKingsEatingPhilosopherBreadFlatteringSupperSubservientEating BreadLentils
Book:The Song of the Bird
Create image

“Everybody was talking about the religious man who committed suicide. While no one in the monastery approved of the man's action, some say they admired his faith. Faith?" said the Master. He had the courage of his convictions, didn't he?" That was fanaticism, not faith. Faith demands a greater courage still: to reexamine one's convictions and reject them if they do not fit the facts.”

IfsMenSaidStillsFactsActionReligiousTalkingGreaterMastersFitDemandSuicideCommittedConvictionRejectsFanaticismApprovedMonasteries
Author:Anthony de Mello
Create image

“Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had a world where everybody said, 'We don't know?' The fact is that you're surrounded -God and you don't see God, because you KNOW ABOUT God. The final barrier to the vision of God is your God concept. You miss God because you think you know. The highest knowledge of God is to know God as unknowable. All revelations, however divine, are never any more than a finger pointing at the moon. As we say in the East, 'When the sage points to the moon, all the idiot sees is the finger'.”

IfsThinkingKnowsWorldSaidGodFactsSpiritualityVisionWonderfulMissingDivineMoonHighestConceptsFingersFinalsEastIdiotRevelationsBarriersSagePointingKnowing GodKnowledge Of GodYou Think You KnowPointing Fingers
Author:Anthony de Mello
Create image

“The disciples were absorbed in a discussion of Lao-Tzu's dictum: "Those who know, do not say; Those who say, do not know." When the master entered, they asked him what the words meant. Said the master, "Which of you knows the fragrance of a rose?" All of them indicated that they knew. Then he said, "Put it into words." All of them were silent.”

KnowsSaidMastersRoseSilentBuddhistDiscussionDiscipleFragranceLaosLao Tzu
Book:One Minute Wisdom
Create image

“As the great Confucius said, "The one who would be in constant happiness must frequently change." Flow. But we keep looking back, don't we? We cling to things in the past and cling to things in the present...Do you want to enjoy a symphony? Don't hold on to a few bars of the music. Don't hold on to a couple of notes. Let them pass, let them flow. The whole enjoyment of a symphony lies in your readiness to allow the notes to pass.”

WantSaidWholeWould BePastHappinessLyingEnjoyCoupleFlowConstantNotesBarsEnjoymentLooking BackSymphonyReadiness
Author:Anthony de Mello
Create image

“I was neurotic for years. I was anxious and depressed and selfish. Everyone kept telling me to change. I resented them and I agreed with them, and I wanted to change, but simply couldn't, no matter how hard I tried. Then one day someone said to me, Don't change. I love you just as you are. Those words were music to my ears: Don't change, Don't change. Don't change . . . I love you as you are. I relaxed. I came alive. And suddenly I changed!”

YearsSaidMatterHardWantedChangeAliveLove YouChangedOne DayEarsSelfishAnxiousRelaxedNeuroticDon't Change
Author:Anthony de Mello
Create image