Quotessence
Home / Authors / Richard Bach
Richard Bach

Richard Bach Quotes

Writer

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsJonathan Livingston SeagullLivingston SeagullJonathan SeagullWorldKnowsMessiahWayThinkingSeagullInspirationalWantLifeAviationPeopleIdeasBelieveFlyingMatterChoices

Famous Richard Bach Quotes

“We [people] have the power to destroy ourselves as well as the environment. As a species we love what I'd call brinks-person-ship, going right to the edge of disaster and somehow managing to pull back and recover. But my bet is still on the creative and playful and positive in the species. I think we will manage to survive and gradually turn things around.”

PeopleThinkingWellsPersonsStillsTurnsCreativeEnvironmentSpeciesEdgesDisasterShipsManage
Author:Richard Bach
Create image

“Some religions believe that there's a hierarchy, that you don't have a connection, but you must go through the shaman or the priest or whoever the religious leader is. And that's what surprises me, that some people who find a huge value in these kinds of systems also seem to enjoy ILLUSIONS. I can't figure it out.”

PeopleBelieveKindI CanSeemsValuesEnjoyReligiousLeaderFiguresHugeIllusionConnectionsSurprisePriestsHierarchySurprise MeReligious Leaders
Author:Richard Bach
Create image

“To me, one of the most profound questions we can ask is: "So what?" And so what if there's an indefinite number of worlds with alternate "us-es" in them? The "so what," to me, comes alive when I ask myself: "What if I could find a way to get in touch with those alternate mes who made those choices?" That is, persons who, if I saw them now, I wouldn't even recognize because their choices, once small, have multiplied to make them such different people.”

PeopleIfsWorldWayPersonsMadeDifferentChoicesAsksNumbersSawsAliveProfoundIf I CouldWhat IfDifferent Peoples
Author:Richard Bach
Create image

“A writer, or a beginning writer, is faced by the huge walls of self-consciousness. Most people think, "What if I say the wrong thing? What if I don't sound erudite and sophisticated? I'll be considered a fool." In time, with a lot of practice, you realize that's your foolishness is your gift.”

PeopleIfsThinkingSelfSoundRealizingConsciousnessPracticeHugeWallFoolWhat IfSophisticatedFoolishnessWrong ThingsSelf ConsciousnessEruditeBeginning Writers
Author:Richard Bach
Create image

“Have you ever felt so at one with the world, with the universe, with everything that is, that you were overcome with love? That is reality. That is the truth. What we make of it is up to us, as the painting of the sunrise is up to the artist. In our world humanity has strayed from that love. It lives hatred and power struggles and manipulations of the earth itself for its own narrow reasons. Continue and no one will see the sunrise. The sunrise will always exist, of course, but people on earth will know nothing of it and finally even stories of its beauty will fade from our knowing.”

PeopleKnowsWorldReasonStoriesRealityEarthArtistHumanityUniverseCoursesFeltStruggleKnowingPaintingHatredOvercomingManipulationOur WorldFadesSunrisePower Struggle
Author:Richard Bach
Create image

“Flying has always been to me this wonderful metaphor. In order to fly you have to trust what you can't see. Up on the mountain ridges where very few people have been I have thought back to what every flyer knows. That there is this special world in which we dwell that's not marked by boundaries, it's not a map. We're not hedged about with walls and desks. So often in an office the very worst thing that can happen is you could drop your pencil. Out there's a reminder that are a lot worse things, and a lot greater rewards.”

PeopleKnowsWorldHas BeensHappensOrderGreaterWonderfulWorstSpecialWallMountainOfficeRewardsMetaphorFlyingBoundariesFlightAviationMapsDesksWorst ThingsPencilsRemindersRidgesFlyers
Author:Richard Bach
Create image

“Here's how the people live here, in big house-shaped boxes to keep off 'rain' and 'snow,' holes cut in the sides so they can see out. They move around in smaller boxes, painted different colours, with wheels on the corners. They need this box-culture because each person thinks of herself and himself as locked in a box called a 'body,' arms and legs, fingers to move pencils and tools, languages because they've forgotten how to communicate, eyes because they've forgotten how to see. Odd little planet. Wish you were here. Home soon.”

PeopleThinkingNeedsLittlesPersonsDifferentHomeBodyBigsEyeMovingCultureHouseLanguageWishSidesCuttingPlanetsArmsRainToolsFingersForgottenBoxesCommunicateCornersLegsHolesSnowOddWheelsColourLockedPencilsWish YouArms And LegsBig HousesRain And SnowDifferent Colours
Author:Richard Bach
Create image

“If we change in different directions, then we don't have any future anyway, do we? I think it's possible for two people to change together, to grow together and enrich instead of diminish each other. The sum of one and one, if they're the right ones, can be infinity! But so often one person drags the other down; one person wants to go up like a balloon and the other's a dead weight. I've always wondered what it would be like if both people, if a woman and a man both wanted to go up like balloons!”

PeopleIfsThinkingMenWantPersonsTwoDifferentWould BeWantedTogetherGrowsChangeFutureWeightInfinityDragDiminishBalloonsDifferent Directions
Author:Richard Bach
Create image