Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Alan Watts

Quote by Alan Watts

“Yet again, the more you strive for some kind of perfection or mastery—in morals, in art or in spirituality—the more you see that you are playing a rarified and lofty form of the old ego-game, and that your attainment of any height is apparent to yourself and to others only by contrast with someone else's depth or failure.”

Quote by Alan Watts

Create image

Author

Alan Watts
Alan Watts

Alan Watts was a British philosopher, writer, and speaker known for his exploration of the relationship between Eastern and Western thought, particularly focusing on Zen Buddhism and its influence on Western culture. His work has influenced many in the areas of spirituality, psychology, and the philosophy of science. more

You May Also Like

“Many of our tribe went to the cliff each night to count the number killed during the day. They counted the dead otter and thought of the beads and other things that each pelt meant. But I never went to the cove and whenever I saw the hunters with their long spears skimming over the water, I was angry, for these animals were my friends. It was fun to see them playing or sunning themselves among the kelp. It more fun than the thought of beads to wear around my neck.”

LongNightFunWaterAnimalNumbersSawsMy FriendsAngryNecksTribesHuntersCliffsSpearsBeadsOttersSkimming
Book:Island of the Blue Dolphins: The Complete Reader's Edition
Create image

“You have seen that the universe is at root a magical illusion and a fabulous game, and that there is no separate "you" to get something out of it, as if life were a bank to be robbed. The only real "you" is the one that comes and goes, manifests and withdraws itself eternally in and as every conscious being. For "you" is the universe looking at itself from billions of points of view, points that come and go so that the vision is forever new.”

IfsRealWisdomSpiritualUniverseGamesViewsVisionForeverIllusionConsciousRootsPoint Of ViewBillionsFabulousComes And GoesReal You
Author:Alan Watts
Create image

“What we see as death, empty space, or nothingness is only the trough between the crests of this endlessly waving ocean. It is all part of the illusion that there should seem to be something to be gained in the future, and that there is an urgent necessity to go on and on until we get it. Yet just as there is no time but the present, and no one except the all-and-everything, there is never anything to be gained - though the zest of the game is to pretend that there is.”

ShouldSeemsGamesSpaceGoes OnFutureOceanIllusionEmptyNothingnessUrgentEmpty SpaceZestTrough
Author:Alan Watts
Create image

“Great writers, I discovered, were not to be bowed down before and worshipped, but embraced and befriended. Their names resounded through history not because they had massive brows and thought deep incomprehensible thoughts, but because they opened windows in the mind, they put their arms round you and showed you things you always knew but never dared to believe. Even if their names were terrifyingly foreign and intellectual sounding, Dostoevsky, Baudelaire or Cavafy, they turned out to be charming and wonderful and quite unalarming after all.”

IfsMindBelieveNamesWonderfulArmsIntellectualWindowRoundsMassiveCharmingBrowsGreat WritersBaudelaire
Author:Stephen Fry
Create image

“....called to give you the good news. I asked our daughter to marry me and she accepted. Congratulations, I will officially your son-in-law. Now, do you want me to call you zmum straightaway, or wait until after the wedding?" I lew through the ir in a dive tht finally tackled him, wrenching the phone away. Bones was laughing so hard he had to breathe to get it all out. "Mom? Are you there? Mom.....?" "You might want to give her a moment, Kitten. I believe she fainted.”

WantGivingBelieveHardMomentsMightLawI BelieveWaitingLaughingSonMomNewsDaughterPhonesBonesBreatheAcceptedWant MeGood NewsCongratulationsIn-lawsKittenYou Want MeOur DaughterIrsYour SonMarry MeDo You Want MeSon-in-lawLaughing So Hard
Author:Jeaniene Frost
Create image

“Hey, I'm going to Super Dog for a quick bite and to pass along a message from a dead guy to his girlfriend. You should come with me." "I can't go with you." "Is it because of my questionable morals?" "No, it's because it's three o'clock in the afternoon and I have to pick up Amber from school." "Oh, right. So the morals thing doesn't bother you?”

ShouldI CanSchoolGuyThreeMoralDogMessagesPicksHeyClockBotherGirlfriendBitesAfternoonAmberQuestionable
Book:Third Grave Dead Ahead
Create image