Quotessence
Home / Topics / Contemplation Quotes

Contemplation Quotes

Browse 1219 quotes about Contemplation.

Related topics

MenMindWorldInspirationActionIfsHumansSoulThinkingKnowsArtContemplatingMayShouldDivineMeditationObjectsFormSpiritualPeopleSelfWayBodyEyeJoyUseWellsBeautifulDoeEarthPhilosophyPrayerSpiritFeelsMysteryReflectionStatesWholeNaturalQuietSilenceUnderstandingActivityFirstsGivenHeartMusic IsVirtueConsciousnessEndsExistenceGivingIdeasInfiniteKindNeedsPureSensesSubjectsTurnsBeautyContemplative LifeCreationDreamEnoughHelpingLittlesMeanRealityReligiousTwoAimBelieveCertainCharacterDifferentEffectsEternityFactsFeelingsHighestInspirationalLastsLife IsNatureOrderPassionReasonSaintSeemsSoundWantWorshipWould BeYearsArt IsChristianClearDesireEmotionmore

Contemplation Quotes

“So, there’s this hornet’s nest. And there’s this long stick. And then there’s me. How I walk away from all of this will depend on whether I realize that some things go together and some things don’t no matter how hard you try.”

ThinkingWisdomChoicesForceWiseLogicDecisionsCombinationAnalysisContemplationThoughtfulLogicalCompatibleOppositeContemplateAnalyzeComparableCooperateIncompatibleCombineUncooperativeOpposedCompatabilityCongruentHornetHornet S NestIncongruentForce Fit
Author:Craig D. Lounsbrough
Create image

“One goal of the daily time of contemplation is to become aware of the essential in life, to become aware of that, which does not change upon death. If you can find that which is eternal in yourselves, suddenly your lives will have attained much significance and meaning.”

Life QuotesEternalContemplationEssential
Book:The Sun at Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries of the Ahlul Bayt Sufis
Create image

“Then there are the fully intentional pleasures, which, although in some way tied up with sensory or perceptual experience, are modes of exploration of the world. Aesthetic pleasures are like this. Aesthetic pleasures are contemplative - they involve studying an object OUTSIDE of the self, to which one is GIVING something (namely, attention and all that flows from it), and not TAKING, as in the pleasure that comes from drugs and drinks. Hence such pleasures are not addictive - there is no pathway to reward that can be short-circuited here, and a serotonin injection is not a cheap way of obtaining the experience of PARISFAL or THE MERCHANT OF VENICE.”

PleasureBeautyStudyContemplationAesthetics
Book:On Human Nature
Create image

“Maybe there exists an inherent contradiction in our desires. Maybe this is the reason why we never feel contentment even after the fulfilment of our desires. Maybe we desire actually of a ‘continuous desire’ or persistence of a desire and not its ‘fulfilment’ as such.”

PhilosophyDesireContemplationExistentialismContradictionIntrospectionDualityEpistemologyMetaphysical QuotesExistentialist
Book:Memoir: The Cathartic Night
Create image

“I imagined a labyrinth of labyrinths, a maze of mazes, a twisting, turning, ever-widening labyrinth that contained both past and future and somehow implied the stars. Absorbed in those illusory imaginings, I forgot that I was a pursued man; I felt myself, for an indefinite while, the abstract perceiver of the world. The vague, living countryside, the moon, the remains of the day did their work in me; so did the gently downward road, which forestalled all possibility of weariness. The evening was near, yet infinite.”

ImaginationContemplationAbstractionLabyrinth
Book:Ficciones
Create image

“The poor young man must work for his bread; he eats; when he has eaten, he has nothing left but reverie. He enters God's theater free; he sees the sky, space, the stars, the flowers, the children, the humanity in which he suffers, the creation in which he shines. He looks at humanity so much that he sees the soul, he looks at creation so much that he sees God. He dreams, he feels that he is great; he dreams some more, and he feels that he is tender. From the egotism of the suffering man, he passes to the compassion of the contemplating man. A wonderful feeling springs up within him, forgetfulness of self, and pity for all. In thinking of the countless enjoyments nature offers, gives, and gives lavishly to open souls and refuses to closed souls, he, a millionaire of intelligence, comes to grieve for the millionaires of money. All hatred leaves his heart as all light enters his mind. And is he unhappy? No. The poverty of a young man is never miserable.”

SoulGodSufferingHumanityNaturePoorCompassionPovertyCreationContemplationReverie
Book:Les Misérables
Create image

“Dying with hopelessness is to die in despair. Hope is to know the certainty of uncertainness. It is not to quantify the uncertainness as this act itself is the act in despair, but it is to know the certainty of the existence of uncertainness. To know how certain is the ‘uncertain’. The temporality of existence is uncertain, and to know the certainty of that uncertainness is to know the inevitability of death.”

HopeFreedomDespairContemplationExistentialismContradictionIntrospectionEpistemologyMetaphysical QuotesExistentialist
Book:Memoir: The Cathartic Night
Create image

“Valley of the Damned. Valkyrie Kari tells of the great warrior Crazy Horse (abridged) ’Twas written of those of long ago, That honor should be “as long as grass shall grow.” In battle honor is a fearsome beast, none can contain, In the strength of heart, it brings only shame. A mighty warrior of the plains was he, Crazy Horse of Sioux battle creed. Given to the ravages of noble, savage war, Against his enemies, he vaulted fore. Peering down from lofty mountain hold, The Horse in dream; the warrior was of olde. The promises they were broken one by one, Until only war unbridled could be hardtily done. Understanding and honor was not for those weak, Only the evil Long-knives now he eagerly did seek. The Knives came to steal, to plunder their land, To kill sacred mother with marauding, guilty hands. They had no regard for their own swelling words, With lust in their eyes, their greed greatly stirred. From southern lands came noise that Longhair did kill, Black Kettle’s camp, their blood he had spilled. Longhair destroyed all; dastard agent of evil strife, Deprived them of children and their bountiful life. Yet this lone, brave holy man stood in Longhair’s way, Crazy Horse, vision man, his plans were well framed. His command rode north hard to that destined battle, To meet wicked Longhair—to dash him from the saddle. Fate led him on to Little Bighorn, Where warriors of the sun met with sacred horn. A hellish dry place of calamitous battle, Found many a soul hearing death’s final rattle. The Long-snakes scouted for the great camp, That morn’ they set their fateful, forked-tongue attack. They raised their sabers, waved them strong, Entered eternity, their deaths foresaw. A sea of pilfered blue engulfed in crimson red, Amidst swirls of feathers sacred of the motherland. Through carnage, The Horse did lead his men, Beyond the battle, to the place where legend began. Up hill rode the bold Crazy Horse, With a thousand others to show determined force. To engage Long-knives at their last stand, Striking them down until dead was every man. Great Gall and Crazy Horse led that righteous attack, Against forceful Custer, whose plans did not lack, For ’twas he himself who boasted, wantonly said, “I will become a great chief, if my enemies I fill with lead.” With righteous honor as their sacred ally, Holy arrows that day swiftly let fly. Horse met Longhair in battle forever stayed, Defeated mighty Custer; his corpse on the field in state. Upon that fateful day, on sage choked sandy plain, Spirits clashed with spirits, for the sacred domain. Unconquerable, indomitable this sacred warrior heart, Leads many against the evil now, for this righteous court. Thus, Horse brought the valiants into stark raved battle, Battle scarred by holy wounds delivered by blue devils. Yet he would not relent, this honorable man of gifted vision, But peace came through the lie; his life ended by steel incision. Breathing his last, quiet honor came his way, “Bring my heart home, the Great Spirit will find my way.” Thus ˊtis with all whose understanding shows what may, Honor leads righteousness to death, ask they of that claim. War spirit vigilant with mighty spear and bow in hand, Leads Great Plains spirits, under his gallant command. His spirit never conquered lives it to this good day, Among the heroic mighty, let us his spirit proclaim. In the hour of travail, honor can be finely seen, Leading multitudes unto battle, their hearts boundlessly free. Cowards can never know the freedom of the plains and wind, Or how she musters a soul and the courage found within. Born in deep commune of Earth and Great Spirit above, Understanding and honor flow from hearts of great love. One without understanding is a fool at best, One without honor is a spirit that ne’er rests. O’ majestic One of the relentless plain, The mountains ring joyous with thy name.”

RespectContemplationPatriotismFamily RelationshipsNative AmericansCrazy HorseHonorable PersonPoetry Love SpiritualityHeroes Of The Frontier
Author:douglas laurent
Create image

“Perhaps the small, elderly brother mutely splitting firewood and stacking it in a buckling, corrugated-iron water tank was heard in Heaven more compellingly than the rest of us put together. Maybe there comes a time when the one who lives to pray at last steps over an invisible threshold and into a place where liturgical form, word and gesture dissolve. Where feeding scraps of stale bread to a young magpie translates into intercession that is as fervent as it is unobserved, as effective as it is inexplicable.”

PrayerSilenceMindfulnessWorshipContemplationContemplative PrayerContemplative LivingPractice Of Presence Of God
Book:The Abbot’s Shoes: Seeking a Contemplative Life
Create image

“We cultivate inner stillness through the practice of contemplation or awareness. Behind the normal goings-on of everyday life, we try to have a consistent wakefulness. We learn to watch what we are thinking, what other people are thinking, and what is the spiritual truth of any given situation. We live in two realms. One is the visible human realm. The other is the invisible spiritual realm. This is not obvious to anyone except those who do the same thing. Then it is instantly recognisable.”

SoulTruthSilenceAwarenessThoughtAwakeContemplationStillnessMetaphysicsWakefulness
Book:Pittown
Create image

“When we really want to hear, and be heard by, someone we love, we do not go rushing into noisy crowds. Silence is a form of intimacy. That’s how we experience it with our friends and lovers. As relationships grow deeper and more intimate, we spend more and more quiet time alone with our lover. We talk in low tones about the things that matter. We do not shout them to each other. We may shout about them to others, but quietness is the hallmark of love.”

LoveSpiritualityPrayerSilenceMeditationDevotionContemplationContemplative PrayerQuakersSociety Of Friends
Book:Holy Silence: The Gift Of Quaker Spirituality
Create image

“Personal ignorance and shallow thoughts led me to misconstrue reality. Instead of taking an occasional respite from meeting work related deadlines and reflecting upon the growth of the inner self, all my personal energy was devoted to efficiently performing daily tasks, responding to the never-ending heave of the external world of busyness. Busy people tabulate the value of their life of work by what they achieved, which can prove meritorious. We can also hide from ourselves by never devoting select intervals of quietness for self-reflection. We need periods of silence and contemplation in order to nurture our spiritual development.”

SilenceMeditationIgnoranceReflectionIgnorantContemplationQuietnessReflectQuite Time
Book:Dead Toad Scrolls
Create image

“The silent man is no longer a sign of contradiction; he is just one man too many. Someone who speaks has importance and value, whereas another who keeps quiet gets little consideration. The silent man is reduced to nothingness. The simple act of speaking imparts value. Do the words make no sense? It makes no difference.”

PoliticalPoliticsSilenceMeditationQuietSpeechContemplationPoliticiansQuietness Words
Book:The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise
Create image

“When you become responsive to the solicitations of silence, you may be called to explore the invitation. This exploration is a kind of laboratory. You may sit and observe the coming and going of perceptions. You remain present to them but do not follow them. Following a thought is what maintains it. If you remain present without becoming an accomplice, agitation slows down through lack of fuel. In the absence of agitation you are taken by the resonance of stillness.”

SilenceMeditationMindfulnessInner PeaceOnenessContemplationNondualityVedantaContemplative Living
Book:Who Am I?: The Sacred Quest
Create image

“If God speaks to us even in silence, we in turn discover in silence the possibility of speaking with God and about God. “We need that silence which becomes contemplation, which introduces us into God’s silence and brings us to the point where the Word, the redeeming Word, is born” (Homily, Eucharistic Celebration with Members of the International Theological Commission, 6 October 2006). In speaking of God’s grandeur, our language will always prove inadequate and must make space for silent contemplation. Out of such contemplation springs forth, with all its inner power, the urgent sense of mission, the compelling obligation “to communicate that which we have seen and heard” so that all may be in communion with God (1 Jn 1:3). Silent contemplation immerses us in the source of that Love who directs us towards our neighbours so that we may feel their suffering and offer them the light of Christ, his message of life and his saving gift of the fullness of love.”

SilenceContemplationMission
Author:Pope Benedict XVI
Create image

“One might say I had decided to marry the silence of the forest. The sweet dark warmth of the whole world will have to be my wife. Out of the heart of that dark warmth comes the secret that is heard only in silence, but it is the root of all the secrets that are whispered by all the lovers in their beds all over the world. So perhaps I have an obligation to preserve the stillness, the silence, the poverty, the virginal point of pure nothingness which is at the center of all other loves. I attempt to cultivate this plant without contempt in the middle of the night and water it with psalms and prophecies in silence. It becomes the most rare of all the trees in the garden, at once the primordial paradise tree, the axis mundi, the cosmic axle, and the Cross. Nulla silva talem profert. There is only one such tree. It cannot be multiplied. It is not interesting.”

SilenceTreeContemplationForestCrossThomas Merton
Author:Thomas Merton
Create image

“By turning his gaze upwards, (he) also turned it inwards, towards his inner silence and uncovered forgotten sides. Into that universe which to me is just as mysterious as the outer space that surrounds us. One universe stretches outwards, the other inwards. To me the latter universe is of the greatest interest. For, as the poet Emily Dickinson rightly concluded, “The Brain—is wider than the Sky.”

SoulUniverseSpaceSilenceWonderContemplationIntrospection
Author:Erling Kagge
Create image

“At the same time all the houses round about promptly took part in this silence, and so did the darkness above them, reaching as far as the stars. And the footsteps of invisible passers-by, whose course I had no wish to guess at, the wind that kept on driving against the other side of the street, the gramophone singing behind closed windows in some room - they made themselves heard in this silence, as if they had owned it for ever and ever.”

SilenceMeditationContemplationKafka
Book:Contemplation
Create image

“Happiness lies even in little tiny butterflies. You just have to cpen up your eyes and see where beauty flies to beautify your world lenghtwise.”

HappinessNatureBeautyMeditationEnlightenmentZenContemplationOpennessHappiness QuotesState Of MindEverlastingOpen MindednessSeeing The WorldBelievingEnduringSeeing Things In A Different WayTiny Beautiful ThingsZen And The Art Of HappinessOpen Minded LifeOpen Up Your EyesButterflieLenghtwise
Book:A-Z of Happiness: Tips for Living and Breaking Through the Chain that Separates You from Getting That Dream Job
Create image

“Happiness lies even in ltiny ittle butterflies. You just have to open up your eyes and see where beauty flies to beautify your world lenghtwise.”

HappinessNatureBeautyMeditationEnlightenmentZenContemplationOpennessHappiness QuotesState Of MindEverlastingOpen MindednessSeeing The WorldBelievingEnduringSeeing Things In A Different WayTiny Beautiful ThingsZen And The Art Of HappinessOpen Minded LifeOpen Up Your EyesButterflieLenghtwise
Book:A-Z of Happiness: Tips for Living and Breaking Through the Chain that Separates You from Getting That Dream Job
Create image

“Happiness lies even in tiny little butterflies. You just have to open up your eyes and see where beauty flies to beautify your world lenghtwise.”

HappinessNatureBeautyMeditationEnlightenmentZenContemplationOpennessHappiness QuotesState Of MindEverlastingOpen MindednessSeeing The WorldBelievingEnduringSeeing Things In A Different WayTiny Beautiful ThingsZen And The Art Of HappinessOpen Minded LifeOpen Up Your EyesButterflieLenghtwise
Book:A-Z of Happiness: Tips for Living and Breaking Through the Chain that Separates You from Getting That Dream Job
Create image

“Contemplation is purer still, yet more sophisticated. This comes from a strongly developed base of concentration—basically, constancy—through any temptation, including altered states of consciousness, that leads one to meditation (effortless engagement), from which is born an intuitive connection to that which is being focused upon (often, the nature of being in the moment, which is the default “focus”). Some people can attain this state accidentally through some combination of surprising events, which is sometimes called revelation. Fewer still can cause this to happen intentionally, mainly because you have to surprise yourself to have it occur. In any case, it requires a real sense of the value of paradox. One leaves a single position behind (such as “I like this” or “I don’t like this”) and expands in comprehension to simultaneously experience its opposite as well. From there, one rises above the two through a creative burst of intuition, and looks down on them both. What you might call transcendence, although I prefer mildly amused.”

HumorInspirationHappinessPurposeCreativityMeditationBuddhismEvolutionConscienceCuriosityIntuitionZenWell BeingBreathingContemplationTaoismMysticismBreathComparative ReligionCobaltsaffronDarrell CalkinsAsian PhilosophyCobaltsaffron RetreatDarrell Calkins CobaltsaffronDarrell Calkins RetreatDarrell Calkins SeminarCobalt Saffron RetreatDarrell Calkins Cobalt SaffronPersonal Skills Development
Book:Re:
Create image

“I believe that true art should challenge viewers intellectually, prompting them to engage in a deeper thought process. It shouldn't just be visually pleasing; it should compel people to question, reflect, and perhaps even reconsider their perspectives as well. Honest art goes beyond surface-level beauty to stimulate meaningful contemplation and dialogue.”

ArtPerspectiveDialogueContemplationThought ProcessTo QuestionVisually PleasingDefining ArtTo Reflect
Author:Monika Ajay Kaul
Create image