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Contemplation Quotes

Browse 1219 quotes about Contemplation.

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Contemplation Quotes

“Without my attempts in natural science, I should never have learned to know mankind such as it is. In nothing else can we so closely approach pure contemplation and thought, so closely observe the errors of the senses and of the understanding, the weak and strong points of character.”

KnowsShouldCharacterStrongUnderstandingNaturalMankindPureApproachWeakErrorsSensesContemplationNatural ScienceWeak And Strong
Book:Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann
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“Love is like some fresh spring, first a stream and then a river, changing its aspect and its nature as it flows to plunge itself in some boundless ocean, where restricted natures only find monotony, but where great souls are engulfed in endless contemplation.”

ThinkingLoveFirstsSoulLove IsHuman NatureOceanSpringAspectFlowRiversEndlessContemplationStreamsThoughtfulBoundlessPlungeLove Is LikeMonotonyGreat Souls
Book:The Magic Skin: Or The Wild Ass's Skin
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“I sing, not arms and the hero, but the philosophic man: he who seeks in contemplation to discover the inner will of the world, ininvention to discover the means of fulfilling that will, and in action to do that will by the so-discovered means.”

MenWorldMeanActionArmsHeroPhilosophicalContemplationFulfillingPhilosophic
Book:The Collected Plays of George Bernard Shaw (Illustrated): Including Renowned Titles like Pygmalion, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Candida, Arms and The Man, Man and Superman, The Inca Of Perusalem, Macbeth Skit, Caesar and Cleopatra, Androcles And The Lion
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“Idealism sees the world in God. It beholds the whole circle of persons and things, of actions and events, of country and religion,not as painfully accumulated, atom after atom, act after act, in an aged creeping Past, but as one vast picture, which God paints on the instant eternity, for the contemplation of the soul.”

WorldPersonsSoulCountryWholeGodActionPastEventsEternityPaintCirclesInstantContemplationAtomsIdealism
Book:Ralph Waldo Emerson
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“The study of the properties of numbers, Plato tells us, habituates the mind to the contemplation of pure truth, and raises us above the material universe. He would have his disciples apply themselves to this study, not that they may be able to buy or sell, not that they may qualify themselves to be shopkeepers or travelling merchants, but that they may learn to withdraw their minds from the ever-shifting spectacle of this visible and tangible world, and to fix them on the immutable essences of things.”

WorldMindMayAbleUniverseNumbersStudyMaterialsPureEssenceMathematicsRaisesSellsPropertyContemplationVisibleDisciplePlatoShiftingTangibleMerchantsShopkeepers
Author:Thomas B. Macaulay
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“Happiness is not an end - it is only a means, and adjunct, a consequence. The Omnipotent Himself could never be supposed by any, save those who out of their own human selfishness construct the attributes of Divinity, to be absorbed throughout eternity in the contemplation of His own ineffable bliss, were it not identical with His ineffable goodness and love.”

HumansMeanEndsGoodnessConsequenceAnd LoveEternitySelfishnessBlissContemplationDivinityAttributesConstructsIdenticalOmnipotentIneffable
Author:Dinah Maria Murlock Craik
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“Learn to self-conquest, persevere thus for a time, and you will perceive very clearly the advantage which you gain from it. As soon you apply yourself to orison, you will at once feel your senses gather themselves together: they seem like bees which return to the hive and there shut themselves up to work at the making of honey. At the first call of the will, they come back more and more quickly. At last, after countless exercises, of this kind, God disposes them to a state of utter rest and of perfect contemplation.”

FeelsFirstsKindSelfStatesSeemsTogetherLastsPerfectReturnExerciseGainsAdvantageSensesPerceiveContemplationHoneyBeesConquestPersevereHives
Author:Teresa of Avila
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“The naive which is simultaneously beautiful, poetic, and idealistic, must be both intention and instinct. The essence of intention, in this sense, is freedom. Consciousness is far from intention. There is a certain enamoured contemplation of one's own naturalness or silliness which itself is unspeakably silly. Intention does not necessarily require a profound calculation or plan.”

DoeBeautifulCertainConsciousnessPlansEssenceIntentionInstinctProfoundSillyContemplationPoeticNaiveCalculationsIdealisticSilliness
Author:Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
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“The bud, though plucked, would not be withered, only transplanted to a fitter soil to ripen and blow beneath a brighter sun; and though I might not cherish and watch my child's unfolding intellect, he would be snatched away from all the suffering and sins of earth; and my understanding tells me this would be no great evil; but my heart shrinks from the contemplation of such a possibility, and whispers I could not bear to see him die.”

HeartChildrenMightWould BeEarthSufferingDiesEvilUnderstandingSinWatchesSunPossibilityBearsMy HeartBlowIntellectMy ChildrenContemplationSoilCherishShrinksBrighterBudUnfoldingWithered
Author:Anne Bronte
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“There is no lasting pleasure but contemplation; all others grow flat and insipid upon frequent use; and when a man hath run through a set of vanities, in the declension of his age, he knows not what to do with himself, if he cannot think; he saunters about from one dull business to another, to wear out time; and hath no reason to value Life but because he is afraid of death.”

IfsThinkingKnowsMenReasonUseRunningAgeValuesGrowsPleasureVanityContemplationDullNo ReasonFlatsLastingAfraid Of DeathInsipid
Author:Gilbert Burnet
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“Have a sense of piety ever on your mind, and be ever mindful that this is subject to no change, but will last you as long as life and support you in death. Elevate your soul by prayer and by contemplation without mystical enthusiasm.”

MindLongSoulLastsPrayerSupportSubjectsEnthusiasmYour SoulContemplationMysticalPietySupport You
Book:Boswell in Holland, 1763-1764: Including His Correspondence with Belle de Zuylen (Zélide)
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“It is difficult to explain to children in the "overdeveloped" nations that not all children in the world have such beautiful and nourishing food. Awareness of this fact alone can help us overcome many of our own psychological pains. Eventually our contemplation can help us see how to assist those who need our help so much.”

WorldNeedsChildrenFactsHelpingPainBeautifulNationsPeaceDifficultAwarenessOvercomingPsychologicalContemplationPsychological Pain
Author:Nhat Hanh
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“"It is light that reveals, light that obscures, light that communicates. It is light I "listen" to. The light late in the day has a distinct quality, as it fades toward the darkness of evening. After sunset there is a gentle leaving of the light, the air begins to still, and a quiet descends. I see magic in the quiet light of dusk. I feel quiet, yet intense energy in the natural elements of our habitat. A sense of magic prevails. A sense of mystery. It is a time for contemplation, for listening - a time for making photographs. "”

FeelsStillsLightEnergyNaturalQualityDarknessMagicAirMysteryListeningQuietElementsLatePhotographyLeavingPhotographerPhotographCommunicateIntenseEveningGentleContemplationSunsetFadesDuskHabitatNatural Elements
Author:John Sexton
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“Gentlemen, the character of Washington is among the most cherished contemplations of my life. It is a fixed star in the firmament of great names, shining without twinkling or obscuration, with clear, steady, beneficent light.”

CharacterLightNamesStarsClearShiningFixedGentlemanContemplationSteadyFirmamentTwinkling
Book:The Union Text Book: Containing Selections from the Writings of Daniel Webster, The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and Washington's Farewell Address
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“One may live as a conqueror, a king, or a magistrate; but he must die a man. The bed of death brings every human being to his pure individuality, to the intense contemplation of that deepest and most solemn of all relations - the relations between the creature and his Creator.”

MenHumansMayDiesHuman BeingsKingsPureBedCreaturesRelationIndividualityCreatorIntenseContemplationSolemnConquerorMagistrates
Book:THE WORKS OF DANIEL WEBSTER; VOLUME II
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“Another error is an impatience of doubt and haste to assertion without due and mature suspension of judgment. For the two ways of contemplation are not unlike the two ways of action commonly spoken of by the ancients; the one plain and smooth in the beginning, and in the end impassable; the other rough and troublesome in the entrance, but after a while fair and even. So it is in contemplation; if a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.”

IfsMenWayTwoEndsActionDoubtHealthyJudgmentFairsErrorsDuesCertaintyContemplationRoughMatureSkepticismSmoothImpatienceTwo WaysAssertionHasteEntrancesTroublesomeSuspension
Author:Francis Bacon
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“The true bounds and limitations, whereby human knowledge is confined and circumscribed,... are three: the first, that we do not so place our felicity in knowledge, as we forget our mortality: the second, that we make application of our knowledge, to give ourselves repose and contentment, and not distates or repining: the third, that we do not presume by the contemplation of Nature to attain to the mysteries of God.”

GivingFirstsHumansThreeForgetKnowledgeMysteryThirdsBoundsLimitationContemplationContentmentMortalityApplicationGod KnowsConfinedReposeFelicityHuman KnowledgeMystery Of God
Author:Francis Bacon
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“In Philosophy, the contemplations of man do either penetrate unto God, or are circumferred to Nature, or are reflected and reverted upon himself. Out of which several inquiries there do arise three knowledges, Divine Philosophy, Natural Philosophy, and Human Philosophy or Humanity. For all things are marked and stamped with this triple character of the power of God, the difference of Nature and the use of Man.”

MenHumansPhilosophyCharacterUseHumanityThreeNaturalDifferencesKnowledgeDivineAll ThingsAriseContemplationInquiryPenetratePower Of GodNatural Philosophy
Book:Philosophical works
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“But this is that which will dignify and exalt knowledge: if contemplation and action be more nearly and straitly conjoined and united together than they have been: a conjunction like unto that of the highest planets, Saturn, the planet of rest and contemplation, and Jupiter, the planet of civil society and action.”

IfsHas BeensActionTogetherUnitedKnowledgePlanetsHighestContemplationCivil SocietyJupiterConjunctionsSaturn
Book:Bacon's Advancement of Learning and the New Atlantis
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“There is a word in Old English which belongs wholly to that civilization - "dustsceawung," meaning contemplation of dust. It is a true image of the Anglo-Saxon mind, or at least an echo of that consciousness which considered transcience and loss to be part of the human estate; it was a world in which life was uncertain and the principal diety was fate or destiny or "wyrd."”

WorldMindHumansLossConsciousnessDestinyFateCivilizationDustContemplationPrincipalEchoesUncertainEstatesAnglo SaxonOld English
Author:Peter Ackroyd
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“I have often thought with wonder of the great goodness of God; and my soul has rejoiced in the contemplation of His great magnificence and mercy. May He be blessed for ever! For I see clearly that He has not omitted to reward me, even in this life, for every one of my good desires.”

MaySoulDesireWonderGoodnessMercyBlessedRewardsMy SoulThis LifeContemplationMagnificenceBeing BlessedGoodness Of God
Book:The Life of St. Teresa of Avila
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