Quotessence
Home / Topics / Detachment Quotes

Detachment Quotes

Browse 412 quotes about Detachment.

Related topics

EmptinessNumbnessPeopleFeelsAttachmentIfsWayFeelingsMeanThinkingKnowsMenMindSoulDetachedGivingMomentsCertainSpiritTryingWorldBodyCareLooksNeedsVirtueEmotionHumansIndifferenceKindLoveMayNightPainSaidSpiritualSufferingWantArtEmptyFeltHeartLittlesMeditationSelfStillsYoga

Detachment Quotes

“I felt I was drawing close to that age, that place in life, where you realize one day what you'd told yourself was a Zen detachment turns out to be naked fear. You'd had one serious love relationship in your life and it had ended in tragedy, and the tragedy had broken something inside you. But instead of trying to repair the broken place, or at least really stop and look at it, you skated and joked. You had friends, you were a decent citizen. You hurt no one. And your life was somehow just about half of what it could be.”

TryingLooksAgeTurnsFeltRealizingHurtHalfSeriousBrokenCitizensOne DayTragedyDrawingNakedDecentDetachmentLove RelationshipPlace In Life
Author:Roland Merullo
Create image

“He is not simply looking into the mirror because he is transfixed by what he sees. Rather, the artist’s success depends as much as anything on his powers of detachment, on de-narcissizing himself… Freud… studied his own dreams not because he was a “narcissist,” but because he was a student of dreams. And whose were at once the least and most accessible of dreams, if not his own?”

IfsDreamArtistStudentsDependsMirrorsDetachmentNarcissist
Author:Philip Roth
Create image

“When you are born without the ordinary feelings and emotions shared by most other human beings, life looks different to you. It seems at times like a movie you’re walking through, more a spectator than a participant. There is above all a lack of empathy with most of mankind, a sense of detachment. But with detachment comes perspective. The less you care, the more you know, and the more you know the less you care.”

KnowsHumansLooksDifferentFeelingsSeemsCareBornHuman BeingsEmotionMankindPerspectiveWalkingEmpathyOrdinarySpectatorsDetachmentFeelings And EmotionsParticipantsLack Of Empathy
Author:Boyd Rice
Create image

“To spare oneself from grief at all cost can be achieved only at the price of total detachment, which excludes the ability to experience happiness”

AbilityGriefCostExperienceOneselfGrievingMourningPetSparesBereavementDetachmentMournGriefingGrief And MourningGrieving A DeathDeath And GrievingStages Of GriefHelp With GriefDeath GrievingDeath And MourningDeath MourningRecovering From GriefMourning Death
Book:Man for Himself: An Inquiry Into the Psychology of Ethics
Create image

“I suffer from life and from other people. I can’t look at reality face to face. Even the sun discourages and depresses me. Only at night and all alone, withdrawn, forgotten and lost, with no connection to anything real or useful — only then do I find myself and feel comforted.”

PeopleLifeFeelsLooksI CanRealRealityFacesNightSufferingLostSunConnectionsForgottenEmptinessDepressingDetachmentDiscouragingFace To FaceAll AloneNumbnessBook Of Disquiet
Book:The Book of Disquiet
Create image

“Perhaps I am a man of exceptional moods. I do not know how far my experience is common. At times I suffer from the strangest sense of detachment from myself and the world about me; I seem to watch it all from the outside, from somewhere inconceivably remote, out of time, out of space, out of the stress and tragedy of it all. This feeling was very strong upon me that night. Here was another side to my dream.”

KnowsMenWorldFeelingsDreamSeemsNightSufferingStrongSidesSpaceCommonWatchesKnow HowStressTragedyMoodVery StrongExceptionalDetachment
Author:H. G. Wells
Create image

“There are always moments when one feels empty and estranged. Such moments are most desirable, for it means the soul has cast its moorings and is sailing for distant places. This is detachment -- when the old is over and the new has not yet come. If you are afraid, the state may be distressing, but there is really nothing to be afraid of. Remember the instruction: Whatever you come across -- go beyond.”

IfsFeelsMayMeanSoulStatesMomentsRememberEmptyCastsInstructionSailingDesirableDetachmentDistressing
Author:Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Create image

“If you develop a detachment, through thoughtless awareness, God will take over, He will do your work. He will look after you. You should have faith in God that is the main thing which people don't understand what it means to have faith in God . That He is almighty, He does everything, He looks after everything, why should we worry? This is a very good way of life, is not to worry.”

PeopleIfsWayLoveShouldLooksMeanDoeWisdomLife IsSpiritWorryMeditationAwarenessYogaShould HaveVery GoodGods WillWellnessHave FaithFaith In GodAlmightyDetachmentGood WayHave Faith In God
Author:Nirmala Srivastava
Create image

“Detachment is not indifference. it is the prerequisite for effective involvement. Often what we think is best for others is distorted by our attachments to our opinions. We want others to be happy in the way we think they should be happy. It is only when we want nothing for ourselves that we are able to see clearly into others needs and understand how to serve them.”

ThinkingWayWantNeedsShouldAbleOpinionYogaIndifferenceAttachmentInvolvementDetachmentPrerequisites
Author:Mahatma Gandhi
Create image

“...for those whose favorite season is autumn with its days of cloudless sky, of spacious and clear, far-flung panoramas - those who view nature with detachment, for whom nature's appeal is primarily pictorial, classicists as opposed to romanticists, perhaps. On such a day, one is usually excited, physically exhilarated, mentally stimulated. Only not much is left for the imagination.”

FallLeftImaginationViewsClearSkySeasonsExcitedAppealsAutumnDetachmentPictorialPanoramaClassicists
Author:Charlton Ogburn
Create image

“The 'I' casts off the illusion of the 'I' and yet remains 'I'. Such is the paradox of Self-realization. The Realized do not see any paradox in it. Consider the case of the worshipper. He approaches God and prays to be absorbed in Him. He then surrenders himself in faith and by concentration. And what remains afterwards? In the place of the original 'I', self-surrender leaves a residuum of God in which the 'I' is lost. That is the highest form of devotion or surrender and the peak of detachment.”

SelfFormLostCasesPrayingQuietApproachHighestIllusionOriginalsRemainsCastsSurrenderDevotionSelf RealizationRealizationConcentrationParadoxDetachmentWorshippers
Author:Ramana Maharshi
Create image

“Concentration is not thinking of one thing. On the contrary, it is excluding all thoughts, since all thoughts obstruct the sense of one's true being. All efforts are to be directed simply to removing the veil of ignorance. Concentrating the mind solely on the Self will lead to happiness or bliss. Drawing in the thoughts, restraining them and preventing them from straying outwards is called detachment (vairagya). Fixing them in the Self is spiritual practice (sadhana). Concentrating on the heart is the same as concentrating on the Self. Heart is another name for Self.”

ThinkingMindHeartSelfSpiritualNamesEffortPracticeOne ThingIgnoranceQuietContraryDrawingBlissConcentrationVeilsDetachmentFixingPreventingConcentratingSpiritual PracticeSelf WillRestraining
Author:Ramana Maharshi
Create image

“We must have a real living determination to reach holiness. ''I will be a saint'' means I will despoil myself of all that is not God; I will strip my heart of all created things; I will live in poverty and detachment; I will renounce my will, my inclinations, my whims and fancies, and make make myself a willing slave to the will of God.”

HeartMeanRealGodMotherSufferingPovertyWillingMy HeartDeterminationSlaveSaintGods WillFancyHolinessInclinationDetachmentWhimRenounce
Book:Mother Teresa: Essential Writings
Create image

“Transcendence or detachment, leaving the body, pure love, lack of jealousy-that's the vision we are given in our culture, generally, when we think of the highest thing. . . . Another way to look at it is that the aim of the person is not to be detached, but to be more attached-to be attached to working; to be attached to making chairs or something that helps everyone; to be attached to beauty; to be attached to music.”

ThinkingWayLooksPersonsHelpingBodyCultureGivenVisionPureHighestCommitmentAimLeavingChairsAnother WayTranscendenceDetachmentDetachedPure Love
Author:Robert Bly
Create image

“Not everybody, however, has a genuine sense of humor. That calls for an altruistic detachment from oneself and a mysterious sympathy with others which is felt even before they open their mouths. Only the person who has also a gift for affection can have a true sense of humor. A good laugh is a sign of love; it may be said to give us a glimpse of, or a first lesson in, the love that God bears for every one of us.”

GivingFirstsMayPersonsSaidFeltLaughingBearsLessonsMouthsOneselfAffectionGenuineMysteriousSense Of HumorGlimpseTheologianDetachmentGood LaughSigns Of Love
Book:Belief today: three theological meditations
Create image