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Impermanence Quotes

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Impermanence Quotes

“Feelings can’t always be mutual. Love tends to fizzle out over time. And even though everyone knows that, it doesn’t stop anyone from falling in love. I guess it’s the same with life. We all know it has to end someday, but even so, we act as if we’re going to live forever.”

LovePhilosophyHuman NatureAcceptanceHeartbreakLife And DeathMortalityImpermanenceIntrospectiveBittersweet
Book:If Cats Disappeared from the World
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“He looks at houses, chateaus, forests, and thinks about the countless generations who used to see those things and who are gone now; and he understands that everything he is seeing is oblivion; pure oblivion, the oblivion whose absolute state will soon be achieved, the moment he himself is gone. And again I think about the obvious idea (that astoundingly obvious idea) that everything that exists (nation, thought, music) can also not exist.”

ExistenceMortalityOblivionNon FictionImpermanenceEssayNon ExistenceEnd Of Empire
Book:Encounter
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“Meghiya, practice the contemplations on death, compassion, impermanence, and the full awareness of breathing: “To overcome desire, practice the contemplation on a corpse, looking deeply at the nine stages of the body’s decay from the time the breathing ceases to the time the bones turn to dust. “To overcome anger and hatred, practice the contemplation on compassion. It illuminates the causes of anger and hatred within our own minds and in the minds of those who have precipitated it. “To overcome craving, practice the contemplation on impermanence, illuminating the birth and death of all things. “To overcome confusion and dispersion, practice the contemplation on the full awareness of breathing. “If you regularly practice these four contemplations, you will attain liberation and enlightenment.”

DeathDesireCompassionImpermanence
Author:Thich Nhat Hanh
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“It was as though she had reached some state of acceptance about life–that if there was a bad experience, there wouldn’t only be bad experiences. She realized that she hadn’t tried to end her life because she was miserable, but because she had managed to convince herself that there was no way out of her misery. That, she supposed, was the basis of depression as well as the difference between fear and despair. Fear was when you wandered into a cellar and worried that the door would close shut. Despair was when the door closed and locked behind you.”

FearDespairMiseryImpermanence
Book:The Midnight Library
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“Each time something contingent and impermanent is raised to the status of something necessary and permanent, a devil is created. Whether it be an ego, a nation-state, or a religious belief, the result is the same. The distortion severs such things from their embeddedness in the complexities, fluidities, and ambiguities of the world and make them appear as simple, fixed, and unambiguous entities with the power to condemn or save us.”

EvilImpermanenceThe Devil
Book:Living with the devil: a meditation on good and evil
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“that was bad; i shouldn't have done that to prevent you from entering a catatonic state i am going to maintain a calm facial expression with crinkly eyes and an overall friendly demeanor i believe in a human being that is not upset i believe if you are working i should not be insane or upset--why am i ever insane or upset and not working? i vacuumed the entire house this morning i cleaned the kitchen and the computer room and i made you a meat helmet with computer paper the opportunity for change exists in each moment, all moments are alone and separate from other moments, and there are a limited number of moments and the idea of change is a delusion of positive or negative thinking your hands are covering your face and your body moves like a statue when i try to manipulate an appendage if i could just get you to cry tears of joy one more time”

HumansSadnessProductivityImpermanenceIndifferent UniverseMeat Helmet
Book:Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
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“Dealing with the death of loved one is always difficult. No matter how much we know of death, of the process of Life, no amount of preparation to accept death is sufficient. When death comes calling in our circle, we are always caught struggling to cope. Immersing yourself in celebrating the Life of the one you lose is one better way of coping. In celebration, there is an uplifting energy. It helps you to look back at each moment you can recall with the person you lost and relive them. Or support causes they supported. Through these acts you heal yourself, you train your mind to let go and move on. It is a slow process, but it works. Important, don't try to fight your sadness. It is futile. Sadness is a natural response. Feeling sad is integral to the process of dealing with a loss. Instead understand your sadness, go its root, understand its futility...and then pluck it and discard it...”

HappinessDeathLife LessonsSadnessAvis ViswanathanFall Like A Rose PetalAvis On HappynessThe HappynesswalaImpermanence
Author:AVIS Viswanathan
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“In Zen Buddhist texts they say, “You cannot nail a peg into the sky.” And so, to be a man of the sky, a man of the void, is also called ‘a man not depending on anything’. And when you’re not hung on anything you are the only thing that isn’t hung on anything – which is the universe. Which doesn’t hang, you see. Where would it hang? It has no place to fall on, even though it may be dropping; there will never be the crash of it landing on a concrete floor somewhere. But the reason for that is that it won’t crash below because it doesn’t hang above. And so there is a poem, in Chinese, which speaks of such a person as having above, not a tile to cover the head; below, not an inch of ground on which to stand.”

GodSpiritualityUniverseBuddhismZenVoidImpermanenceClingingAlan Watts
Book:Out of Your Mind
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“If we don’t insist on defining impermanence as unsatisfactory, then it’s natural to celebrate. Just a moments pause to consider the passing of the seasons is enough to convince anyone that not only is impermanence the source of all possible joy in this life but its the movement of life itself.”

AwarenessGratitudeZenHere And NowImpermanence
Book:Bad Dog!: A Memoir of Love, Beauty, and Redemption in Dark Places
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“Why are the desert blooms that spring to life after a monsoon so magnificent? The answer is – their impermanence. The lush growth and blooming flowers do not last very long here in the desert, and this new growth only happens once a year. If this growth was never-ending, we would soon take it for granted. Likewise, our human lives. What makes them so special and unique? Our fleeting impermanence.”

LifeInspirationalWisdomSpiritualGrowthConsciousnessPsychologyHumanValueAppreciationInner PeaceZenDesertImpermanenceNew GrowthMonsoonDesert BloomsDesert BeautyLife Life Lessons
Book:Living Peace: Essential Teachings For Enriching Life
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“We need to cease allowing the past to define us. We are evolving as a human race, and just because war and aggressive competition has always been a part of our heritage, that doesn’t mean we are forever destined to war and engage in aggressive competition. We are moving forward to a time when the heart will guide us. We once had to fight to survive, and some still do. Yet now it is time to lay down our weapons and open our hearts to the expansive potential of human compassion and creativity. Where our attention goes, energy flows. Do we continue to focus on opposition and give it our energy? Or do we begin to focus our energy on our own authentic freedom to shine and help to illuminate the world? The choice is ours. There are no mistakes – you are exactly where you need to be, and you were born with the precise gifts needed to transform a dying world into a thriving planet.”

InspirationalWarWisdomSpiritualGrowthChangeFreedomConsciousnessCompassionCreativityPsychologyCompetitionInner PeaceZenReleaseImpermanenceThrivingReleasing The PastRelearning
Book:Living Peace: Essential Teachings For Enriching Life
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“Most days, I’ve got this impermanence thing down just great. It doesn’t bother me; what’s to bother? Most days, I sit comfortably with the knowledge that I’ll die alone, and I feel nothing so strongly as my embrace of my nothingness. Most days don’t really matter, because there is only this day, and right now I feel like fear is all I am. I don’t want you to leave. Just let me pretend you won’t.' He wrapped his arms around me and we slept. For that night, we would last forever.”

WantLoveDesirePassionFearForeverLonelinessInfiniteEmbraceLeavingLustHeartacheImpermanenceSnuggle
Author:Agnostic Zetetic
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“Life, death, preservation, loss, failure, success, poverty, riches, worthiness, unworthiness, slander, fame, hunger, thirst, cold, heat - these are the alternations of the world, the workings of fate. Day and night they change place before us, and wisdom cannot spy out their source. Therefore, they should not be enough to destroy your harmony; they should not be allowed to enter the storehouse of the spirit. If you can harmonize and delight in them, master them and never be at a loss for joy; if you can do this day and night without break and make it be spring with everything, mingling with all and creating the moment within your own mind - this is what I call being whole in power.”

ChangeFateHarmonyWholenessImpermanenceEquanimity
Book:The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu
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“Ebb and Flow by Stewart Stafford Happiness, briefest harbour in a squall; Tempests funnel us to splintered docks, High-seas missions to a last port of call, Fading feast taste of a haven of stasis. Weather springs with raging misprision, All things far beyond fingertip calculation, If we go off course with Fool's Gold vision, The reefs of avarice shall starkly claim us. We set sail or are torn from fragile sanctuary, All these stays, noted in the strangers' ledger, The Fate Morgana's captain - marine actuary, Virtual kin crew with fish and fowl companions. © 2025, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.”

FateExistentialismMortalityImpermanenceNauticalDark PoetryGothic PoetryMaritime StoriesSea PoetryOcean Poetry
Author:Stewart Stafford
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“Our lives are constantly in a state of change and evolution. The things that cause you to identify as “you” are temporary, moving foundations. “You” were once just a mere collection of microscopic cells. Then you were a baby, and then a teenager, and so on. I am not the person that I was at 5, 16, or 24 years old (I am so thankful for this). Your attitudes will change; your beliefs will change; your clothes will change; your hair will change; your jobs will change. Everything will change!”

ChangeIdentityImpermanenceNote To SelfIdentifyChange Is ConstantGrowing QuotesWho Are You ReallyWho Am I Quotes
Author:Eric Overby
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“I have started to spend my Fridays playing tennis with a boy from my class, and he said we would only do it as long as the weather permitted. I have started looking forward to Fridays. It is getting colder everyday, this is the worst part of living in New England: how quickly the seasons change. But what a joy it is to have something, anything, just for a little while. What a privilege it is to hold something so precious, so small, so unspoken, and to wince when you have to let go. What a treat to have so much life grace these fingertips, to love so much that I now know such loss. What a curse to have it all move so quickly, to have it be out of reach so fast.”

TimeChangeLossSeasonsImpermanenceTime Passing
Book:Push and Pull
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“Beloved one You are not something that has been created. You did not come into the realm of being from non-being. You are a wonderful manifestation like a pink cloud on the top of a mountain or a mysterious moonlit night. You are a flowing stream. The continuation of so many wonders you are not a separate self. You are yourself but you are also me You cannot take the pink cloud out of my fragrant tea this morning And I cannot drink my tea without drinking my cloud I am in you and you are in me If we take me out of you then you would not be able to manifest as you are manifesting now If we take you out of me I would not be able to manifest as I am manifesting now We cannot manifest without one another We have to wait for each other in order to manifest together.”

CompassionImpermanenceNon Self
Author:Thich Nhat Hanh
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“The unification of mind in śamatha is temporary and conditioned. However, the unification around Insight is far more profound, and it’s permanent. When temporary unification around a shared intention fades, each sub-mind operates as a separate entity, constrained by and at the mercy of the mind-system as a whole. Therefore, individual sub-minds strive to preserve their autonomy and, as much as possible, direct the resources of the mind-system toward their individual goals. Yet after Insight, the various sub-minds become unified around a shared Insight into impermanence, emptiness, suffering, no-Self, and interconnectedness. From this flow a corresponding set of shared values: harmlessness, compassion, and loving-kindness. Now each sub-mind operates as an independent part of a much greater whole, working for the good of that whole. This allows each sub-mind to do its job effectively, without running into fundamental conflicts with other sub-minds. When enough of the mind-system has undergone this transformation, we’re able to function as an individual person while simultaneously perceiving ourselves as part of an indivisible and inconceivably greater whole.”

WholeCompassionInsightImpermanenceInterconnectednessLoving KindnessUnificationHarmlessnessMind SystemSub Mind
Book:The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science
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“Consider the sunlight. You may see it is near, yet if you follow it from world to world you will never catch it in your hands. Then you may describe it as far away and, lo, you will see it just before your eyes. Follow it and, behold, it escapes you; run from it and it follows you close. You can neither possess it nor have done with it. From this example you can understand how it is with the true Nature of all things and, henceforth, there will be no need to grieve or to worry about such things.”

TruthZenImpermanenceBuddhaNature Of Things
Book:The Zen Teaching of Huang Po: On the Transmission of Mind
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