Quotessence
Home / Topics / Presence Of Mind Quotes

Presence Of Mind Quotes

Browse 47 quotes about Presence Of Mind.

Related topics

Men

Presence Of Mind Quotes

“It was nice to be out, despite the wind, and I decided to walk instead of taking the bus, enjoying what remained of the sun. There were plenty of other people with the same idea. It felt good to be part of a throng, and I took gentle pleasure in mingling. I dropped twenty pence into the paper cup of a man sitting on the pavement with a very attractive dog. I bought a fudge doughnut from Greggs and ate it as I walked. I smiled at a spectacularly ugly baby who was shaking his fist at me from a garish pushchair. Noticing details, that was good. Tiny slivers of life---they all added up and helped you to feel that you too could be a fragment, a little piece of humanity who usefully filled a space, however minuscule.”

JoyAwarenessMindfulnessPresence Of MindSmall Things Matter
Book:Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
Create image

“Doesn't Mr. Allan preach magnificent sermons? Mrs. Lynde says he is improving every day and the first thing we know some city church will gobble him up and then we'll be left and have to turn to and break in another green peacher. But I don't see the use of meeting trouble halfway, do you, Marilla? I think it would be better just to enjoy Mr. Allan while we have him.”

JoyGratitudeMindfulnessInner PeacePresentPresence Of Mind
Book:Anne of Green Gables
Create image

“He’d dive deeper and deeper into the calming depths of the sea, safe from the storms on the surface. And when he found himself coming up for air to interact with an unbalanced person who was stuck in the methodical illusion of the game, it would be his wealth of knowledge instead of his wealth of coin that would allow him to act like a cruise liner upon the surface of the sea, too immense for waves to agitate.”

WisdomLife LessonsLife And LivingEnlightenmentPresence Of MindCalming The MindTruth In FictionMethodical IllusionThe Beasts Of Success
Book:The Beasts of Success
Create image

“I seek more than diminishing pain. I want to experience a splendid life, a life full of gaiety, charming people, beautiful panoramas, outstanding adventures, and sublime interpersonal experiences. In place of squandering personal resources and wasting valuable time, yearning to satisfying these improbable goals, I wish to learn from gross errors. I desire to cease castigating myself for prior mistakes. A realistic personal goal is striving to achieve presence of mind, demonstrate consistent attentiveness to the present, rather than continually worry about the past or the future.”

MemoirLive In The MomentLive In The PresentMemoir WritingLive In The NowPresence Of MindAttentiveCastigation
Book:Dead Toad Scrolls
Create image

“I'm speaking of the pursuit of excellence in all things. All things! Presence of mind and devotion to craft. A great artist has these. A great chef. A great master of tea. There's powerful kung fu in a well-built house or an eloquent letter, but the limit of your imagination is bones breaking and bullets flying.”

MindWellsArtistHouseImaginationPowerfulMastersLimitsBuiltAll ThingsLettersExcellenceBonesPursuitFlyingDevotionCraftsTeaBulletsChefGreat ArtGreat ArtistEloquentKung FuPresence Of MindPursuit Of Excellence
Author:Scott Lynch
Create image

“The mere animal pleasure of travelling in a wild unexplored country is also great. The effect of travel on a man whose heart is in the right place is that the mind is made more self-reliant: it becomes more confident of its own resources, there is greater presence of mind.”

MenMindHeartMadeSelfCountryPleasureAnimalGreaterEffectsResourcesMereRight PlaceUnexploredSelf ReliantPresence Of Mind
Book:The Last Journals of David Livingstone, in Central Africa, from 1865 to His Death, Volume I (of 2), 1866-1868
Create image

“I had often heard Mentor say, that the voluptuous were never brave, and I now found by experience that it was true; for the Cyprians whose jollity had been so extravagant and tumultuous, now sunk under a sense of their danger and wept like women. I heard nothing but the screams of terror and the wailings of hopeless distress. Some lamented the loss of pleasures that were never to return; but none had presence of mind either to undertake or direct the navigation of the menaced vessel.”

MindFoundLossPleasureHeardDangerReturnDirectBraveTerrorHopelessScreamMentorDistressVesselExtravagantNavigationWailingVoluptuousPresence Of Mind
Author:Francois Fenelon
Create image

“Fearlessness is a more than ordinary strength of mind, which raises the soul above the troubles, disorders, and emotions which theprospect of great dangers are used to produce. And by this inward strength it is that heroes preserve themselves in a calm and quiet state, and enjoy a presence of mind and the free use of their reason in the midst of those terrible accidents that amaze and confound other people.”

PeopleMindSoulStatesReasonUseUsedEnjoyEmotionTroubleDangerProduceHeroTerribleQuietOrdinaryBraveryRaisesCalmAccidentsPreservesMidstDisorderInwardFearlessnessStrength Of MindPresence Of Mind
Author:Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Create image

“That is very fine; but it is impossible to make the men perfect; the men will always remain the same as they are now; and no legislation will make a man have more presence of mind, or, I believe, make him more cautious; and besides that, the next time such an accident occurs, the circumstances will be so different, that the instructions given to the men, in consequence of the former accident, will not apply.”

MenMindBelieveDifferentNextGivenI BelievePerfectImpossibleHe ManFineCircumstancesConsequenceSafetyAccidentsFormerAviationInstructionNext TimeLegislationCautiousPresence Of Mind
Author:Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Create image

“It requires enormous presence of mind or rather quickness of wit, when opening your eyes to seize hold as it were of everything in the room at exactly the same place where you had let it go on the previous evening. That is why the moment of waking up was the riskiest moment of the day. Once that was well over without deflecting you from your orbit, you could take heart of grace for the rest of the day.”

MindWellsHeartMomentsEyeRoomsGraceGoes OnWake UpWitEnormousOpeningEveningWakingLet It GoOrbitQuicknessPresence Of MindDeflectingOpening Your Eyes
Book:The Metamorphosis
Create image

“I say yes to the hot bath and the sandwich - to getting ourselves into the best possible mental shape to identify and then fight the necessary fights from the best possible mind-state: calm, loving, affectionate, precise. Not pushovers but also not zealots. With the idea in mind that "our enemies" are not our enemies; they might seem like that in their present form but that form can morph. We really are large, and really do contain multitudes. But I think it all has to start with a kindly presence of mind, and the aspiration to affection for others.”

ThinkingMindIdeasStatesSeemsMightFormFightingEnemyShapesHotCalmAffectionAspirationMultitudesPreciseBathsSandwichesAffectionateZealotPresence Of MindHot BathsPushovers
Author:George Saunders
Create image

“Nothing fires the warrior’s heart more with courage than to find himself and his comrades at the point of annihilation, at the brink of being routed and overrun, and then to dredge not merely from one’s own bowels or guts but from one’s discipline and training the presence of mind not to panic, not to yield to the possession of despair, but instead to complete those homely acts of order which Dienekes had ever declared the supreme accomplishment of the warrior: to perform the commonplace under far-from-commonplace conditions.”

MindHeartOrderFireConditionsDisciplineDespairTrainingPossessionSupremeWarriorAccomplishmentGutsYieldPanicCommonplaceComradeAnnihilationHomelyBowelsPresence Of Mind
Book:Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae
Create image

“I can't believe he didn't have the dignity and presence of mind just to get drunk and pass out in some gutter," said Jace. "I must say, I'm disappointed in the little fellow.”

MindBelieveLittlesSaidI CanDignityFellowsDrunkDisappointedJaceGuttersPresence Of Mind
Book:Cassandra Clare: The Mortal Instrument Series (3 books): City of Bones; City of Ashes; City of Glass
Create image

“Shut up," I hissed. Ticked that he was taller than me, I stepped up onto a nearby coffee table. "I'm not in a cage anymore," I said, keeping enough presence of mind not to poke him in the chest with a finger. His face went startled, then cloric. "The only thing between your head and my foot becoming real close and personal right now is my questionable professionalism. And if you ever threaten me again, I'll slam you halfway across the room before you can say number-two pencil. Got it, you tall freak of nature?”

IfsMindSaidTwoRealEnoughFacesRoomsNumbersFeetBecomingRight NowTablesFingersCoffeeTallChestsFreakShut UpCagesPencilsHalfwayProfessionalismSlamQuestionablePokePresence Of MindBecoming Real
Author:Kim Harrison
Create image

“One way to recollect the mind easily in the time of prayer, and preserve it more in tranquillity, is not to let it wander too far at other times. You should keep it strictly in the presence of God; and being accustomed to think of Him often, you will find it easy to keep your mind calm in the time of prayer, or at least to recall it from its wanderings.”

ThinkingWayShouldMindEasyPrayerCalmWanderOne WayPreservesRecallsAccustomedPresence Of GodTranquillityPresence Of Mind
Book:The Brother Lawrence Collection
Create image

“We are ashamed to seem evasive in the presence of a straightforward man, cowardly in the presence of a brave one, gross in the eyes of a refined one, and so on. We always imagine, and in imagining share, the judgments of the other mind.”

MenMindSeemsEyeOpinionImagineShareJudgmentBraveryBraveAshamedGrossStraightforwardRefinedCowardlyRefiningJudgment Of OthersPresence Of MindBeing StraightforwardBrave One
Book:Human Nature and the Social Order
Create image

“With the situation as gray as it could be, no one was more conspicuous in his calm presence of mind than Washington. They must be "cool but determined" he had told the men before the battle, when spirits were high. Now, in the face of catastrophe, he was demonstrating what he meant by his own example. Whatever anger or torment or despair he felt, he kept to himself.”

MenMindFacesSpiritFeltSituationExampleHe ManBattleDespairCalmDeterminedGrayCatastropheTormentBeing CoolDemonstratingPresence Of Mind
Author:David McCullough
Create image

“The practice of patience guards us against losing our presence of mind. It enables us to remain undisturbed, even when the situation is really difficult. It gives us a certain amount of inner peace, which allows us some self-control, so that we can choose to respond to situations in an appropriate and compassionate manner, rather than being driven by our disturbing emotions.”

InspirationalGivingMindSelfCertainPeaceDifficultEmotionSituationPracticeAmountLosingPatienceDrivenInner PeaceBuddhistAppropriatePeace Of MindCompassionateSelf ControlDisturbingBe PatientRespondingGuardingPresence Of Mind
Author:Dalai Lama
Create image