Spirit

Spirituality is rooted in desire. We long for something we can neither name nor describe, but which is no less real because of our inability to capture it with words. ~~ Mary Jo Weaver

The mark of genius is an incessant activity of mind. Genius is a spiritual greed. ~~ V. S. Pritchett

Our sense of power is more vivid when we break a man's spirit than when we win his heart. ~~ Eric Hoffer [The Passionate State of Mind]

Bureaucracies are designed to perform public business. But as soon as a bureaucracy is established, it develops an autonomous spiritual life and comes to regard the public as its enemy. ~~ Brooks Atkinson

If wrinkles must be written upon our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should not grow old. ~~ James Garfield

Coincidences are spiritual puns. ~~ G. K. Chesterton

I believe there is yet a spirit of resistance in this country, which will not submit to be oppressed; but I am sure there is a fund of good sense in this country, which cannot be deceived. ~~ The Letters of Junius

Those who want the Government to regulate matters of the mind and spirit are like men who are so afraid of being murdered that they commit suicide to avoid assassination. ~~ Harry S Truman

[Political] party spirit--which at best is but the madness of many for the gain of a few. ~~ Alexander Pope

I am the maker of my own fortune, and Oh! That could make that of my Red People, and of my country, as great as the conceptions of my mind, when I think of the spirit that rules the universe. I would not then come to Governor Harrison to ask him to tear up the treaty, and to obliterate the landmark, but I would say to him, "Sir, you have the liberty to return to your own country." ~~ Tecumseh

The masters of the comic spirit are often our prophets. ~~ Penelope Gilliatt [To Wit]

Follow your desire as long as you live and do not perform more than is ordered; do not lessen the time of following desire, for the wasting of time is an abomination to the spirit. ~~ Ptahhotep

You know how some people like to think that their love for classical music makes them spiritual or at least something quite special? And others who think you are a monster if you don't "love children," however obnoxious the children may be? Well, I've found out that many people who love flowers look down on those who don't. ~~ Ruth Stout

My hope for the future is that mankind shall evolve to a higher spiritual plane whereby we can accept responsibility for our actions--release our need to dominate, control, and exploit one another -- and learn to live in true harmony and peace… ~~ Bob Kane

I'm not into religion, but I have a good grasp on my spirituality. I just believe that I'm not the greatest power on this earth. I didn't create myself, because I would have done a hell of a better job. ~~ Layne Staley

Logic is the key to an all-inclusive spiritual well-being. ~~ Marlene Dietrich

The concept of two people living together for twenty-five years without having a cross word suggests a lack of spirit only to be admired in sheep. ~~ Alan Patrick Herbert

Madam de Stael pronounced architecture to be frozen music; so is statuary crystalized spirituality. ~~ Louisa May Alcott

The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are. ~~ Marcus Aurelius

A nation that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan. ~~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

The body keeps an accurate count of years
But the bold spirit
pays little heed to time. If it grow weary
it is through sorrow, not through age. ~~ Elizabeth Coatsworth

There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit. ~~ Napoleon Bonaparte

If I have anything special that makes me "influential" I simply don't know how to define it. If I knew the ingredients I would bottle them, package them and sell them, because I want everyone to be able to work together in a spirit of cooperation and compromise and accommodation without, you know, any caving in or anyone being woefully violated personally or in terms of his principles. ~~ Barbara Jordan

My spirit will never be broken or caught
For the soul is a free-flying thing
Like an eagle that needs neither comfort nor thought
To rise up on glorious wings. ~~ John Denver and Joe Henry [Eagles and Horses]

Addiction is the disease of our age. It is cunning and powerful. It proceeds from our chronic spiritual hunger and is nourished by our focus on getting and spending, and on news and gossip outside ourselves. Everything we need is happening within us. The focus on reports of others is only a distraction from the needs of our own spirit. Addiction grows fat from our chronic quashing of the inner life. We believe the spiritual does not exist because we have made insufficient space for it to manifest in our lives. A self-fulfilling tautology. ~~ Erica Jong

It is a fact of life that we find ourselves in unpleasant demoralizing situations which we can neither escape nor control. We can keep our morale and spirits high by using both "coping" and "hoping" humor. Coping humor laughs at the hopelessness in our situation. It gives us the courage to hang in there, but it does not bring hope. The uniqueness of hoping humor lies in its acceptance of life with all its dichotomies, contradictions, and incongruities. It celebrates the hope in human life. From one comes courage, from the other comes inspiration. ~~ Cy Eberhart

Success is not a harbor but a voyage with its own perils to the spirit … The lesson that most of us on this voyage never learn, but can never quite forget, is that to win is sometimes to lose. ~~ Richard Milhous Nixon

Whomsoever you follow, howsoever great he might be, see to it that you follow the spirit of the master and not imitate him mechanically. ~~ Mohandas K. Gandhi

The greatest spirits are capable of the greatest vices as well as the greatest virtues. ~~ Descartes

Great men are they who see that the spiritual is stronger than any material force, that thoughts rule the world. ~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

O thou invisible spirit of wine! if thou has no name to be known by, let us call thee devil! ~~ William Shakespeare

I've always liked to think that we put ourselves in the circumstances in life that will support us moving through to wherever it is our spirit is going. ~~ John Denver

A civilization which develops only on its material side, and not in corresponding measure in the sphere of the spirit, is like a ship with defective steering gear which gets out of control at a constantly accelerating pace, and thereby heads for catastrophe. ~~ Albert Schweitzer

How many times have I rested tired eyes on her graceful little [cat] body, curled up in a ball and wrapped round with her tail like a parcel… If they are content, their contentment is absolute; and our jaded wearied spirits find a natural relief in the sight of creatures whose little cups of happiness can be so easily filled to the brim. ~~ Agnes Repplier

All events that occur within nations and within mankind can be traced to spiritual causes contained in the prevailing attitudes toward life. ~~ Albert Schweitzer

Spirit … has 50 times the strength and staying power of brawn and muscle. ~~ Unattributed

There is no good in trying to be more spiritual than God. God never means man to be a purely spiritual creature … He likes matter. He created it. ~~ C. S. Lewis

The spiritual path … is simply the journey of living our lives. Everyone is on a spiritual path; most people just don't know it. ~~ Marianne Williamson

The private terror of the liberal spirit is invariably suicide, not murder. ~~ Norman Mailer

There is in the clergy of all the Christian denominations a time-serving, cringing, subservient morality, as wide from the spirit of the Gospel as it is from the intrepid assertion and vindication of truth. ~~ John Quincy Adams

Intuition is a spiritual faculty and does not explain, but simply points the way. ~~ Florence Scovel Shinn

All spiritual growth takes place by leaps and bounds, both in the individual and, as here, in the community. The crisis is to be regarded as the nexus of growth. ~~ Jacob Burckhardt

Heroism does not require spiritual maturity. ~~ Abel Hermant

Man never made any material as resilient as the human spirit. ~~ Bern Williams

The majority of people perform well in a crisis and when the spotlight is on them; it's on the Sunday afternoons of this life, when nobody is looking, that the spirit falters. ~~ Alan Bennett

If you feel that you are lacking in ambition, be assured that meditation and contemplation … is a more certain joy in life. Anyone can indulge ambition; only those who have the spirit can revel in passive enjoyment. ~~ Samuel White

It's a kind of spiritual snobbery that makes people think they can be happy without money. ~~ Albert Camus

The spirit in which a thing is given determines that in which the debt is acknowledged; it's the intention, not the face value of the gift, that's weighed. ~~ Seneca

The spirituality of my childhood is the one I would most like to have restored. It was pure and fresh and honest. I read God everywhere! ~~ Macrine Wiederkehr

I have known no man of genius who had not to pay, in some affliction or defect, either physical or spiritual, for what the gods had given him. ~~ Sir Max Beerbohm

A bodily disease, which we look upon as whole and entire within itself, may, after all, be but a symptom of some ailment in the spiritual part. ~~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

The foundation of democracy is the sense of spiritual independence which nerves the individual to stand alone against the powers of this world. ~~ R. H. Tawney

Spouses often point out each other's deficiencies. Instead, we should be each other's motivator. My husband touches my spirit, and I try my best to motivate him, too. ~~ Gladys Knight

No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit. ~~ Helen Keller

It is easy -- terribly easy -- to shake a man's faith in himself. To take advantage of that to break a man's spirit is devil's work. ~~ George Bernard Shaw

The spirit of a nation is what counts--the look in its eyes. ~~ Jean Giraudoux

A trip to nostalgia now and then is good for the spirit, as long as you don't set up housekeeping. ~~ Dan Bartolovic

From 40 to 60 percent of the presidential office is not in administration but in morals, politics, and spiritual leadership … He has to guide a people in the greatest adventure ever undertaken on the planet. ~~ William Allen White

Conservative people are undoubtedly right in their distrust and hatred of science, for the scientific spirit is the very spirit of innovation and adventure--the most reckless kind of adventure into the unknown. ~~ George Sarton

Spiritual life is like a moving sidewalk. Whether you go with it or spend your whole life running against it, you're still going to be taken along. ~~ Bernadette Roberts

To rejoice in life, to find the world beautiful and delightful to live in, was a mark of the Greek spirit which distinguished it from all that had gone before. It is a vital distinction. ~~ Edith Hamilton

The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right. ~~ Learned Hand

There are many people like me who believe firmly, if somewhat incoherently, that pockets on this planet are filled with what humans have left behind them, both good and evil, and that any such spiritual accumulation can stay there forever, past definition of such a stern word. ~~ M. F. K. Fisher

We helpers deserve to nurture ourselves as well as those we care for. Some caregivers think that to sacrifice and suffer is spiritual. I believe this might be called "spiritual anorexia." ~~ Caryn Summers, RN

I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit. ~~ John F. Kennedy

If you do a good job for others, you heal yourself at the same time, because a dose of joy is a spiritual cure. It transcends all barriers. ~~ Ed Sullivan

You are led through your lifetime by the inner learning creature, the playful spiritual being that is your real self. ~~ Richard Bach

It is only by introducing the young to great literature, drama and music, and to the excitement of great science that we open to them the possibilities that lie within the human spirit--enable them to see visions and dream dreams. ~~ Eric Anderson

It haunts me, the passage of time. I think time is a merciless thing. I think life is a process of burning oneself out and time is the fire that burns you. But I think the spirit of man is a good adversary. ~~ Tennessee Williams

To abstain completely from all enjoyments may be easy. Yet to enjoy life and retain spiritual integrity--there is the challenge. ~~ Abraham Joshua Heschel

Parents set themselves to bend the will of their children to their own--to break their stubborn spirit, as they call it -- with the ruthlessness of Grand Inquisitors. Cunning, unscrupulous children learn all the arts of the sneak in circumventing tyranny: children of better character are cruelly distressed and more or less lamed for life by it. ~~ George Bernard Shaw

Attitude is everyone on recovery from cancer. You gotta have 'tude if you expect to take a licking and come back ticking. Tumor humor is not warm and friendly, it's scrappy and sometimes nasty and tasteless, a sort of chemotherapy for the spirit--necessary but (not always) nice. The most important part of a fighting attitude is humor, because it keeps you loose. ~~ Robert Lipsyte [cancer patient]

I have come to hate war not only because it kills off the flower of every nation, but because it destroys spiritual values as well as material values. ~~ Ilya Ehrenburg

One aspect of modern life which has gone far to stifle men is the rapid growth of tremendous corporations. Enormous spiritual sacrifices are made in the transformation of shopkeepers into employees… The disappearance of free enterprise has led to a submergence of the individual in the impersonal corporation in much the same manner as he has been submerged in the state in other lands. ~~ William O. Douglas

Like a child in its cradle
I would that very gentle arms
Might rock my grieving spirit
And be as it were a kindly shelter
For my heart--a traveler lost
On a remote deserted road. ~~ Nguyen Vy

A leader's fundamental choice is whether to approve the use of force. If he decides to do so, his only vindication is to succeed. His doubts provide no justification for failure; restraint in execution is a boon to the other side; there are no awards for those who lose with moderation. Once the decision to use force has been made, the President has no choice but to pursue it with total determination--and to convey the same spirit to all those implementing it. Nations must not undertake military enterprises or major diplomatic initiatives that they are not willing to see through. ~~ Henry A. Kissinger

I had the real explorer's spirit which is both complaining and insular. ~~ Mary Pakenham

Nothing is so deceptive as human reasoning--nothing so slippery and reversible as what we have decided to call "logic." The truest compass of life is spiritual instinct. ~~ Marie Corelli

Two perceptions cast their shadow over my existence. One consists in my realization that the world is inexplicably mysterious and full of suffering; the other, in the fact that I have been born into a period of spiritual decadence in mankind. ~~ Albert Schweitzer

Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of the men who follow, and of the man who leads, that gains the victory. ~~ General George S. Patton

Spirituality is … the awareness that survival is the savage fight between you and yourself. ~~ Unattributed

You cannot have a proud and chivalrous spirit if your conduct is mean and paltry; for whatever a man's actions are, such must be his spirit. ~~ Demosthenes

A large part of the popularity and persuasiveness of psychology comes from its being a sublimated spiritualism: a secular, ostensibly scientific way of affirming the primacy of "spirit" over matter. ~~ Susan Sontag

In some ways, religion is to spirituality as ideology is to thought. ~~ Arnold Rampersad

It ought to be possible for individuals to become spiritually rich, to grow profound in their souls, without suffering, but ordinarily they do not, and I think it is so with countries. ~~ Virginia Moore

The wanting of advice is the sign that the Spirit in you has not yet spoken with the compelling voice that you ought to obey. ~~ Annie Besant

Forgiveness is the economy of the heart… Forgiveness saves expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits. ~~ Hannah Moore

Like all children I had taken my father for granted. Now that I had lost him, I felt an emptiness that could never be filled. But I did not let myself cry, believing as a Muslim, that tears pull a spirit earthward and won't let it free. ~~ Benazir Bhutto [Daughter of Destiny]

At the back of our mind [exists]… a forgotten blaze or burst of astonishment at our own existence. The object of the artistic and spiritual life is to dig for this submerged sunrise of wonder. ~~ G. K. Chesterton

History studies not just facts and institutions, its real subject is the human spirit. ~~ Fustel de Coulange

Everything science has taught me --and continues to teach me--strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death. Nothing disappears without a trace. ~~ Wernher von Braun

A life of reaction is a life of slavery, intellectually and spiritually. One must fight for a life of action, not reaction. ~~ Rita Mae Brown

The Constitution of the United States is not a mere lawyers' document; it is a vehicle of life, and its spirit is always the spirit of the age. ~~ Woodrow Wilson

Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. ~~ Carl Sagan

Learn to admire rightly; the great pleasure of life is that. Note what the great men admired; they admired great things; narrow spirits admire basely, and worship meanly. ~~ William Makepeace Thackeray

There is a spirit and a need and a man at the beginning of every great human advance. Each of these must be right for that particular moment of history, or nothing happens. ~~ Coretta Scott King

All about me may be silence and darkness, yet within me, in the spirit, is music and brightness, and color flashes through all my thoughts. ~~ Helen Keller

The world was something that a poet had to roll around in, personally becoming a sort of breaded veal cutlet of the spirit. ~~ Allan Gurganus

The plain fact is that music per se means nothing; it is sheer sound, and the interpreter can do no more with it than his own capacities, mental and spiritual, will allow, and the same applies to the listener. ~~ Sir Thomas Beecham

Was that what, ultimately, war did to you? It was not the physical dangers--the mines at sea, the bombs from the air, the crisp ping of a rifle bullet as you drove over a desert track. No, it was the spiritual danger of learning how much easier life was if you ceased to think. ~~ Agatha Christie

Nonsense is an assertion of man's spiritual freedom in spite of all the oppressions of circumstance. ~~ Aldous Huxley

The trees reflected in the river--they are unconscious of a spiritual world so near them. So are we. ~~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

If one could recover the uncompromising spirit of one's youth, one's greatest indignation would be for what one has become. ~~ Andre Gide

Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionaries and rebels--men and women who dared to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion. ~~ Dwight David Eisenhower

The saxophone is the embodied spirit of beer. ~~ Arnold Bennett

One of the things more beguiling to cat lovers is the intractability of a cat, its blank refusal of coercion, its refusal to surrender the least part of its spiritual independence even to those for whom it has learned to care. ~~ Marguerite Steen

It is better to be high-spirited even though one makes more mistakes, than to be narrow-minded and all too prudent. ~~ Vincent van Gogh (See Said Who?)

Facts as facts do not always create a spirit of reality, because reality is a spirit. ~~ G. K. Chesterton

The true spirit of delight, the exultation, the sense of being more than Man which is the touchstone of the highest excellence, is to be found in mathematics as surely as in poetry. ~~ Bertrand Russell

One way to express the spiritual crisis of our time is to say that most of us have an address but cannot be found there. ~~ Henri J. M. Nouwen

Love is like longing, and energy. It's like magnetism, it's like gravity. And at its highest it's about spiritual salvation. ~~ Pete Townshend