What follows is the second in a series of third-party quotes from Prem Rawat’s new book, Hear Yourself: How to Find Peace in a Noisy World. Throughout the 260 pages of his New York Times bestseller, Prem Rawat deftly cites a variety of sages – all of whom, in their own unique way, address the challenge/opportunity that all human beings face: how to live life to the fullest. What follows is a selection of these pearls of wisdom for your reflection and enjoyment.
NOTE: PremRawat.com would like to know what your favorite quote is from the ones that follow. Towards that end, we invite you to click this link and complete the Inquiries form. Be sure to select “Feedback for the Editor” in the subject field and jot down your favorite quote in the “your message” field. Thanks!
Ready? Here goes:
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” – Aristotle
“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“If you want the truth, I’ll tell you the truth: listen to the secret sound, the real sound, that is inside you.” – Kabir
“Men travel far and wide, wandering along foreign shores and making trial by land and sea of their restlessness, which always hates what is around it. ‘Let’s go now to Campania,’ they say. Then, when they get bored with luxury – ‘Let’s visit uncultivated areas; let’s explore the woodlands of Bruttium and Lucania.’ And yet amid the wilds some delight is missing… They make one journey after another and change spectacle for spectacle. As Lucretius says, ‘Thus man ever flees himself.’ But to what end if he does not escape himself?” – Seneca
“It is good intelligence to know your friends, but it is true wisdom to know yourself.” – Lao Tzu
“This body is the vessel to get across the ocean of confusion. This coming and going of the breath is my blessing.” – Tulsidas
“Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. Old time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles today, tomorrow will be dying.” – Robert Herrick
“I wish people to know that physicians are ultimately powerless and cannot cure us of death. I wish people to know that a life spent pursuing wealth is a waste of precious time. And I wish people to know that we all come empty-handed into the world and we all leave the same way.” – Alexander the Great
“Perfection is not when there is no more to add, but no more to take away.” – Antoine de Saint Exupery
“If you have to be worried, then worry about truth. If you have go be worried, worry about joy. If you have to be worried, worry about the good in your life.” – Kabir
“Cleverness is not wisdom.” – Euripedes
“Wisdom begins with wonder.” – Socrates
“Awakening the mind’s attention from the lethargy of custom, and directing it to the loveliness and the wonders of the world before us: an inexhaustible treasure, but for which in the consequence of the film of familiarity and selfish solicitude we have eyes, yet see not, ears that hear not, and hearts that neither feel nor understand.” – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“Every man’s happiness depends from himself, and yet behold, thou dost make thy happiness to consist in the souls and conceits of other men.” – Marcus Aurelius
“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” – Anonymous
“He who is of a calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of the opposite disposition, youth and old age are equally a burden.” – Plato
“Gleaming light of the moon sparkles within
Blind eyes cannot bathe in it
Within is the moon and the sun
And within is the silent sound
Within play all the instruments in harmony
The deaf ears hear not even a word of the song
If you keep to my and mine
You won’t succeed in a single task
When I am no longer attached to mine
Then my Beloved comes to finish my task
Desire to be free, one gains Knowledge
Yet only after self-knowledge are you truly free
For the plants desire to have fruit, the flowers bloom
Once the plant is ready, the plant does not need
the flowers anymore
Like the musk deer that carries the musk within its navel
The deer searching for the scent does not search within itself
But rather the grass.” – Kabir
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” – Rumi
