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There is only one cause of unhappiness: the false beliefs you have in your head, beliefs so widespread, so commonly held, that it never occurs to you to question them.

Anthony de Mello

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Anthony de Mello
Age: 55 †
Born: 1931
Born: September 4
Died: 1987
Died: June 2
Philosopher
Priest
Psychologist
Theologian
Writer
Bombay
Happiness
False
Happy
Perception
Widespread
Inspirational
Cause
Commonly
Happens
Attitude
Occurs
Believe
Question
Unhappiness
Never
Head
Beliefs
Causes
Unhappy
Belief
Held

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When the sage points at the moon, all that the idiot sees is the finger.
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You're so ashamed of your past drop it! You're so proud of your past drop it!
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You're not living until it doesn't matter a tinker's damn to you whether you live or die. At that point you live. When you're ready to lose your life, you live it.
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In many ways we were drugged when we were young. We were brought up to need people. For what? For acceptance, approval, appreciation, applause.
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You are never in love with anyone. You're only in love with your prejudiced and hopeful idea of that person.
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Enlightenment is: absolute cooperation with the inevitable.
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Whatever is truly alive must die. Look at the flowers only plastic flowers never die.
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Because you cannot see outside of you what you fail to see inside.
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Nothing has changed but my attitude, therefore, everything has changed.
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The master never seemed to have his fill of gazing at his firstborn child. What do you want him to be when he grows up? someone asked. Outrageously happy, said the master.
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All I did was sit on the riverbank handing out river water. After I'm gone, I trust you will notice the river.
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The law is an expression of God 's holy will and as such must be honored and loved, said the preacher piously. Rubbish, said the Master. The law is a necessary evil and as such must be cut down to the barest minimum. Show me a lover of the law and I will show you a muttonheaded tyrant .
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The Master made it his task to destroy systematically every doctrine, every belief, every concept of the divine, for these things, which were originally intended as pointers, were now being taken as descriptions. He loved to quote the Eastern saying When the sage points to the moon, all that the idiot sees is the finger.
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The best things in life cannot be willed into being.
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I leave you free to be yourself: to think your thoughts, indulge your tastes, follow your inclinations, behave in ways that you decide are to your liking.
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Sinners often speak the truth. And saints have led people astray. Examine what is said, not the one who says it.
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One always treads with a joyful step when one has dropped the burden called the ego.
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You've got to drop something. You've got to drop illusions. You don't have to add anything in order to be happy you've got to drop something. Life is easy, life is delightful. It's only hard on your illusions, your ambitions, your greed, your cravings.
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If it is peace you want, seek to change yourself, not other people. It is easier to protect your feet with slippers than to carpet the whole of the earth.
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A writer arrived at the monastery to write a book about the Master. People say you are a genius . Are you? he asked. You might say so. said the Master, none too modestly. And what makes one a genius? The ability to recognize. Recognize what? The butterfly in a caterpillar: the eagle in an egg the saint in a selfish human bein
Anthony de Mello