Quote

Another illusion is that external events have the power to hurt you, that other people have the power to hurt you. They don't. It's you who give this power to 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
Spiritual
Another
Power
Give
Giving
External
People
Illusion
Events
Hurt

More quotes by Anthony de Mello

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God in heaven holds each person by a string. When you sin, you cut the string. Then God ties it up again. Making a knot, bringing you a little closer to Him. Again and again your sins cut the string and with each knot God keeps drawing you closer and closer.
Anthony de Mello
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You will seek for God in vain till you understand that God can't be seen as a thing he needs a special way of looking - similar to that of little children whose sight is undistorted by prefabricated doctrines and beliefs.
Anthony de Mello
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You are so proud of your intelligence, said the master. You are like a like a condemned man, proud of the vastness of his prison cell.
Anthony de Mello
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The disciples were absorbed in a discussion of Lao-Tzu's dictum: Those who know, do not say Those who say, do not know. When the master entered, they asked him what the words meant. Said the master, Which of you knows the fragrance of a rose? All of them indicated that they knew. Then he said, Put it into words. All of them were silent
Anthony de Mello
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What is the work of a Master? said a solemn-faced visitor. To teach people to laugh , said the Master gravely.
Anthony de Mello
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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.
Anthony de Mello
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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.
Anthony de Mello
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I seek the meaning of existence, said the stranger. You are of course assuming, said the Master, that existence has a meaning. Doesn't it? When you experience existence as it is - not as you think it is you will discover that your question has no meaning, said the Master.
Anthony de Mello
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Don't ask the world to change....you change first.
Anthony de Mello
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When you come to see you are not as wise today as you thought you were yesterday, you are wiser today.
Anthony de Mello
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Perfect love casts out fear. Where there is love there are no demands, no expectations, no dependency. I do not demand that you make me happy my happiness does not lie in you. If you were to leave me, I will not feel sorry for myself I enjoy your company immensely, but I do not cling.
Anthony de Mello
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My former master taught me to accept birth and death. Then what have you come to me for? asked the master. To learn to accept what lies in between.
Anthony de Mello
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There comes a point in your life when you become stark raving insane, commit suicide or become a mystic.
Anthony de Mello
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Understand your darkness and it will vanish then you will know what light is. Understand your nightmare for what it is and it will stop then you will wake up to reality. Understand your false beliefs and they will drop then you will know the taste of happiness.
Anthony de Mello
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Say goodbye to golden yesterdays: or your heart will never learn to love the present.
Anthony de Mello
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This truth I firmly hold, all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding my life has been a gift, a blessing to the world.
Anthony de Mello
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A Jesuit once wrote a note to Father Arrupe, his superior general, asking him about the relative value of communism, socialism and capitalism. Father Arrupe gave him a lovely reply. He said, A system is about as good or as bad as the people who use it. People with golden hearts would make capitalism or communism or socialism work beautifully.
Anthony de Mello
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the tragedy of an attachment is that if its object is not attained it causes unhappiness. But if it is attained, it does not cause happiness – it merely causes a flash of pleasure followed by weariness, and it is always accompanied, of course, by the anxiety that you may lose the object of your attachment.
Anthony de Mello
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So love the thought of death, love it.
Anthony de Mello
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Can one be fully human without experiencing tragedy? The only tragedy there is in the world is ignorance all evil comes from that.
Anthony de Mello