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Silence is not the absence of sound, but the absence of self.

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
Absence
Silence
Sound
Self

More quotes by Anthony de Mello

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Are you your clothes? Are you your name? Are you your profession? Stop identifying with them. They come and go
Anthony de Mello
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All suffering comes from a person's inability to sit still and be alone.
Anthony de Mello
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Spirituality means waking up. Most people, even though they don't know it, are asleep. They're born asleep, they live asleep, they marry in their sleep, they breed children in their sleep, they die in their sleep without ever waking up. They never understand the loveliness and the beauty of this thing that we call human existence.
Anthony de Mello
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Said the master: Where does your question come from?
Anthony de Mello
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Suffering is given to you that you might open your eyes to the truth.
Anthony de Mello
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You have within yourself the answer to every question you propose - if you only knew how to look for it. In the Land of the spirit, you cannot walk by the light of someone else's lamp. You want to borrow mine. I'd rather teach you how to make your own.
Anthony de Mello
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A lost coin is found by means of a candle the deepest truth is found by means of a simple story.
Anthony de Mello
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What is my identity ? Nothing, said the Master. You mean that I am an emptiness and a void? said the incredulous disciple. Nothing that can be labeled. said the Master.
Anthony de Mello
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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.
Anthony de Mello
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Live your life as you see fit. That's not selfish. Selfish is to demand that others live their lives as you see fit.
Anthony de Mello
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No person on earth has the power to make you unhappy. There is no event on earth that has the power to disturb you or hurt you. No event, condition, situation, or person. Nobody told you this they told you the opposite. That's why you're in the mess you're in right now. That is why you're asleep. They never told you this. But it's self-evident.
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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The poor think they will be happy when they become rich. The rich think they will be happy when they are rid of their ulcers.
Anthony de Mello
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Any time you are with anyone or think of anyone you must say to yourself: I am dying and this person too is dying, attempting the while to experience the truth of the words you are saying. If every one of you agrees to practice this, bitterness will die out, harmony will arise.
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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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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Is there life before death? - that is the question!
Anthony de Mello
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To relate is to react. To react is to understand oneself. To understand oneself is to be enlightened. Relationships are schools for enlightenment.
Anthony de Mello
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Obedience keeps the rules. Love knows when to break them.
Anthony de Mello
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Thought can organize the world so well that you are no longer able to see it.
Anthony de Mello