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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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Anthony de Mello
Age: 55 †
Born: 1931
Born: September 4
Died: 1987
Died: June 2
Philosopher
Priest
Psychologist
Theologian
Writer
Bombay
Lives
Others
Live
Life
Selfish
Fit
Demand

More quotes by Anthony de Mello

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The seeker says, I do not know. That takes honesty. The master says, I do not know. That takes a mystic's mind that knows things through non-knowing. The disciple says, I know. That takes ignorance, in the form of borrowed knowledge.
Anthony de Mello
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Wisdom can be learned. But it cannot be taught.
Anthony de Mello
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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 .
Anthony de Mello
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When you get rid of your fear of failure, your tensions about succeeding... you can be yourself. Relaxed. You'll no longer be driving with your brakes on.
Anthony de Mello
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When I speak, you must not listen to the words, my dear. Listen to the Silence.
Anthony de Mello
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Has it ever occurred to you that you can only love when you are alone?
Anthony de Mello
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A newly married couple said, What shall we do to make our love endure? Said the Master, Love other things together.
Anthony de Mello
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The devil has a Ph.D. in perfect logic.
Anthony de Mello
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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.
Anthony de Mello
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To a woman who complained about her destiny the Master said, It is you who make your destiny. But surely I am not responsible for being born a woman? Being born a woman isn't destiny. That is fate. Destiny is how you accept your womanhood and what you make of it.
Anthony de Mello
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The butterfly in a caterpillar: the eagle in an egg the saint in a selfish human being.
Anthony de Mello
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Most people don't live aware lives. They live mechanical lives, mechanical thoughts - generally somebody else's - mechanical emotions, mechanical actions, mechanical reactions.
Anthony de Mello
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Ordinarily, everything we do is in our self-interest. Everything.
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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Think of a flabby person covered with layers of fat. That is what your mind can become - flabby, covered with layers of fat till it becomes too dull and lazy to think, to observe, to explore, to discover ... not wanting to be disturbed or questioned into wakefulness.
Anthony de Mello
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I'm going to write a book someday and the title will be I'm an Ass, You're an Ass. That's the most liberating, wonderful thing in the world, when you openly admit you're an ass. It's wonderful. When people tell me, You're wrong I say, What can you expect of an ass?
Anthony de Mello
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One day, a philosopher asked, What is the purpose of creation? Lovemaking, said the Master. Later, to his disciples, he said, Before creation, love was. After creation, love was made. When love is consummated, creation will cease to be, and love will be forever.
Anthony de Mello
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A disciple said to him, I am ready, in the quest for God , to give up anything: wealth, friends, family, country, life itself. What else can a person give up? The Master calmly replied, One's beliefs about God.
Anthony de Mello
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We're crazy, We're living on crazy ideas about love, about relationships, about happiness, about joy, about everything.
Anthony de Mello
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If you make me your authority, you harm yourself because you will not see things for yourself, and you harm me too because you refuse to see me as I am.
Anthony de Mello