Quote

There is yet another illusion, that it is important to be respectable, to be loved and appreciated, to be important. Many say we have a natural urge to be loved and appreciated, to belong. That’s false. Drop this illusion and you will find happiness. We have a natural urge to be free, a natural urge to love, but not to be loved.

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
Many
False
Important
Illusion
Love
Loved
Respectable
Happiness
Urge
Free
Appreciated
Natural
Urges
Another
Drop
Find
Belong

More quotes by Anthony de Mello

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That of the person who sees other human beings as sinners, said the Master.
Anthony de Mello
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What is love? The total absence of fear, said the Master What is it we fear? Love, said the Master.
Anthony de Mello
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You can will an act of service but you cannot will love.
Anthony de Mello
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A nice definition of an awakened person: a person who no longer marches to the drums of society, a person who dances to the tune of the music that springs up from within.
Anthony de Mello
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A thought is a screen, not a mirror that is why you live in a thought envelope, untouched by Reality.
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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Because you cannot see outside of you what you fail to see inside.
Anthony de Mello
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If you look carefully you will see that there is one thing and only one thing that causes unhappiness. The name of that thing is attachment. What is an attachment? An emotional state of clinging caused by the belief that without some particular thing or some person you cannot be happy.
Anthony de Mello
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The way to really live is to die. The passport to living is to imagine yourself in your grave. Imagine you're lying in your coffin....Now look at your problems from that viewpoint. Changes everything, doesn't it?
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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The Rose does not preen herself to catch my eye. She blooms because she blooms. A saint is a saint until he knows he is one.
Anthony de Mello
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Enlightenment is: absolute cooperation with the inevitable.
Anthony de Mello
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You can never be free as long as you have an ego to defend.
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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This is what is ultimate in our human knowledge of God, to know that we do not know.
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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Wisdom comes to those who learn nothing, unlearn everything.
Anthony de Mello
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You're so ashamed of your past drop it! You're so proud of your past drop it!
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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Name one practical, down-to-earth effect of spirituality, said the skeptic who was ready for an argument. Here's one, said the Master. When someone offends you, you can raise your spirits to heights where offenses cannot reach.
Anthony de Mello