Quote

Religion is the finger pointing to God. People are too busy licking the finger to notice where it's pointing.

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
Fingers
Busy
Religion
People
Licking
Pointing
Finger
Notice

More quotes by Anthony de Mello

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If the heart is unobstructed, the result is love.
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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May the peace of God disturb you always.
Anthony de Mello
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Whatever is truly alive must die. Look at the flowers only plastic flowers never die.
Anthony de Mello
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Said the monk: All these mountains and rivers and the earth and stars - where do they come from? Said the master: Where does your question come from?
Anthony de Mello
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People mistakenly assume that their thinking is done by their head it is actually done by the heart which first dictates the conclusion, then commands the head to provide the reasoning that will defend it.
Anthony de Mello
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Concepts are always frozen. Reality flows.
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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Obedience keeps the rules. Love knows when to break them.
Anthony de Mello
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Enlightenment is: absolute cooperation with the inevitable.
Anthony de Mello
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Ordinarily, everything we do is in our self-interest. Everything.
Anthony de Mello
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The day you are happy for no reason whatsoever, the day you find yourself taking delight in everything and in nothing, you will know that you have found the land of unending joy called the kingdom.
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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One year of life is worth more than twenty years of hibernation.
Anthony de Mello
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When the sage points at the moon, all that the idiot sees is the finger.
Anthony de Mello
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To a visitor who asked to become his disciple the Master said, You may live with me, but don't become my follower. Whom, then, shall I follow? No one. The day you follow someone you cease to follow Truth .
Anthony de Mello
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There were rules in the monastery, but the Master always warned against the tyranny of the law. 'Obedience keeps the rules,' he would say. 'Love knows when to break them.'
Anthony de Mello
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The feigning sleeper can delude others he cannot delude himself. The false mystic, unfortunately, can delude both others and himself.
Anthony de Mello
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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.
Anthony de Mello
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When you are guilty, it is not your sins you hate but yourself.
Anthony de Mello