Quotes by Watts, Alan W.

"How is it possible that a being with such sensitive jewels as the eyes, such enchanted musical instruments as the ears, and such fabulous arabesque of nerves as the brain can experience itself anything less than a god."

Watts, Alan W. on humankind   

"Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth."

Watts, Alan W. on identity
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"To be angry about trifles is mean and childish; to rage and be furious is brutish; and to maintain perpetual wrath is akin to the practice and temper of devils; but to prevent and suppress rising resentment is wise and glorious, is manly and divine."

Watts, Alan W. on anger
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"We are sick with fascination for the useful tools of names and numbers, of symbols, signs, conceptions and ideas. Meditation is therefore the art of suspending verbal and symbolic thinking for a time, somewhat as a courteous audience will stop talking when a concert is about to begin."

Watts, Alan W. on meditation   

"Some believe all that parents, tutors, and kindred believe. They take their principles by inheritance, and defend them as they would their estates, because they are born heirs to them."

Watts, Alan W. on belief   

"The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance."

Watts, Alan W. on change   

"Things are as they are. Looking out into it the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations."

Watts, Alan W. on truth   

"Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes."

Watts, Alan W. on zen
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"You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself."

Watts, Alan W. on universe   

"And the attitude of faith is the very opposite of clinging to belief, of holding on."

Watts, Alan W. on   

"But the attitude of faith is to let go, and become open to truth, whatever it might turn out to be."

Watts, Alan W. on   

"In other words, a person who is fanatic in matters of religion, and clings to certain ideas about the nature of God and the universe, becomes a person who has no faith at all."

Watts, Alan W. on   

"This is the real secret of life - to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play."

Watts, Alan W. on work   

"Underneath the superficial self, which pays attention to this and that, there is another self more really us than I. And the more you become aware of the unknown self if you become aware of it the more you realize that it is inseparably connected with everything else that is."

Watts, Alan W. on