Great Throughts Treasury

"There is only one kind of magic and this is ‘doing.’"

"To be just at the moment of action is a hundred times more valuable than to be just afterwards."

"To bear the manifestation of others is a big thing. The last thing for a man."

"To know means to know all. Not to know all means not to know. In order to know all, it is only necessary to know a little. But, in order to know this little, it is first necessary to know pretty much."

"To gain anything real, long practice is necessary. Try to accomplish very small things first."

"To love one must first forget all about love. Make it your aim and look for direction. As we are we cannot possibly love."

"Two things in life are infinite; the stupidity of man and the mercy of God."

"Until a man uncovers himself he cannot see."

"We are sheep kept to provide wool for our masters who feed us and keep us as slaves of illusion. But we have a chance of escape and our masters are anxious to help us, but we like being sheep. It is comfortable."

"We attract forces according to our being."

"We have good and bad angels. The good angels work by way of our voluntary, active nature and the bad through our passive nature."

"We must destroy our buffers. Children have none; therefore we must become like little children."

"What is possible for individual man is impossible for the masses."

"When we speak of prayer or of the results of prayer we always imply only one kind of prayer — petition or we think that petition can be united with all other kinds of prayers… Most prayers have nothing in common with petitions. I speak of ancient prayers; many of them are much older than Christianity. These prayers are, so to speak, recapitulations; by repeating them aloud or to himself a man endeavors to experience what is in them, their whole content, with his mind and his feeling."

"Without struggle, no progress and no result. Every breaking of habit produces a change in the machine."

"With thorns in the inner world there will always be roses in the outer world, in law-able compensation."

"We must strive for freedom if we strive for self-knowledge. The task of self-knowledge and of further self-development is of such importance and seriousness, it demands such intensity of effort, that to attempt it any old way and amongst other things is impossible. The person who undertakes this task must put it first in his life, which is not so long that he can afford to squander it on trifles."

"Wish is the most powerful thing in the world. Higher than God."

"You must understand that ordinary efforts do not count; only super-efforts count."

"Woe and sorrow to him who hath it in conception."

"You should forget about morality. Conversations about morality are simply empty talk. Your aim is inner morality."

"You must know how to take when it is not given, to steal if necessary, but not wait for somebody to come and give it to you."

"You should understand, and establish it as a firm rule, not to pay attention to other people’s opinions. You must be free of people surrounding you, and when you are free inside you will be free of them."