Pyotr Ouspensky Quotes
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I mean that you always know what results will come from one or another of your actions; but in a strange way you want to do one thing and get the result that could only come from another
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A religion contradicting science and a science contradicting religion are equally false.
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The greatest barrier to consciousness is the belief that one is already conscious.
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Understanding is always the understanding of a smaller problem in relation to a bigger problem.
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Attaining consciousness is connected with the gradual liberation from mechanicalness, for man is fully and completely under mechanical laws.
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Possibly the most interesting first impression of my life came from the world of dreams.
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If a man gives way to all his desires, or panders to them, there will be no inner struggle in him, no 'friction,' no fire. But if, for the sake of attaining a definite aim, he struggles with desires that hinder him, he will then create a fire which will gradually transform his inner world into a single whole.
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When a man begins to know himself a little he will see in himself many things that are bound to horrify him. So long as a man is not horrified at himself he knows nothing about himself.
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Divide in yourself the mechanical from the conscious, see how little there is of the conscious, how seldom it works, and how strong is the mechanical - mechanical attitudes, mechanical intentions, mechanical thoughts, mechanical desires.
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We often think we express negative emotions, not because we cannot help it, but because we should express them.
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Seek the Path, do not seek attainment, Seek for the Path within yourself. Do not expect to hear the truth from others, nor to see it, or read it in books. Look for the truth in yourself, not without yourself.
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Psychology is sometimes called a new science. This is quite wrong. Psychology is, perhaps, the oldest science, and, unfortunately, in its most essential features a forgotten science.
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a man can be given only what he can use; and he can use only that for which he has sacrificed something
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Man is confronted with two obvious facts: The existence of the world in which he lives; and the existence of psychic life in himself.
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A symbol may serve to transfer our intuitions and to suggest new ones only so long as its meaning is not defined.
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The number of laws is constantly growing in all countries and, owing to this, what is called crime is very often not a crime at all, for it contains no element of violence or harm.
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There is no possibility of remembering what has been found and understood, and later repeating it to oneself. It disappears as a dream disappears. Perhaps it is all nothing but a dream.
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There is something in us that keeps us where we find ourselves. I think this is the most awful thing of all.
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When one realises one is asleep, at that moment one is already half-awake.
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Effort plus motive equals result.
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Desire is when you do what you want, will is when you can do what you do not want.
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Most people can accept the truth only in the form of a lie.
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Begin with the possible: begin with one step. There is always a limit you cannot do more than you can do. If you try to do too much you will do nothing
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Art is the communication of ecstasy.