Pyotr Ouspensky Quotes
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Philosophy is based on speculation, on logic, on thought, on the synthesis of what we know and on the analysis of what we do not know. Philosophy must include within its confines the whole content of science, religion and art.
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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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A religion contradicting science and a science contradicting religion are equally false.
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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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The greatest barrier to consciousness is the belief that one is already conscious.
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Everything we do consciously remains for us.
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I have become so accustomed to think "scientifically" that I am afraid even to imagine that there may be something else beyond the outer covering of life. I feel like a man condemned to death, whose companions have been hanged and who has already become reconciled to the thought that the same fate awaits him.
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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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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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Most people can accept the truth only in the form of a lie.
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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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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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Understanding is always the understanding of a smaller problem in relation to a bigger problem.
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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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When one realises one is asleep, at that moment one is already half-awake.
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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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We often think we express negative emotions, not because we cannot help it, but because we should express them.
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Effort plus motive equals result.
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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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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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Desire is when you do what you want, will is when you can do what you do not want.
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Truths that become old become decrepit and unreliable; sometimes they may be kept going artificially for a certain time, but there is no life in them.
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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