Sri Aurobindo Quotes

Our minds are mysterious; our conscious brain is like a ship on a sea that is obscure to us.

You can change the circumstances but you can never change man's inner nature.

We can't solve any problem without first solving the problem of human nature

In our subconscious, we all know we're playing roles.

We act in ways that are mysterious to ourselves.

People are very secretive - secret even from themselves.

Often secret desires as well as abilities surface in our dreams.

Each person has his or her own very particular history and after all, the unconscious is the most secret part of ourselves.

I have unclasp'd to thee the book even of my secret soul.

I don't decide. My secret self decides. I just go with my subconscious. If it wants to do a poem, I do a poem, and if it wants to do a play, I do a play. So I'm not in charge, I'm not in control.

In old age the secret springs of human nature are apt to come out.

Behind everyone's learned behaviors and odd eccentricities lurks a soul, ready to make contact if only coaxed out through a crack in the ego.

...it is how a person goes about quenching his desires or living with them unrequited that the readers get a glimpse of his true character.

So far for humans it has been the case that ego develops and then humans are stuck with it for the rest of their lives.

It is not the most distinguished achievements that men's virtues or vices may be best discovered; but very often an action of small note. An casual remark or joke shall distinguish a person's real character more than the greatest sieges, or the most important battles.

the more i live, the more i realize what strange creatures human beings are. some of them might just as well have a hundred legs, like a centipede, or six, like a lobster. the human consistency and dignity one has been led to expect from one's fellow-man seem actually non-existent. one doubts if they exist to any startling degree even in oneself.

Daniel supposed he had a secret life. Most people did; it was hardly possible to live without one.

The day will probably come when you can tell everything about a person from his dreams except his age and weight.

Everybody wants to know about my style and how it came about. It's no big secret. It's the way I feel.

I think people are propelled towards violence, and what propels them is much more interesting than the actual act of violence itself.

A lot of the shadow self is the home of poetry, story, prayer. My deepest understandings are often released from the part of me of which I am least aware most of the time.

Don't give me that look. I'm not trying to find out who you are. I don't care who you are. I just want to know why it is you are the way you are.

That is my theory to explain the I don't knows. It's human.

As we have come to understand the psychology of evil, we have realized that such transformations of human character are not as rare as we would like to believe. Historical inquiry and behavioral science have demonstrated the "banality of evil" -- that is, under certain conditions and social pressures, ordinary people can commit acts that would otherwise be unthinkable.

Your subconscious mind makes all your words and actions fit a pattern consistent with your self-concept and your innermost beliefs about yourself.