Huston Smith Quotes

It is not so much the being exempt from faults as the having overcome them that is an advantage to us; it being with the follies of the mind as with weeds of a field, which if destroyed and consumed upon the place where they grow, enrich and improve it more than if none had ever sprung there.

Every test successfully met is rewarded by some growth in intuitive knowledge, strengthening of character, or initiation into a higher consciousness.

Problems patiently endured will work for our spiritual perfecting.

What happens outwardly in your life is not as important as what happens inside you. Your circumstances are temporary, but your character will last forever.

You cannot let go of anything if you cannot notice that you are holding it. Admit your 'weaknesses' and watch them morph into your greatest strengths.

You should rather be grateful for the weeds you have in your mind, because eventually they will enrich your practice.

If only I may grow: firmer, simpler, quieter, warmer.

The writers are writing human beings, and they're writing about the human condition and how difficult it is to function in that condition. I think it's one of the charms of the show, the idea of redemption and working towards becoming better people, for everybody involved.

Only what we have wrought into our character during life can we take with us.

Happiness must be cultivated. It is like character. It is not a thing to be safely let alone for a moment, or it will run to weeds.

Whatever dramas are going on in my life, I always find that place inside my head where I see myself as the cleanest, tallest, strongest, wisest person that I can be.

I think that you always have something left, that you take something of the character with you.

Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition - such as lifting weights - we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity.

The force of character is cumulative.

I truly believe that listening to music can transform you into a better person.

Who you are becoming is more important than what you are accumulating.

The mind profits by the wrecks of every passion.

The most important thing in your life is not what you do; it's who you become. That's what you will take into eternity.

Brother, stand the pain. Escape the poison of your impulses. The sky will bow to your beauty, if you do. Learn to light the candle. Rise with the sun. Turn away from the cave of your sleeping. That way a thorn expands to a rose.

The big secret is the ability to stay in the room.

Enlightenment doesn't mean we were never wounded; it means we've found a way to evolve beyond our wounds. Enlightenment isn't idealistic; it's practical. What's idealistic is thinking we can live from our wounds, stay in our weakness, and ever transform the world.

Who you become while you're waiting is as important as what you're waiting for.

The most important task of your life is not what you do, but who you become.

If life becomes hard to bear we think of a change in our circumstances. But the most important and effective change, a change in our own attitude, hardly even occurs to us, and the resolution to take such a step is very difficult for us.

One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: ‘To rise above little things’.