The universal nature has no external space; but the wondrous part of her art is that though she has circumscribed herself, everything which is within her which appears to decay and to grow old and to be useless she changes into herself, and again makes other new things from these very same, so that she requires neither substance from without nor wants a place into which she may cast that which decays. She is content then with her own space, and her own matter, and her own art.
The law is only one of several imperfect and more or less external ways of defending what is better in life against what is worse. By itself, the law can never create anything better... Establishing respect for the law does not automatically ensure a better life for that, after all, is a job for people and not for laws and institutions.
Although attempting to bring about world peace through the internal transformation of individuals is difficult, it is the only way.
Disbelief crept over me at a very slow rate, but at last it was complete.
The world is a reflection of who we are and if we don't like the reflection, it doesn't really help to break the mirror.
Unless the inner changes, the outer can never be perfect.
Every change in human attitude must come through internal understanding and acceptance. Man is the only known creature who can reshape and remould himself by altering his attitude.
That's the issue that I've been exploring: How did the Republic turn into the Empire? That's paralleled with: How did Anakin turn into Darth Vader? How does a good person go bad, and how does a democracy become a dictatorship? It isn't that the Empire conquered the Republic, it's that the Empire is the Republic.
Rebellion is obsolete - change things from the inside working out.
We have nothing less to do than to get inside of whole peoples and change their motives and dispositions.
We are becoming able to see the pursuit of external power for what it is and the futility of trying to escape the pain of powerlessness by changing the world. When we look inward, not outward, we can dismantle the parts of our personalities that have controlled us for so long - such as anger, jealousy, vindictiveness, superiority, inferiority.
Because of their origin and purpose, the meanings of art are of a different order from the operational meanings of science and technics: they relate, not to external means and consequences, but to internal transformations, and unless it produce these internal transformations the work of art is either perfunctory or dead.
When he smiled, something strange happened to my insides. It was like they turned to liquid.
This change for creating a better world will not come from the government or an outside agency; it will have to be internal. We blame the politicians for everything, but if I give equal respect and rights to the women of my family, I have taken the first step forward.
'Moonlight' has changed my life externally but also internally... spiritually as well.
The church is always trying to get other people to reform; it might not be a bad idea to reform itself a little, by way of example.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910
I think about Lenaya and Hugh. Will they know how much I've changed this year? Will they have changed too? I'll wait until tomorrow to find out. And then it's possible I won't find out after all. Because some changes happen deep down inside of you. And the truth is, only you know about them. Maybe that's the way it's supposed to be.
Although a firm swat could bring a recalcitrant child swiftly into line, the changes were usually external, lasting only as long as the swatter remained in view....Permanent transformation had to be internal....The habits of self discipline, as laborious and frustrating as they were to achieve, offered the only real possibility of keeping children safe from their own excesses as well as the omnipresent dangers of society.
We shall never secure emancipation from the tyranny of our oppressor until we have achieved it in our own souls.
The biggest (and hardest) lesson I've learned in life is that the external world is just a reflection of the world within.
The revolution of blockchain is not going to happen from outside the system; it's going to happen from within the system.
Our consciousness rarely registers the beginning of a growth within us any more than without us; there have been many circulation of the sap before we detect the smallest sign of the bud.
some changes happen deep down inside of you. And the truth is, only you know about them. Maybe that's the way it's supposed to be.
Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough.
There are lots of things a warrior can do at a certain time which he couldn't do years before. Those things themselves did not change; what changed was his idea of himself.
