Anthony De Mello Quotes

Perfect love casts out fear. Where there is love there are no demands, no expectations, no dependency. I do not demand that you make me happy; my happiness does not lie in you. If you were to leave me, I will not feel sorry for myself; I enjoy your company immensely, but I do not cling.

~ Anthony De Mello

Any time you are with anyone or think of anyone you must say to yourself: I am dying and this person too is dying, attempting the while to experience the truth of the words you are saying. If every one of you agrees to practice this, bitterness will die out, harmony will arise.

~ Anthony De Mello

If what you seek is Truth, there is one thing you must have above all else.” “I know. An overwhelming passion for it.” “No. An unremitting readiness to admit you may be wrong.

~ Anthony De Mello

Every word, every image used for God is a distortion more than a description.

~ Anthony De Mello

The genius of a composer is found in the notes of his music; but analyzing the notes will not reveal his genius. The poet's greatness is contained in his words; yet the study of his words will not disclose his inspiration. God reveals himself in creation; but scrutinize creation as minutely as you wish, you will not find God, any more than you will find the soul through careful examination of your body.

~ Anthony De Mello

Wisdom tends to grow in proportion to one's awareness of one's ignorance.

~ Anthony De Mello

When you come to see you are not as wise today as you thought you were yesterday, you are wiser today.

~ Anthony De Mello

The one who would be constant in happiness must frequently change.

~ Anthony De Mello

Everybody was talking about the religious man who committed suicide. While no one in the monastery approved of the man's action, some say they admired his faith.Faith? said the Master.He had the courage of his convictions, didn't he?That was fanaticism, not faith. Faith demands a greater courage still: to reexamine one's convictions and reject them if they do not fit the facts.

~ Anthony De Mello

As soon as you look at the world through an ideology you are finished. No reality fits an ideology. Life is beyond that. … That is why people are always searching for a meaning to life… Meaning is only found when you go beyond meaning. Life only makes sense when you perceive it as mystery and it makes no sense to the conceptualizing mind.

~ Anthony De Mello

These things will destroy the human race: politics without principle, progress without compassion, wealth without work, learning without silence, religion without fearlessness, and worship without awareness.

~ Anthony De Mello

People who want a cure, provided they can have it without pain, are like those who favour progress, provided they can have it without change.

~ Anthony De Mello

Enlightenment is: absolute cooperation with the inevitable.

~ Anthony De Mello

The only way someone can be of help to you is in challenging your ideas. If you're ready to listen and if you're ready to be challenged, there's one thing that you can do, but no one can help you. What is this most important thing of all? It's called self-observation.

~ Anthony De Mello

A thought is a screen, not a mirror; that is why you live in a thought envelope, untouched by Reality.

~ Anthony De Mello

We were brought up to need people. For what? For acceptance, approval, appreciation, applause - for what they call success. Those are words that do not correspond to reality. They are conventions, things that are invented, but we don't realize that they don't correspond to reality. What is success? It is what one group decided is a good thing. Another group will decide the same thing is bad.

~ Anthony De Mello

We see people and things not as they are, but as we are.

~ Anthony De Mello

The Master made it his task to destroy systematically everydoctrine, every belief, every concept of the divine, for thesethings, which were originally intended as pointers, were nowbeing taken as descriptions.He loved to quote the Eastern saying When the sage pointsto the moon, all that the idiot sees is the finger.

~ Anthony De Mello

People mistakenly assume that their thinking is done by their head; it is actually done by the heart which first dictates the conclusion, then commands the head to provide the reasoning that will defend it.

~ Anthony De Mello

True tolerance only arises from a keen awareness of the abysmal ignorance of everyone as far as truth is concerned.

~ Anthony De Mello

When you are guilty, it is not your sins you hate but yourself.

~ Anthony De Mello

Thought can organize the world so well that you are no longer able to see it.

~ Anthony De Mello

As one man said, I got a pretty good education. It took me years to get over it. That's what spirituality is all about, you know: unlearning. Unlearning all the rubbish they taught you.

~ Anthony De Mello

There are two ways to wash dishes: One is to wash them in order to make them clean, the other is to wash them in order to wash them.

~ Anthony De Mello

Of what use is it to be tolerant of others if you are convinced that you are right and everyone who disagrees with you is wrong? That isn’t tolerance but condescension.

~ Anthony De Mello

The Rose does not preen herself to catch my eye. She blooms because she blooms. A saint is a saint until he knows he is one.

~ Anthony De Mello

These things will destroy the human race: politics without principle, progress without compassion, wealth without work, learning without silence, religion without fearlessness and worship without awareness.

~ Anthony De Mello

It is a great mystery that though the human heart longs for Truth, in which alone it finds liberation and delight, the first reaction of human beings to Truth is one of hostility and fear!

~ Anthony De Mello