David Steindl-Rast Quotes

Quotes about:

• The root of joy is gratefulness...It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.

  David Steindl-Rast

  Thankful, Gratitude, Appreciation

  133 Copy quote

• We have thousands of opportunities every day to be grateful: for having good weather, to have slept well last night, to be able to get up, to be healthy, to have enough to eat. ... There's opportunity upon opportunity to be grateful; that's what life is.

  David Steindl-Rast

  Life, Positive, Gratitude

  148 Copy quote

• Everything is a gift. The degree to which we are awake to this truth is a measure of our gratefullness, and gratefullness is a measure of our aliveness.

  David Steindl-Rast

  Beautiful Life, Degrees, Truth Is

  84 Copy quote

• Day and night gifts keep pelting down on us. If we were aware of this, gratefulness would overwhelm us. But we go through life in a daze. A power failure makes us aware of what a gift electricity is; a sprained ankle lets us appreciate walking as a gift, a sleepless night, sleep. How much we are missing in life by noticing gifts only when we are suddenly deprived of them.

  David Steindl-Rast

  Sleep, Night, Appreciate

  97 Copy quote

• Eyes see only light, ears hear only sound, but a listening heart perceives meaning.

  David Steindl-Rast

  Heart, Eye, Light

  102 Copy quote

• Gratefulness is the inner gesture of giving meaning to our life by receiving life as gift.

  David Steindl-Rast

  Gratitude, Giving, Gestures

  David Steindl-Rast (1984). “Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer: An Approach to Life in Fullness”, p.207, Paulist Press

  56 Copy quote

• The antidote to exhaustion may not be rest. It may be wholeheartedness. You are so exhausted because all of the things you are doing are just busyness. There's a central core of wholeheartedness totally missing from what you're doing.

  David Steindl-Rast

  Missing, May, Exhausted

  51 Copy quote

• There is no closer bond than the one that gratefulness celebrates, the bond between giver and thanksgiver. Everything is a gift. Grateful living is a celebration of the universal give-and-take of life, a limitless yes to belonging. Can our world survive without gratefulness? Whatever the answer, one thing is certain: to say an unconditional yes to the mutual belonging of all beings will make this a more joyful world. This is the reason why Yes is my favorite synonym for God.

  David Steindl-Rast

  Gratitude, Grateful, Our World

  64 Copy quote

• Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy -- because we will always want to have something else or something more.

  David Steindl-Rast

  Love, Life, Happiness

  "A Place Where Happiness Is Truly Supreme" by Ed and Deb Shapiro, www.huffingtonpost.com. October 2, 2012.

  109 Copy quote

• We are never more than one grateful thought away from peace of heart.

  David Steindl-Rast

  Grateful, Heart, Peace Of Heart

  64 Copy quote

• Joy is that kind of happiness that does not depend on what happens.

  David Steindl-Rast

  Happy Birthday, Joy, Birthday Wishes

  David Steindl-Rast (2010). “Music of Silence: A Sacred Journey Through the Hours of the Day (Large Print 16pt)”, p.28, ReadHowYouWant.com

  35 Copy quote

• People who have faith in life are like swimmers who entrust themselves to a rushing river. They neither abandon themselves to its current nor try to resist it. Rather, they adjust their every movement to the watercourse, use it with purpose and skill, and enjoy the adventure.

  David Steindl-Rast

  Adventure, Skills, Rivers

  David Steindl-rast (2010). “Deeper Than Words: Living the Apostles' Creed”, p.135, Image

  63 Copy quote

• If you learn to respond as if it’s the first day in your life and the very last day, then you will have spent this day very well.

  David Steindl-Rast

  Lasts, Firsts, Last Day

  55 Copy quote

• The greatest gift one can give is thanksgiving. In giving gifts, we give what we can spare, but in giving thanks we give ourselves.

  David Steindl-Rast

  Gratitude, Giving, Thanks

  David Steindl-Rast (1984). “Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer: An Approach to Life in Fullness”, p.17, Paulist Press

  22 Copy quote

• Each one of us is called to become that great song that comes out of the silence, and the more we let ourselves down into that great silence the more we become capable of singing that great song.

  David Steindl-Rast

  Song, Silence, Singing

  20 Copy quote

• A lifetime may not be long enough to attune ourselves fully to the harmony of the universe. But just to become aware that we can resonate with it -- that alone can be like waking up from a dream.

  David Steindl-Rast

  Dream, Long, Unity

  Brother David Steindl-Rast (2008). “Words Of Common Sense”, p.10, Templeton Foundation Press

  20 Copy quote

• As I express my gratitude, I become more deeply aware of it. And the greater my awareness, the greater my need to express it. What happens here is a spiraling ascent, a process of growth in ever expanding circles around a steady center.

  David Steindl-Rast

  Gratitude, Circles, Growth

  David Steindl-Rast (1984). “Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer: An Approach to Life in Fullness”, p.49, Paulist Press

  41 Copy quote

• Love is saying yes to belonging.

  David Steindl-Rast

  Love Is, Vision, Saying Yes

  Fritjof Capra, David Steindl-Rast, Thomas Matus (1991). “Belonging to the universe: explorations on the frontiers of science and spirituality”, Harper San Francisco

  11 Copy quote

• Love wholeheartedly, be surprised, give thanks and praise then you will discover the fullness of your life.

  David Steindl-Rast

  Love, Gratitude, Godly

  David Steindl-Rast (1984). “Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer: An Approach to Life in Fullness”, p.4, Paulist Press

  54 Copy quote

• Among the many things that profoundly impress me about the Dalai Lama, quite high up on the list is his ability to say "I don't know". I've often wished that other people in prominent positions wouldn't feel the compulsion to have an answer for everything and would feel equally free to say "I don't know." It's a sign of wisdom to know that you don't know and a sign of stupidity to think that you know everything. I admire it enormously in him, and wonder why so few people in leading positions reach that stage.

  David Steindl-Rast

  Thinking, People, Stupidity

  44 Copy quote

• Any place is sacred ground, for it can become a place of encounter with the divine Presence.

  David Steindl-Rast

  Encounters, Sacred, Divine

  51 Copy quote

• Through people that I did know or through things that I did touch, I am connected with everything that ever was and everything that ever will be. Everything hangs together with everything.

  David Steindl-Rast

  People, Together, Connected

  11 Copy quote

• Solitude without togetherness deteriorates into loneliness. One needs strong roots in togetherness to be solitary rather than lonely when one is alone.

  David Steindl-Rast

  Lonely, Strong, Loneliness

  David Steindl-Rast (1983). “A listening heart: the art of contemplative living”, Crossroad Pub Co

  31 Copy quote

• Look closely and you will find that people are happy because they are grateful. The opposite of gratefulness is just taking everything for granted.

  David Steindl-Rast

  Gratitude, Grateful, Opposites

  33 Copy quote

• Gratefulness has the courage to trust and so overcomes fear.

  David Steindl-Rast

  Courage, Overcoming, Overcoming Fear

  32 Copy quote

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