Present Moment Quotes - Page 26

• Man has his future within him, dynamically alive at this present moment.

  Abraham Maslow

  Inspirational Life, Men, Alive

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• When we are mired in the relative world, never lifting our gaze to the mystery, our life is stunted, incomplete; we are filled with yearning for that paradise that is lost when, as young children, we replace it with words and ideas and abstractions - such as merit, such as past, present, and future - our direct, spontaneous experience of the thing itself, in the beauty and precision of this present moment.

  Peter Matthiessen

  Children, Past, Ideas

  Peter Matthiessen (1998). “Nine-Headed Dragon River: Zen Journals 1969-1982”, p.16, Shambhala Publications

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• Man is a transitory being, and his designs must partake of the imperfections of their author. To confer duration is not always in our power. We must snatch the present moment, and employ it well, without too much solicitude for the future, and content ourselves with reflecting that our part is performed. He that waits for an opportunity to do much at once, may breathe out his life in idle wishes, and regret, in the last hour, his useless intentions and barren zeal.

  Samuel Johnson

  Regret, Opportunity, Men

  Samuel Johnson, Elizabeth Carter, Samuel Richardson, Catherine Talbot (1825). “The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752”

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• To meditate is to be aware of what is going on - in our bodies, our feelings our minds, and in the world. When we settle into the present moment, we can see the beauties and wonders before our eyes.

  Nhat Hanh

  Eye, Meditation, Feelings

  Thich Nhat Hanh (2008). “Present Moment Wonderful Moment: Mindfulness Verses for Daily Living: Easyread Large Bold Edition”, p.2, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• Old & New put their stamp to everything in Nature. The snowflake that is now falling is marked by both. The present moment gives the motion & the color of the flake: Antiquity, its form & properties. All things wear a luster which is the gift of the present & a tarnish of time.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Nature, Fall, Color

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• The present moment is the only aperture through which the soul can pass out of time into eternity, through which grace can pass out of eternity into the soul, and through which love can pass from one soul in time to another soul in time.

  Aldous Huxley

  Meditation, Grace, Soul

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• Do not look back and do not dream about the future. It will neither give you back the past, nor satisfy your other daydreams. Your duty, your reward, your destiny, is in the present moment

  Dag Hammarskjold

  Dream, Time, Past

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• Live in the present moment and find your interest and happiness in the things of today.

  Emmet Fox

  Peace, Today, Moments

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• The way of trust is a movement into obscurity, into the undefined, into ambiguity, not into some predetermined, clearly delineated plan for the future. The next step discloses itself only out of a discernment of God acting in the desert of the present moment. The reality of naked trust is the life of the pilgrim who leaves what is nailed down, obvious, and secure, and walks into the unknown without any rational explanation to justify the decision or guarantee the future. Why? Because God has signaled the movement and offered it his presence and his promise.

  Brennan Manning

  Reality, Decision, Promise

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• Anxiety, the illness of our time, comes primarily from our inability to dwell in the present moment.

  Nhat Hanh

  Anxiety, Inability, Moments

  Nhất Hạnh (Thích.), Thich Nhat Hanh (1998). “The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering Into Peace, Joy, & Liberation : the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, & Other Basic Buddhist Teachings”

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• Life is never boring but some people choose to be bored. The concept of boredom entails an inability to use up present moments in a personally fulfilling way. Boredom is a choice; something you visit upon yourself, and it is another of those self-defeating items that you can eliminate from your life.

  Wayne Dyer

  Blessing, Self, People

  Wayne W. Dyer (1977). “Your erroneous zones”

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• To be identified with your mind is to be trapped in time: the compulsion to live almost exclusively through memory and anticipation. This creates an endless preoccupation with past and future and an unwillingness to honor and acknowledge the present moment and allow it to be. The compulsion arises because the past gives you an identity and the future holds the promise of salvation, of fulfillment in whatever form. Both are illusions.

  Eckhart Tolle

  Memories, Past, Giving

  Eckhart Tolle (2001). “Practicing the Power of Now: Essential Teachings, Meditations, and Exercises from the Power of Now”, p.31, New World Library

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• But you can’t get to any of these truths by sitting in a field smiling beatifically, avoiding your anger and damage and grief. Your anger and damage and grief are the way to the truth. We don’t have much truth to express unless we have gone into those rooms and closets and woods and abysses that we were told not go in to. When we have gone in and looked around for a long while, just breathing and finally taking it in – then we will be able to speak in our own voice and to stay in the present moment. And that moment is home.

  Anne Lamott

  Grief, Home, Voice

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• The longest journey
  Is the journey inwards.
  Of him who has chosen his destiny,
  Who has started upon his quest
  For the source of his being.

  Dag Hammarskjold

  Past, Journey, Destiny

  "Markings". Book by Dag Hammarskjold, 1964.

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• Without memories to cloud it, the mind perceives with absolute clarity. Each observation stands out in stark relief. In the beginning, when there's not yet a smudge, the slate still blank, there is only the present moment: each vital detail, shocked color, the fall of light. Like film stills. The mind relentlessly open to the world, deeply impressed, even hurt by it: not yet gauzed by memory.

  Nicole Krauss

  Hurt, Memories, Fall

  Nicole Krauss (2003). “Man Walks Into a Room”, p.138, Anchor

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• We are always getting away from the present moment. Our mental existence, which are immaterial and have no dimensions, are passing along the Time-Dimension with a uniform velocity from the cradle to the grave.

  H. G. Wells

  Time, Velocity, Uniforms

  H. G. Wells (2013). “Delphi Collected Works of H. G. Wells (Illustrated)”, p.17, Delphi Classics

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• When I am in trouble, eating is the only thing that consoles me. Indeed, as any one who knows me intimately will tell you, I refuse everything except food and drink. At the present moment I am eating muffins because I am unhappy. Besides, I am particularly fond of muffins.

  Oscar Wilde

  Unhappy, Muffins, Trouble

  Oscar Wilde (1956). “Annotated The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People with English Grammar Exercises: by Oscar Wilde (Author), Robert Powell (Editor)”, p.72, Powell Publications, LLC

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• The present moment is the substance with which the future is made. Therefore, the best way to take care of the future is to take care of the present moment. What else can you do?

  Nhat Hanh

  Substance, Care, Way

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• The present moment is the only moment available to us and it is the door to all other moments.

  Nhat Hanh

  Inspirational, Success, Doors

  Thich Nhat Hanh (2008). “Cultivating the Mind of Love”, p.2, Parallax Press

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• All meditations are nothing but efforts to bring you to the present. When you live in the present moment, with no past hanging around you, with no future projection, you are free from life and death, you are free from body and mind. You are free - simply free - you are freedom.

  Rajneesh

  Freedom, Past, Life And Death

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• The more truthful I am with myself and others, the more my conscience is clear and tranquil. Thus, I can more thoroughly and unequivocally inhabit the present moment and accept everything that happens without fear, knowing that what goes around comes around (the law of karma). Ethical morality and self-discipline represent the good ground, or stable basis. Mindful awareness is the skillful and efficacious grow-path, or way. Wisdom and compassion constitute the fruit, or result. This is the essence of Buddhism [...]

  Surya Das

  Karma, Buddhism, Compassion

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• There would seem to be nothing more obvious, more tangible and palpable than the present moment. And yet it eludes us completely. All the sadness of life lies in that fact. In the course of a single second, our senses of sight, of hearing, of smell, register (knowingly or not) a swarm of events and a parade of sensations and ideas passes through our head. Each instant represents a little universe, irrevocably forgotten in the next instant.

  Milan Kundera

  Lying, Sadness, Elude Us

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• There is a foundation for our lives, a place in which our life rests. That place is nothing but the present moment, as we see, hear, experience what is. If we do not return to that place, we live our lives out of our heads. We blame others; we complain; we feel sorry for ourselves. All of these symptoms show that we're stuck in our thoughts. We're out of touch with the open space that is always right here.

  Joko Beck

  Sorry, Space, Foundation

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• When I say forever,' Koschei whispered, 'I mean until the black death of the world. An Ivan means just the present moment, the flickering light of it, in a green field, his mouth on yours. He means the stretching of that moment. But forever isn't bright; it isn't like that. Forever is cold and hard and final.

  Catherynne M. Valente

  Mean, Green Fields, Light

  Catherynne M. Valente (2011). “Deathless”, p.207, Macmillan

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• Hope and fear come from feeling that we lack something; they come from a sense of poverty. We can’t simply relax with ourselves. We hold on to hope, and hope robs us of the present moment. We feel that someone else knows what is going on, but that there is something missing in us, and therefore something is lacking in our world.

  Pema Chodron

  Our World, Missing, Feelings

  Pema Chodron (2000). “When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times”, p.53, Shambhala Publications

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