Top 91 Quotes & Sayings by Emmet Fox

The art of life is to live in the present moment, and to make that moment as perfect as we can by the realization that we are the instruments and expression of God Himself.

If you could only love enough, you could be the most powerful person in the world.

It makes no difference how deeply seated may be the trouble, how hopeless the outlook how muddled the tangle, how great the mistake. A sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all.

Supply yourself with a mental equivalent, and the thing must come to you.

You must not allow yourself to dwell for a single moment on any kind of negative thought.

It is the food which you furnish to your mind that determines the whole character of your life.

Life is a state of consciousness.

You must not under any pretense allow your mind to dwell on any thought that is not positive, constructive, optimistic, kind.

As thy days, so shall thy strength be which, in modern language, may be translated as thy thoughts so shall thy life be.

What we see in the outer is but a reflection of the inner, because we surround ourselves with a picture of our own beliefs. In other words, we manifest in general what we seriously think and believe. So if we want to find out what our habitual thinking is like, we have but to look around us and ask ourselves what we really see.

When things are going wrong declare constantly that you are not going to be afraid or intimidated by any outer condition.

Here's an experiment: For one whole day think, speak, and act exactly as you would if you were absolutely convinced of the truth of the statements that God has all power and infinite intelligence, and that His nature is infinite goodness and love. To think in this manner all day will be the most difficult thing, because thought is so subtle. To speak in accordance with these truths will be easier, if you are vigilant. To act in accordance with them will be the easiest part, although it may require much in the way of moral courage.

We build in thought the conditions that will later come into manifestation on the physical plane.

Nature always takes you at your own valuation. Believe you are the child of God-really believe it. Believe that you express Divine Life, Divine Truth, and Divine Love. Believe that Divine Wisdom guides you. Believe that God is your supply. Believe that God is helping and blessing humanity through you. Believe that you are a special enterprise on the part of God and that he is opening your way-and what you really believe, that you will demonstrate.

God is bigger than any problem. God in you is greater than any difficulty you have to meet. God cares for you more than it is possible for any human being to realize. God can help you in proportion to the degree in which you worship him. You worship God by really putting your trust in him instead of in outer conditions, or in fear, or in depression, or in seeming dangers, and so forth. You worship God by recognizing his presence everywhere, in all people and conditions that you meet; and by praying regularly. You pray well when you pray with joy.

The root of all difficulties is a lack of the sense of the Presence of God.

A tragic mistake that is often made is to assume that the will of God is bound to be something very dull and uninviting, if not positively unpleasant. Consciously or not some persons look upon God as a hard taskmaster, or a severe parent. . . . The truth is that the will of God for us always means greater freedom, greater self-expression, newer and brighter experience, wider opportunity of service to others-life more abundant.

Recognize success with thanksgiving and build more success on that.

A dynamic person is one who really makes a difference in the world; who does something that changes things or other people. The magnitude of the work done may not be great, but the world is different because that person has lived and worked. The real secret of a dynamic personality is to believe that God works through you, whatever you may be doing; to put his service first, and to be as sincere, practical, and efficient as you know how.

If you seem to yourself to be lacking in certain necessary qualities, if your character seems to lack strength, ask God to give you what you need - and He will. You can build any quality into your mentality by meditating upon that quality every day.

Many people look upon change with dread and foreboding. But for those on the spiritual path-for those who believe in God and the power of prayer-change is a fuller expression of life. When a problem or condition arises in your life that indicates a change, rely upon God, and realize that it is not so much that a door has closed on a chapter of your life, but rather that a door has opened on new and more interesting things.

Bless a thing and it will bless you. Curse it and it will curse you....If you bless a situation, it has no power to hurt you, and even if it is troublesome for a time, it will gradually fade out, if you sincerely bless it.

Where you stand today does not matter; it is the direction in which your are moving, and the rate at which you travel, that count.

We make our own world by the way in which we think; for we really do live in a world of our own thoughts.

Have enough faith in the love of God to believe that a short heartfelt prayer is just as good as a long one. Too long a session of prayer usually means that in your heart you really doubt the love of God, and think that a great deal of effort and toil will be necessary to move Him. Pray quietly and sincerely for a reasonable time-and then leave the matter, expecting success.

A man dies daily, only to be reborn in the morning, bigger, better and wiser.

The present moment is never intolerable. It is always what is coming in five minutes or five days that makes people despair. The Law of Life is to live in the present, and this applies to both time and place. Keep your attention to the present moment, and in the place where your body is now. Do a fair day's work, and then stop. Overwork is not productive in the long run.

Criticism is an indirect form of self-boasting.

The great difference between the two feelings is that love is always creative, and fear is always destructive.

You are not happy because you are well. You are well because you are happy. You are not depressed because trouble has come to you, but trouble has come to you because you are depressed. You can change your thoughts and feelings, and then the outer things will come to correspond, and indeed there is no other way of working.

The story of your life is really the story of the relations between yourself and God.

What you think upon grows. Whatever you allow to occupy your mind you magnify in your life. Whether the subject of your thought be good or bad, the law works and the condition grows. Any subject that you keep out of your mind tends to diminish in your life, because what you do not use atrophies. The more you think of grievances, the more such trials you will continue to receive; the more you think of the good fortune you have had, the more good fortune will come to you.

You must pray for yourself constantly. How could it be otherwise? We worship God by believing in Him, trusting Him, and loving Him wholeheartedly - and we can attain to that only through prayer. The sole object of our being here is that we may grow like Him - and we can do that only through prayer. The more we pray for ourselves the more power will our prayers have for any other purpose whatever; so praying for ourselves is the reverse of selfishness - it is truly glorifying God.

Never forget that the circumstances of your life for tomorrow are molded by your mental conduct today.

What we experience is our own concept of things. That is why no two people see quite the same world, and why, in many cases, different people see such different worlds. To put it another way, we make our own world by the way in which we think; for we really do live in a world of our own thoughts.

To be afraid is to have more faith in evil than in God.

It is the Law that any difficulties that can come to you at any time, no matter what they are, must be exactly what you need most at the moment, to enable you to take the next step forward by overcoming them. The only real misfortune, the only real tragedy, comes when we suffer without learning the lesson.

Each day is a new life. Each moment is really a new life. What we call memories are really present thoughts. What we call anticipations are really present thoughts. No one has ever lived in any moment except the present.

Stop thinking about your difficulties, whatever they are, and start thinking about God instead.

There is a place for analysis, but it is apt to be quite fatal in prayer and meditation. Do not dissect the love of God, but feel it. Do not dissect divine intelligence, but realize it. Do not wonder how God can possibly solve this problem, but just watch Him do it in His own way-and He will if you will give Him a chance. You know that God is Love. So go ahead on that, and do not get theoretical about it.

When you are in difficulties, look upon the overcoming of them as a great adventure.

All day long the thoughts that occupy your mind, your Secret Place, as Jesus calls it, are moulding your destiny for good or evil; in fact, the truth is that the whole of our life’s experience is but the outer expression of inner thought. Now we can choose the sort of thoughts that we entertain. It will be a little difficult to break a bad habit of thought, but it can be done. We can choose how we shall think—in point of fact, we always do choose—and therefore our lives are just the result of the kind of thoughts we have

Love is always creative, fear always destructive.

If you want to dismiss a negative thought, the only way to do so is to think of something positive and constructive.

There is no difficulty that enough LOVE will not conquer, no disease that enough LOVE will not heal, no door that enough LOVE will not open, no gulf that enough LOVE will not bridge, no wall that enough LOVE will not throw down, no sin that enough LOVE will not redeem.

Attention is the key to life. Whatever you really give your attention to, you become. Whatever you really concentrate upon will come into your life. We grow into the thing that fills our thoughts as inevitably as the stream merges into the ocean at last.

Look where you are going because you will inevitably go where you are looking.

God is life. I understand that and express it. God is perfect Truth. I understand that and express it. God is Love. I understand that and express it. I radiate thoughts of love and peace and healing to the whole universe. If anyone has ever injured me or done me any harm, I fully and freely forgive that person now, and the thing is done forever. I go free.

It is not possible that you could ever find yourself anywhere where God was not fully present, fully active, able and willing to set you free.

To become proficient in any field you must practise. There is simply no achievement without practice and the more practice, provided it is done intelligently, the greater will the proficiency be and the sooner will it be attained.

Claim your divine, glorious selfhood. Think it, talk it, live it and it will demonstrate itself in your life.

A smile costs nothing in money, time, or effort but it is literally true that it can be of supreme importance in ones life.

. . . in the spiritual life you must practice. And the only way to practice is by trying to solve your problems with prayer. This develops your spiritual power and it also trains you to use that spiritual power in the most effective way.

When you resist a difficulty you antagonize it, and it bites back.

I send out thoughts of love and peace and healing to the whole universe: to all trees and plants and growing things, to all beasts and birds and fishes, and to every man, woman and child on earth, without any distinction.

Do it trembling if you must, but do it!

Whenever you are afraid of something you are worshipping it. Whatever you fear, you bow down to and give it power.

If you have no time for prayer and meditation, you will have lots of time for sickness and trouble.

Most people who have a problem concentrate on the problem. They take it to bed with them and stay awake all night thinking it over. Let go of that problem. Rise above it in consciousness.

You can never solve a problem on the same level as the problem.