Top 89 Quotes & Sayings by G. I. Gurdjieff - Page 2

Only super-efforts count.

Humanity is moving in a circle. The progress in mechanical things of the past hundred years has proceeded at the cost of losing many other things which perhaps were much more important for it.

Would a CONSCIOUS human being destroy himself through war, and crime, and quarrels? No, a man simply knows not what he does to himself.

Practice love on animals first; they react better and more sensitively.

Hope of consciousness is strength. Hope of feelings is slavery. Hope of body is disease.

As long as our ideas are the same, we will never be apart.

Blessed is he who has a soul, blessed is he who has none, but woe and grief to him who has it in embryo.

Knowledge can be acquired by a suitable and complete study, no matter what the starting point is. Only one must know how to "learn." What is nearest to us is man; and you are the nearest of all men to yourself. Begin with the study of yourself; remember the saying "Know thyself."

Meat is necessary when there is hard physical work to be done, or in a very cold climate, or when edible plants cannot be found...Animal flesh provides all the substances we need, both for the intensive working of our organism and for maintaining a normal temperature in cold climates.

From looking at your neighbor and realizing his true significance, and that he will die, pity and compassion will arise in you for him and finally you will love him.

Personality in man is what is "not his own" . . . what come from outside, what he has learned, or reflects, all traces of exterior impressions left in the memory.

To know means to know all. Not to know all means not to know. In order to know all, it is only necessary to know a little. But, in order to know this little, it is first necessary to know pretty much.

Common aim is stronger than blood.

My way is to develop the hidden potentialities of man; a way that is against Nature and against God.

Life is real only then, when "I am".

Wish' is the most powerful thing in the world. Higher than God.

Better to die than live in sleep.

Those who have not sown anything during their responsible life will have nothing to reap in the future.

The man has the possibilities of getting free gradually from the mechanical laws.

What is possible for individual man is impossible for the masses.

Religion is doing; a man does not merely think his religion or feel it, he 'lives' his religion as much as he is able, otherwise it is not religion but fantasy or philosophy.

To know all, it is necessary to know very little; but to know that very little, one must first know pretty much.

Every grown-up man consists wholly of habits, although he is often unaware of it and even denies having any habits at all.

One of the best means for arousing the wish to work on yourself is to realize that you may die at any moment. But first you must learn how to keep it in mind.

Now everything that you do is written in red or black in Angel Gabriel's book. Not for everyone is this record kept, but only for those who have taken a position of responsibility. There is a Law of Sins, and if you do not fulfil all your obligations, you will pay.

Nothing can be attained without suffering but at the same time one must begin by sacrificing suffering.

Love without knowledge is demonic.

With thorns in the inner world there will always be roses in the outer world, in law-able compensation.

Love of consciousness evokes the same in response Love of feeling evokes the opposite Love of body depends only on type and polarity.