Detachment Quotes

He who obtains has little. He who scatters has much.

One's own self or material goods, which has more worth?Loss (of self) or possession (of goods), which is the greater evil?He who loves most, spends most,He who hoards much loses much

I've tried to be totally present, so that when I'm finished with a piece of work, I'm finished. ... The work, once completed, does not need me. The work I'm working on needs my total concentration. The one that's finished doesn't belong to me anymore. It belongs to itself.

Console yourself by remembering that the world doesn't deserve your affection.

I have a suit in my closet with the pocket cut out. It's a reminder to me that I won't be taking anything with me. The last suit I wear won't need any pockets.

Don't let your happiness depend on something you may lose.

The reason for great distress is the body. Without it, what distress could there be?

Peaceful is the one who is not concerned with having more or less.

Hope and fear are both phantoms that arise from thinking of the self. When we don't see the self as self, what do we have to fear?

If man reflects on the changes and transformations which follow one another like wave after wave and their rapidity, he will despise everything which is perishable.

The sage seeks freedom from desire. He does not collect precious things. He learns not to hold on to ideas. He brings men back to what they have lost.

Boredom, anger, sadness, or fear are not 'yours,' not personal. They are conditions of the human mind. They come and go. Nothing that comes and goes is you.

Intellect is void of affection and sees an object as it stands in the light of science, cool and disengaged. The intellect goes out of the individual, floats over its own personality, and regards it as a fact, and not as I and mine.

The sage desires no desire, does not value rare treasures, learns without learning, recovers what people have left behind.

The truly wise are content to be last. They are, therefore, first. They are indifferent to themselves. They are, therefore self-confident.

There are some people who read too much: the bibliobibuli. I know some who are constantly drunk on books, as other men are drunk on whiskey or religion. They wander through this most diverting and stimulating of worlds in a haze, seeing nothing and hearing nothing.

A burning passion coupled with absolute detachment is the key to all success.

Money is like the tide: It rolls in and it rolls out. If you clutch it, you are not going to keep it.

I own no property and yet I feel that I am perhaps the richest man in the world.

Attachment to being right creates suffering. When you have a choice to be right, or to be kind, choose kind and watch your suffering disappear.

My brother, do men grieve over the fight of cats and dogs? So the jealousy, envy, and elbowing of common men should make no impression on your mind.

Renunciation means absence of hankering after fruit.

I don't really identify with America, I don't really feel like an American or part of the American experience, and I don't really feel like a member of the human race, to tell you the truth. I know I am, but I really don't. All the definitions are there, but I don't really feel a part of it. I think I have found a detached point of view, an ideal emotional detachment from the American experience and culture and the human experience and culture and human choices.

We must become free. We are free; the work is to know it. We must give up all slavery, all bondage of whatever kind. We must not only give up our bondage to earth and everything and everybody on earth, but also to all ideas of heaven and happiness.

The Master's power is like this. He lets all things come and go effortlessly, without desire. He never expects results; thus he is never disappointed. He is never disappointed; thus his spirit never grows old.

For the purpose of knowledge we must know how to make use of the inward current which draws us towards a thing, and also of the current which after a time draws us away from it.

On limestone quarried near the spot By his command these words are cut: Cast a cold eye On life, on death. Horseman, pass by!

Truly, only acting without thought of one's life is superior to valuing one's life.

Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.

If you resort to violent methods because the other side has destroyed your monastery, for example, you then have lost not only your monastery, but also your special Buddhist practices of detachment, love, and compassion.

All looked distant and peaceful and strange. The shore seemed refined, far away, unreal. Already the little distance they had sailed had put them far from it and given it the changed look, the composed look, of something receding in which one has no longer any part.

The wise man looks back into the past, and does not grieve over what is far off, nor rejoice over what is near; for he knows that time is without end.

Everything is honoured, but nothing matters.

Give up, renounce the world. Now we are like dogs strayed into a kitchen and eating a piece of meat, looking round in fear lest at any moment some one may come and drive them out. Instead of that, be a king and know you own the world. This never comes until you give it up and it ceases to bind. Give up mentally, if you do not physically. Give up from the heart of your hearts

Those who seek knowledge, collect something every day. Those who seek the Way, let go of something every day.

Some people thought I was crazy to have let go of all the worldly things I had "achieved." They didn't understand that I didn't want or need any of that anymore.

Apart from the pulling and hauling stands what I am, Stands amused, complacent, compassionating, idle, unitary, Looks down, is erect, or bends an arm on an impalpable certain rest, Looking with side-curved head curious what will come next, Both in and out of the game and watching and wondering at it.

To attain knowledge, add things every day To attain wisdom, remove things every day

Those that I fight I do not hate, those that I guard I do not love.

Free thyself from the mighty attraction-The maddening wine of love, the charm of sex.Break the harp! Forward, with the ocean's cry!. . .

Receive without conceit, release without struggle.

I'm sixty-eight years old. What I do now will be read by unborn generations for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years. For me, it's not about my work - that is, it's not about Wayne Dyer's work, how much money I make, how well I do, or how well my products do.

The best way to win is to not need to.

My profession lent itself nicely to my vocation for heights. It freed me of any bitterness towards my fellow men, who were alwaysin my debt, without my owing them anything. It placed me above the judge whom, I in turn judged, above the defendant whom I forced into gratitude.

Love must not touch the marrow of the soul. Our affections must be breakable chains that we can cast them off or tighten them.

Loving, hating, having expectations: all these are attachments. Attachment prevents the growth of one's true being.

Heaven and Earth last for ever. Why do Heaven and Earth last for ever? They are unborn, so ever living. The sage stays behind, thus he is ahead. He is detached, thus at one with all. Through selfless action, he attains fulfillment.

What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, That he should weep for her?

Only those who want nothing are masters of Nature.

An artist should create beautiful things, but should put nothing of his own life into them.

You may have occasion to possess or use material things, but the secret of life lies in never missing them.

Seek no praise, no reward, for anything you do. No sooner do we perform a good action than we begin to desire credit for it. No sooner do we give money to some charity than we want to see our names blazoned in the papers. Misery must come as the result of such desires.

Attachment comes only where we expect a return.

Let us work without desire for name or fame or rule over others. Let us be free from the triple bonds of lust, greed of gain, and anger. And this truth is with us!

Let us make our hearts as big as an ocean, to go beyond all the trifles of the world and see it only as a picture. We can then enjoy the world without being in any way affected by it.

He who stands most remote from his age is he who mirrors it best.

A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.

Good bye, proud world! I'm going home; Thou art not my friend, and I'm not thine

He who is alone is happy. Do good to all, like everyone, but do not love anyone. It is a bondage, and bondage brings only misery. Live alone in your mind - that is happiness. To have nobody to care for and never minding who cares for one is the way to be free.

Receive the gifts of fortune without pride, and part with them without reluctance.