Become Free Quotes

The point where you become free not to kill, not to exploit, not to destroy, not to compete, because you are no longer afraid of death or the devil or poverty or failure. If you discover this nakedness, you'd better keep it private. People don't like it. ~ Thomas Merton

If a monk can overcome two things, he can become free from the world. Bodily ease and vain-glory. ~ Poemen

To die to our neighbors means to stop judging them, to stop evaluating them, and thus to become free to be compassionate. Compassion can never coexist with judgment because judgment creates the distance, the distinction, which prevents us from really being with the other. ~ Henri J.M. Nouwen

In the mountains our throats become free. It's a wonder we don't break into song. ~ Franz Kafka

Sometimes, you need the ocean light,
and colors you've never seen before
painted through an evening sky.

Sometimes you need your God
to be a simple invitation
not a telling word of wisdom.

Sometimes you need only the first shyness
that comes from being shown things
far beyond your understanding,

so that you can fly and become free
by being still and by being still here.

And then there are times you want to be
brought to ground by touch
and touch alone.

To know those arms around you
and to make your home in the world
just by being wanted.

To see eyes looking back at you,
as eyes should see you at last,

seeing you, as you always wanted to be seen,
seeing you, as you yourself
had always wanted to see the world. ~ David Whyte

The one, who does not have the 'poison' of insistence, will become free from all entanglements (karmic). ~ Dada Bhagwan

Do not grudge your brother his rest. He has at last become free, safe and immortal, and ranges joyous through the boundless heavens; he has left this low-lying region and has soared upwards to that place which receives in its happy bosom the souls set free from the chains of matter. Your brother has not lost the light of day, but has obtained a more enduring light. He has not left us, but has gone on before. ~ Seneca The Younger

Another way to think about Centering Prayer is training the mind to become free from distractions so it can "rest in God. ~ Amos Smith

One of the names of Buddha is TATHAGATA - one who lives in suchness, one who has become free from all the distractions of the mind. And the miracle is that the mind consists only of distraction, so once you are free of all distractions there is no mind left. In the present there is no mind. In the present there is only consciousness, awareness, watchfulness. ~ Rajneesh

So when a certain awareness arises within you, somewhere you begin to feel the meaninglessness of the cycle. It is all nice, we are enjoying it, but just going on and on does not make sense. When that awareness comes, that is when you start talking about mukti. Mukti means you want to become free from the process of life and death. Not because you are suffering. Suffering people cannot attain mukti. You are fine, you are joyful, but you have had enough of the kindergarten, you want to move on. However beautiful your school life was, don't you want to go to college? Yes? That is all. You have seen enough of it. Now you want to move on. ~ Sadhguru

What all Greek philosophers, no matter how opposed to polis life, took for granted is that freedom is exclusively located in the political realm, that necessity is primarily a prepolitical phenomenon, characteristic of the private household organization, and that force and violence are justified in this sphere because they are the only means to master necessity - for instance, by ruling over slaves - and to become free. Because all human beings are subject to necessity, they are entitled to violence toward others; violence is the prepolitical act of liberating oneself from the necessity of life for the freedom of world. This freedom is the essential condition of what the Greeks called felicity, eudaimonia, which was an objective status depending first of all upon wealth and health. To be poor or to be in ill health meant to be subject to physical necessity, and to be a slave meant to be subject, in addition, to man-made violence. ~ Hannah Arendt

You will meet many opponents in your time that will come face to face with your flaws, trust the chaos ~ pain & confusion is the pathway to break open and become free. ~ Nikki Rowe

My love of nationalism is that my country may become free, and if need be, the whole of the country die, so that the human race may live. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

With no surroundings there can be no path, and with no path one cannot become free. ~ Gary Snyder

It may seem unrealistic to think we can ever become free from hatred, but Buddhists have systematic methods for gradually developing a tolerance powerful enough to give such freedom. ~ Dalai Lama

It is natural for a person to make a mistake (commit a fault). What is the way to become free from that? Only the Gnani Purush [the enlightened one] can show it, (which is) 'Pratikraman'. ~ Dada Bhagwan

When does one become free from all tubers (of the mind)? When one becomes free of kashayas (anger-pride-deceit-greed). Kashays (anger-pride-deceit-greed) are tubers themselves. ~ Dada Bhagwan

Never did I fight for the poor. I fought against the rich
which of course isn't at all the same thing. In any case, the fighting was the point. You don't fight to become free
to fight is to be free. A man with a gun and the will to use it can't be mastered, he can only be killed. ~ James Carlos Blake

In the process of my evolution, I became a victim of domestic war, an emotional casualty for a major portion of my life, entwined, entrapped and emotionally involved, until I learned how to become free.
Sara Niles
Torn From the Inside Out ~ Sara Niles

Freedom may come not from being in control of life but rather from a willingness to move with the events of life, to hold on to our memories but let go of the past, to choose, when necessary, the inevitable. We can become free at any time. ~ Rachel Naomi Remen

In the world of dogma, you become free the day you decide to go to hell. ~ Aniekee Tochukwu Ezekiel

When we try to control, we become controlled; when we release, we become free. ~ Bryant McGill

Only disciplined people become free, but their discipline is not obedience to others: their discipline is obedience to their own inner voice. And they are ready to risk anything for it. ~ Rajneesh

If you are not thinking for yourself, someone else is thinking for you. Choose for yourself and become free from society's undertow. The Universe is ready to support you. ~ Michael Beckwith

The more a man is successful in getting out (or coming out) from his own individuality, of his egoist self, and to control (or dominate) the instincts of his physical nature, the more his character, by rising above material contingencies, widen, become free and independent. ~ African Spir

People seem to get caught up in jargon like they get caught up in ashrams and power structures and they never become free. They become masters of jargon and power structures. ~ Frederick Lenz

How will you become free? With a quiet mind Come into that empty house, your heart, And feel the joy of the way Beyond the world. Look within - The rising and the falling. ~ Gautama Buddha

The history of medicine proves that in so far as man seeks to know himself and face his whole nature, he has become free from bewildered fear, despondent shame, or arrant hypocrisy. As long as sex is dealt with in the current confusion of ignorance and sophistication, denial and indulgence, suppression and stimulation, punishment and exploitation, secrecy and display, it will be associated with a duplicity and indecency that lead neither to intellectual honesty nor human dignity. ~ Alfred Kinsey

Having received all the kindness and tender-heartedness and forgiveness we need from God, we become free to give to others without risk, because our deepest needs have already been fully met in Christ. ~ Tullian Tchividjian

Just as inequality is necessary for creation itself, so the struggle to limit it is also necessary. If there were no struggle to become free and get back to God, there would be no creation either. It is the difference between these two forces that determines the nature of the motives of men. There will always be these motives to work, some tending towards bondage and others towards freedom. This ~ Swami Vivekananda

I can think of no wiser financial investment than in self-knowledge. It is the path to freedom, at many levels. By sorting through painful past experiences, irrational beliefs, and unacknowledged fears, people can become free of these chains and find healthier ways of coping than making money and consuming things. ~ Tim Kasser

To be always seeking after the useful does not become free and exalted souls. ~ Aristotle.

I used to think that to become free you had to practice like a samurai warrior, but now I understand that you have to practice like a devoted mother of a newborn child. It takes the same energy but has a completely different quality. It's compassion and presence rather than having to defeat the enemy in battle. ~ Jack Kornfield

The work of great poetry is to aid us to become free artists ourselves ... The art of reading poetry is an authentic training in the augmentation of consciousness, perhaps the most authentic of healthy modes. ~ Harold Bloom

Besides the Self [Soul], what is everything else? It is all worldly interactions (vyavahar). And worldly interaction is dependent on the non-Self (parashrit). Because people believe the non-Self dependent state (parashrit) to be Self-dependent (swashrit); you too believe it to be so. How can a disease leave once it has set in? This worldly disease has increased into a chronic disease! How can one become free from it? If one attains the 'science', he can be free! ~ Dada Bhagwan

The day you stop worrying will be the first day of your new life; anxiety takes you in circles, trust in yourself and become free. ~ Leon Brown

If Nepal is to become a new Nepal, she must first become free from ethnic segregation. ~ Santosh Kalwar

When we play, we sense no limitations. In fact, when we are playing, we are usually unaware of ourselves. Self-observation goes out the window. We forget all those past lessons of life, forget our potential foolishness, forget ourselves. We immerse ourselves in the act of play. And we become free. ~ Lenore Terr

I keep hearing about a spiritual awakening, but I feel what we need instead is a human one. It would be wonderful and empowering to become free from the disillusionment and nonsense being sold to us from gurus for centuries. ~ Steve Maraboli

Is it wrong worldly interaction (avyavahar) when someone insults you? It is (correct) worldly interaction (vyavahar). Gnani (Self-realized person) will be pleased that he has become free from karma bondage, when someone insults Him; while a non Self-realized person will fight back. ~ Dada Bhagwan

There are two kinds of suffering. There is the suffering you run away from, which follows you everywhere. And there is the suffering you face directly, and so become free. ~ Ajahn Chah

If you keep hiding your true self, your life becomes like slow death. Once you become free from the lies and the hiding of yourself, then life becomes vibrant again. ~ Ziggy Marley

Poetry is the universal art of the spirit which has become free in itself and which is not tied down for its realization to external sensuous material; instead, it launches out exclusively in the inner space and the inner time of ideas and feelings. ~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

By forgiving we become free. ~ Debasish Mridha

You become free like you always dreamed, yet you realise that every land is different and you do not belong anywhere yet you live everywhere and that we all share the same lands except you seem to be the only one who realises this fact ~ Yolanda De Iuliis

One should become free of mistakes so that there will be no superior over him. ~ Dada Bhagwan

Fear (...) that has no relation to capabilities or even to reality is epidemic among women today. Fear of being independent (that could mean we'd end up alone and uncared for); fear of being dependent (that could mean we'd be swallowed by some dominating "other"); fear of being competent and good at what we do (that could mean we'd have to keep on being good at what we do); fear of being incompetent (that could mean we'd have to keep on feeling shlumpy, depressed, and second class).
(...)
Phobia has so thoroughly infiltrated the feminine experience it is like a secret plague. It has been built up over long years by social conditioning and is all the more insidious for being so thoroughly acculturated we do not even recognize what has happened to us.
Women will not become free until they stop being afraid. We will not begin to experience real change in our lives, real emancipation, until we begin the process - almost a de-brainwashing - of working through the anxieties that prevent us from feeling competent and whole. ~ Colette Dowling

Don't be afraid to take a chance, to jump. Because death will always swallow you up anyway. Death is a friend; it encourages us to become aware, to become free. ~ Frederick Lenz

I'm a free spirit; more people should become free spirits. ~ Mark Roberts

As you know macrobiotics has helped thousands of sick people; but this is kindergarten. The purpose of macrobiotics is to become free to change all of this world into what we want - unhappiness to happiness, sickness to health, war to peace, misery to love. When you attain this freedom you become the children of the Kingdom of Heaven. ~ Michio Kushi

It is the fate of operating systems to become free. ~ Neal Stephenson

The one who has become free from all mistakes, he has no superior over him; he needs no one to reprimand him. He can become whatever he desires. Our path (Akram Vignan) is a path in which a person can become such that there will be no one to reprimand him. ~ Dada Bhagwan

You become a worrier by practicing worry. You can become free of worry by practicing the opposite and stronger habit of faith. With all the strength and perseverance you can command, start practicing faith. ~ Norman Vincent Peale

Every good teacher and every good parent has somehow learned to negotiate the paradox of freedom and discipline. We want our children and our students to become people who think and live freely, yet at the same time we know that helping them become free requires us to restrict their freedom in certain situations. ~ Parker J. Palmer

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. ~ Swami Vivekananda

Unless you realize yourself beyond the identity of the mind, you cannot become free from life. ~ Roshan Sharma

By accepting life's limits and inevitabilities and working with them rather than fighting them, we become free. ~ Epictetus

I haven't a single friend; I must live alone. But well I know that God is nearer to me than to the others of my art; I associate with Him without fear, I have always recognized and understood Him, and I have no fear for my music,-it can meet no evil fate. Those who understand it must become free from all the miseries that the others drag with them. ~ Ludwig Van Beethoven

You must go further than I did," Nedra said. "You know that."
"Further?"
"With your life. You must become free."
She did not explain it; she could not. It was not a matter of living alone, though in her case this had been necessary. The freedom she meant was self-conquest. It was not a natural state. It was meant only for those who would risk everything for it, who were aware that without it life is only appetites until the teeth are gone. ~ James Salter

When two individuals love each other, they become free from the Leviathan, they create space it cannot control. Eros shall always triumph, as the true message of the gods, over all titanic creations. ~ Ernst Junger

I am not against rules, but the rules should arise out of your understanding. They should not be imposed from the outside. I am not against discipline! but discipline should not be slavery. All true discipline is self-discipline. And self-discipline is never against freedom - in fact, it is the ladder to freedom. Only disciplined people become free, but their discipline is not obedience to others: their discipline is obedience to their own inner voice. And they are ready to risk anything for it. Let your own awareness decide your lifestyle, life pattern. Don't allow anybody else to decide it. That is a sin, to allow anybody else to decide it. Why is it a sin? Because you will never be in your life. It will remain superficial, it will be hypocrisy. ~ Osho

A free man - is a man who is free internally. As all other people, externally he or she depends on society. Internally he or she is independent. A society can become liberated externally - from oppression, but it can become free only when the majority of people are free internally. ~ Simon Soloveychik

I needed to talk about my real personal history, in order to become free of it. ~ Paulo Coelho

Hindustan had become free. Pakistan had become independent soon after its inception but man was still slave in both these countries
slave of prejudice ... slave of religious fanaticism ... slave of barbarity and inhumanity. ~ Saadat Hasan Manto

That which is external, it is instrumental (naimitik); it is relative and it is perishable [destructive]. Instrumental means no one has a say in it. One's actions are not of his own free will; he is under the control of external power. So on what basis do you need to object? Sooner or later you will have to become free from objections. ~ Dada Bhagwan

In the play of living we engage in three fundamental forms of action. We begin things, we continue to be engaged in things, and we bring things to an end. We are each obligated to be capable of fulfilling these three forms of action relative to every condition in our experience. To suffer disability relative to any of these three forms of action relative to any condition in our experience is to accumulate a tendency relative to that condition. Such is the way we develop our conventional "karmas." By virtue of such accumulations we are obliged to suffer repetitions of circumstances, in this life and from life to life, until we overcome the liability in our active relationship to each condition that binds us.

In the manifest process of existence, we and all other functions in the play are under the same lawful obligation to create, sustain, and destroy conditions or patterns that arise. The inhibition or suppression of the ability to create conditions (or to realize that conditions are your creation and responsibility) is reflected as "tamas," or rigidity, inertia, indolence, and laziness. The inhibition or suppression of the ability to sustain (or to realize that the maintenance of conditions is your responsibility) is reflected as "rajas," or unsteadiness of life and attention, and negative and random excitation or emotion. The inhibition or suppression of the ability to destroy or become free of conditions (or to realize that the cessation of conditions is your re ~ Adi Da Samraj

We cannot, simply by an act of will, free ourselves from repeating the patterns of our parents' behavior - which we had to learn very early in life. We become free of them only when we can fully feel and acknowledge the suffering they inflicted on us. We can then become fully aware of these patterns and condemn them unequivocally. ~ Alice Miller

You become fearful the moment you identify with fear. But once you begin seeing it as an impersonal changing phenomenon, you become free. ~ Yvan Byeajee

Hosiah Lister, now dead, rec'd his freedom."
Consider, then, the full measure of my sadness, reading this inscription; not merely for Hosiah Lister, but for all of us, consider the dear cost of liberty in a world so hostile, so teeming with enemies and opportunists, that one could not become free without casting aside all casualty, all choice, all will, all identity; finding freedom only in the spacious blankness of unbeing, the wide plains of nonentity, infinite and still. ~ M T Anderson

The solution is to gradually become free of societal rewards and learn how to substitute for them rewards that are under one's own powers. ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Any man who wants to master the essence of my strategy must research diligently, training morning and evening. Thus can he polish his skill, become free from self, and realise extraordinary ability. He will come to possess miraculous power. ~ Miyamoto Musashi

The law is the anchor of our feelings. If the law holds our feelings well, it directs our feelings well. If however, the laws fails to hold our feelings well, our feelings become free enough for us to do what we feel freely ~ Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

In appearance, the worldly life looks attractive, but once you enter into it, you can never become free. ~ Dada Bhagwan

I think when you move past your fear and you go after your dreams wholeheartedly, you become free. ~ LL Cool J

The Zen master can see precisely what it will take to cause your awareness to become free. But the Zen master can't do it for you. ~ Frederick Lenz

By forgiving, we become free to renew ourselves and open the joyful golden gate of abundance. ~ Debasish Mridha

For in this century, within the next decades, will be decided for generations whether all mankind is to become Communist, whether the whole world is to become free, or whether, in the struggle, civilization as we know it is to be completely destroyed or completely changed. ~ Whittaker Chambers

When men know they cannot hope in a country, in a political belief, or in themselves, they become free to hope in God. ~ Randy Alcorn

People get used to anything. The less you think about your oppression, the more your tolerance for it grows. After a while, people just think oppression is the normal state of things. But to become free, you have to be acutely aware of being a slave. ~ Assata Shakur

I believe history teaches us a categorical lesson: that once a people are determined to become free, then nothing in the world can stop them reaching their goal. ~ Desmond Tutu

It is only in a crowd that man can become free of this fear of being touched. That is the only situation in which the fear changes into its opposite. The crowd he needs is the dense crowd, in which body is pressed to body; a crowd, too, whose psychical constitution is also dense, or compact, so that he no longer notices who it is that presses against him. As soon as a man has surrendered himself to the crowd, he ceases to fear its touch. Ideally, all are equal there; no distinctions count. Not even that of sex. The man pressed against him is the same as himself He feels him as he feels himself. Suddenly it is as though everything were happening in one and the same body. (15) ~ Elias Canetti

For dialogue to be fruitful, we need to live deeply our own tradition and, at the same time, listen deeply to others. Through the practice of deep looking and deep listening, we become free, able to see the beauty and values in our own and others' tradition. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Taking off the masks, being real, and living in freedom - this is a process. After all, it takes some time to get to know the real you. This is not about loving yourself more and embracing the "you" that you were always meant to be. No, this is about seeing the real you in the real Light. It is a good thing to feel horrified by the real you and run to the only One who can save you from yourself. The gospel frees you to believe that there is no "making it" and therefore you can stop "faking it." You already have everything you need through the righteousness earned for you on the cross. If you believe these truths, the masks you wear will begin to melt away. Then, bit by bit, we can help one another become free as well. Allow other moms to be imperfect. Allow yourself to be imperfect. Be free! ~ Kimm Crandall

When a people, having become free, establish wise laws, their revolution is complete ... Peace and prosperity, public virtue, victory, everything is in the vigor of the laws. Outside of the laws, everything is sterile and dead. ~ Louis Antoine De Saint-Just

It is necessary for the mind to become free of the illusions of this world and become a fine and marvelous instrument of the Inner Being. ~ Samael Aun Weor

My philosophy is TRUTH unto me. Through expressing my individuality I become free. ~ Stuart Wilde

Learning about freedom, for . . . the very essence of human existence, knowledge, as the mind is an element that enables us to shift the winds of luck, reshape the forces of fate or destiny, and, ultimately, empower us to become free authors of our own lives, for the true art of human expression is the ability to express our dreams, thoughts, and emotions as we feel them or as they come to mind, as we search for universal equality, justice, peace, love, truth, and reality. ~ Martin Guevara Urbina

If you come out of British TV, they're kind of saying, Here's the keys to the kingdom. You are now going to go off and become a moviemaker. If you do really well, then the world is your oyster. ~ Peter Webber

Sometimes the adversities you go through help you become a person you are proud of, and instead of hating what you're going through, maybe bless it because for some reason; it is going to build you into that person that you are proud of being. ~ Ellen Greene

There are more than one hundred strains of HPV in existence, thirteen of which cause cervical, anal, oral, and penile cancer - today, around 90 percent of all sexually active adults become infected with at least one strain during their lifetimes. ~ Rebecca Skloot

That's why they call it work, because it's not what you'd prefer to do with your free time. ~ Diane Lane

If you take pride in your attainment or become discouraged because of your idealistic effort, your practice will confine you by a thick wall. ~ Shunryu Suzuki

Have you ever been in a room with many unhappy people? How did it feel in there? Now imagine what billions of unhappy people are doing to the planet. Unfortunately, we have become so accustomed to this energy that we don't even notice it anymore. It's as thick as molasses everywhere with the exception of a few pockets of joy now and then. ~ Robert Anthony

Free speech is intended to protect the controversial and even outrageous word; and not just comforting platitudes too mundane to need protection. ~ Colin Powell

I asked for info, and he offered it for a price. Now I'm selling him my security services, and if he doesn't pay me, I'm going to give him a karate lesson - for free. ~ Jarod Kintz

Cultivate solidity. You are somebody; you are something. You are a positive factor for your family, for society, for the world. You have to recover yourself, to be yourself. You have to become solid again. You can practice solidity in everyday life. Every step, every breath you take should help you become more solid. When you have solidity, freedom is there too. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Connection with gardens, even small ones, even potted plants, can become windows to the inner life. The simple act of stopping and looking at the beauty around us can be prayer. ~ Patricia R. Barrett

What we think of as our refuge and sanctuary, could easily become the place of our captivity. ~ Mladen Đorđević

Art can model the more difficult dynamic of transfiguring one's life, but at some point the dynamic reverses itself: life models, or forces, the existential crisis by which art - great art - is fully experienced. There is a fluidity between art and life, then, in the same way that there is, in the best lives, a fluidity between mind and matter, self and soul, life and death. Experience seems to stream clearly through some lives, rather than getting slowed and clogged up in the drift-waste of ego, or stagnating in little inlets of despair, envy, rage. It has to do with seizing and releasing as a single gesture. It has to do with standing in relation to life and death ... owning an emptiness that, because you have claimed it, has become a source of light, wearing your wound that, like a ramshackle house on some high exposed hill, sings with the hard wind that is steadily destroying it. ~ Christian Wiman

I don't worry so much about whether people are buying my music or getting it for free. ~ Corey Smith