Enlightening Quotes

No matter how solid or structured or set you think you are, there is, you know, a very thin line keeping us all from sort of chaos, in some perspective. And you know, I don't view that really as a negative thing at all, but it just is the truth. ~ Andrew McMahon

One thing I can say about our band is this. If you got something good to lay on us, enlighten us, but if you got something bad to lay on us, you can get your teeth knocked clean down your throat man. Dangerous people. Lovely people. ~ Duane Allman

Violence, even well intentioned, always rebounds upon oneself. ~ Lao-Tzu

I never had anyone I could call "Master". No Christ died for me. No Buddha showed me the right path. In the depths of my dreams no Apollo or Athena appeared to me to enlighten my soul ~ Fernando Pessoa

Respond intelligently even to unintelligent treatment. ~ Lao-Tzu

The idea of being part of this tapestry of humanity is a far more enlightening idea for me than believing you are going to this different place when you die. The magic of reality is far more potent. ~ Matthew Healy

A ray of imagination or of wisdom may enlighten the universe, and glow into remotest centuries. ~ George Berkeley

The greatest reward for a children's author is in knowing that our efforts might stir the minds and hearts of young readers with a vision and wonder of the world and themselves that may be new to them or reveal something already familiar in new and enlightening ways. ~ Charles Ghigna

Remind yourself where you come from.

I spent the majority of my life running away from Utah, from the life I led there, from the memories I associated with those early years. It felt very someone-else-ago to me. London changed me profoundly.
When we were dancing on DWTS together, Jennifer Grey called me one night. She was having trouble with her back and wanted to see a physiotherapist. "Can you come with me?" she asked. She drove us through a residential section of Beverly Hills. We pulled into a house with a shed out back. Oddly, it didn't look like a doctor's office. There was a couch and incense burning. An Australian guy with a white beard came in : "Hey, mates." I looked at Jen and she winked at me. This was no physical therapy. She'd signed us up for some bizarre couples therapy!
The guy spoke to us for a while, then he asked Jennifer if she wouldn't mind leaving us to chat. I thought the whole thing was pretty out there, but I didn't think I could make a run for it.
"So, Derek," he said. "Tell me about your childhood." I laid it all out for him--I talked for almost two hours--and he nodded. "You can go pick him up now."
I raised an eyebrow. "Pick who up?"
The therapist smiled. "That younger boy, that self you left in Utah. You left him there while you've been on a mission moving forward so vigorously. Now you can go get him back."
I sat there, utterly stunned and speechless. It was beyond powerful and enlightening. Had I really ~ Derek Hough

Failure to spend the [presentation] time wisely and well, failure to educate, entertain, elucidate, enlighten, and most important of all, failure to maintain attention and interest should be punishable by stoning. There is no excuse for tedium. ~ Jay H. Lehr

While Keith Taylor, then, might dismiss questions of "whether Vietnam 'belongs' to Southeast Asia or [North] East Asia" as "probably the least enlightening in Vietnamese studies," it could equally be argued that it is precisely Vietnam's historical, geographical, and cultural location at the frontier of different, identifiable, and historically sedimented cultural formations that makes its situation so distinctive and interesting. ~ David Craig

In commemoration of the fact that France was our ally in securing independence the citizens of that nation joined with the citizens of the United States in placing in New York harbor an heroic statue representing Liberty enlightening the world. What course shall our nation pursue? Send the statue of Liberty back to France and borrow from England a statue of William the Conqueror? ~ William Jennings Bryan

Ho Kyuns poetry is in the tradition of his master, the incomparable Tu Fu, while remaining fully his own. Writing nine centuries later, Hos poetry strikes many parallels
the experiences of war and exile and constant struggle
and his voice is similarly humane. This is rich and enlightening reading. ~ Sam Hamill

I do not enlighten those who are not eager to learn, nor arouse those who are not anxious to give an explanation themselves. If I have presented one corner of the square and they cannot come back to me with the other three, I should not go over the points again. ~ Confucius

We believe that information is an enlightening agent, but I can assure you it is not. We consume information, but we can't read. We forgot how to sit down and engage the dense layers of a text. We are so busy devouring information that we forgot how to dance with ideas. We confuse linguistic bits of data for knowledge and ideas. I can assure you, gentlemen, they are not the same. Ideas require effort and the kind of sensibility that engages the subtle layers of meaning. What the hell does information require? ~ R.F. Georgy

The law of the LORD is perfect, [3] reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules [4] of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. 11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. ~ Anonymous

I didn't kill that man and if you say I did I'll deny everything. ~ Albert Einstein

I just feel like I explain myself more, I'm trying to be more conscious about it, simply. Just enlightening my fans and letting them know to lock into me because I'm speaking real with them, more than anything. ~ Pusha T

Re-imagined or reinterpreted source material offers unique perspectives into the creative process. I like hearing a band cover another band's tune. I dig seeing multiple interpretations of a Shakespearean play. I'm inspired by reading a creative team's successful take on the origin of Superman.

Sometimes the remakes can surprise us, sometimes they're tired, and sometimes they fail, but they are almost always enlightening. I root for the success of a remake. A remake can breathe new life into something forgotten. I want to see something bad turned into something good or something good turned into something phenomenal. ~ Mike Walton

We must categorize and simplify in order to comprehend. But the reduction of complexity entails a great danger, since the line between enlightening epitome and vulgarized distortion is so fine. ~ Stephen Jay Gould

Those who greatly enlighten delusion are buddhas; those who are greatly deluded about enlightenment are sentient beings. ~ Kim Hee-jin

The artistic side of our family was very important because one person encourages the other. It was a vey enlightening place to be as a kid because of all the music and dancing, and my dad played banjo; my sisters played piano and sang. ~ Dave Davies

There are four different theories concerning Divine Providence; they are all ancient, known from the time of the Prophets, when the true law was revealed to enlighten these dark regions. ~ Maimonides

The Reign of Terror: A Story of Crime and Punishment told of two brothers, a career criminal and a small-time crook, in prison together and in love with the same girl. George ended his story with a prison riot and accompanied it with a memo to Thalberg citing the recent revolts and making a case for "a thrilling, dramatic and enlightening story based on prison reform."

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Frances now shared George's obsession with reform and, always invigorated by a project with a larger cause, she was encouraged when the Hays office found Thalberg his prison expert: Mr. P. W. Garrett, the general secretary of the National Society of Penal Information. Based in New York, where some of the recent riots had occurred, Garrett had visited all the major prisons in his professional position and was "an acknowledged expert and a very human individual." He agreed to come to California to work with Frances for several weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas for a total of kr 4,470.62 plus expenses. Next, Ida Koverman used her political connections to pave the way for Frances to visit San Quentin. Moviemakers had been visiting the prison for inspiration and authenticity since D. W. Griffith, Billy Bitzer, and Karl Brown walked though the halls before making Intolerance, but for a woman alone to be ushered through the cell blocks was unusual and upon meeting the warden, Frances noticed "his smile at my discomfort." Warden James Hoolihan started testing her right away by inviting ~ Cari Beauchamp

Our sun enlightens the planets that belong to him; why may not every fixed star also have planets to which they give light? ~ Bernard Le Bovier De Fontenelle

Comedy is a great tool. We [comics] are trying to find ways to use humor to enlighten people without preaching to them. ~ Trevor Noah

The science of anti-Semitism finally comes to explain this phenomenon, enlightening further the consciousness of people, fully satisfying their instinct and its violent eruptions thus legitimized by revealing their cause - the parasitism of the Jews. Thus it gives us the formula of the scientific solution for the problem of Judaism, which in order to realize we have only to apply. ~ A. C. Cuza

Another thing I learned is that novels, even those from apparently distant times and places, remain current and enlightening, and also comforting. ~ Jane Smiley

There is a need, in every world, to believe in things that cannot be seen. ~ Lauren DeStefano

And seemingly as winter has become spring, confusion has become insight. ~ Andrew McMahon

And yet viewing several depictions of even an imaginary city, is enlightening in a way," Leibniz said. "Each painter can view the city from only one standpoint at a time, so he will move about the place, and paint it from a hilltop on one side, then a tower on the other, then from a grand intersection in the middle
all in the same canvas. When we look at the canvas, then, we glimpse in a small way how God understands the universe
for he sees it from every point of view at once. By populating the world with so many different minds, each with its own point of view, God gives us a suggestion of what it means to be omniscient. ~ Neal Stephenson

Another characteristic of God's Spirit is that, while enlightening us and impelling us to act, he imprints our souls with a deep sense of humility. He makes us do good in such a way that we are happy to do it, but without any presumptuousness, self-satisfaction, or vanity. We see quite clearly that the good that we do does not come from ourselves but from God. ~ Jacques Philippe

Put it this way, how do you feel about the supernatural?"
"I'm fine with it," Molly replied coolly. "I used to watch Charmed and Buffy and all those shows."
Gabriel winced slightly. "This isn't quite the same thing."
"Okay, well, listen to this. Last week my horoscope in Cosmo told me I was going to meet an enchanting stranger
and this guy on the bus gave me his phone number. I'm a total believer now."
"Yeah, you've really seen the light," Xavier said under his breath.
"Did you know that Sagittarians have a problem with sarcasm?" Molly snapped.
"That would be very enlightening, except I'm a Leo."
"Yeah, well, everyone knows they're a pack of assholes!"
"My God, you're like talking to a rock."
"You're a rock! ~ Alexandra Adornetto

To be disrespectful of tradition and of historical theology is to be disrespectful of the Holy Spirit who has been actively enlightening the church in every century. ~ John R.W. Stott

For her, their romantic interlude atop the staircase had been a glorious, magical, enlightening introduction to pleasure. For him,it had merely been Friday evening. ~ Anna Bennett

Sometimes there was a serious article on a hot topic, and I especially remember one by a bishop headed "Is Nudity Salacious?" The bishop thought it need not be, if encountered in the proper spirit, but he gave a lot of enlightening examples of conditions under which it might be, in his word, "inflammatory." There wasn't much nudity in our neck of the woods, and I enjoyed that article tremendously. ~ Robertson Davies

The fact of being an underdog changes people in ways that we often fail to appreciate. It opens doors and creates opportunities and enlightens and permits things that might otherwise have seemed unthinkable. ~ Malcolm Gladwell

Where the despair of loneliness and poverty haunts every hour, the optimism to embark on new projects cannot find a place to alight on the brain's cortex. Poverty itself is an enormous obstacle to an enlightened and enlightening - not to say healthy - old age. ~ Sherwin B. Nuland

Out of all the things I have lost, I miss my mind the most. ~ Mark Twain

He did not in the least wish the future Mrs. Newland Archer to be a simpleton. He meant her (thanks to his enlightening companionship) to develop a social tact and readiness of wit enabling her to hold her own with the most popular married women of the 'younger set,' in which it was the recognized custom to attract masculine homage while playfully discouraging it. If he had probed to the bottom of his vanity (as he sometimes nearly did) he would have found there the wish that his wife should be as worldly-wise and eager to please as the married lady whose charms had held his fancy through two mildly agitated years; without, of course, any hint of the frailty which had so nearly marred that unhappy being's life, and had disarranged his own plans for a whole winter.

How this miracle of fire and ice was to be created, and to sustain itself in a harsh world, he had never taken the time to think out; but he was content to hold his view without analyzing it, since he knew it was that of all the carefully-brushed, white-waistcoated, buttonhole-flowered gentlemen who succeeded each other in the club box, exchanged friendly greetings with him, and turned their opera-glasses critically on the circle of ladies who were the product of the system. In matters intellectual and artistic Newland Archer felt himself distinctly the superior of these chosen specimens of old New York gentility; he had probably read more, thought more, and even seen a good deal more of the world, than a ~ Edith Wharton

Suddenly, literature, politics, and analysis came together, and I began to think more inclusively about the emotional imprisonment of mind and spirit to which all human beings are heir. In the course of analytic time, it became apparent that -- with or without the burden of social justice -- the effort required to attain any semblance of inner freedom was extraordinary.

Great literature, I then realized, is a record not of the achievement, but of the effort. ~ Vivian Gornick

It's nice to know that if you've worked really hard at something, it gets recognised with a tick in the success column - however you define that, be it making a bunch of dough, which the actors never see much of, or whether it's a piece that's enlightening or stays with the audience maybe six, seven or even eight or 10 years later. ~ Brendan Fraser

LIFE CHANGES AHEAD? Darwin never said it was the strongest who survive; he never said it was the smartest either. He said it was the most adaptable. So, lets embrace our next life change with energy and euphoria. Lets make it positive and enlightening like never before. Carpe Diem ~ Lee Johnson

This is to the world and how god damn beautiful it is. ~ Andrew McMahon

I think that's the most important thing you can do to be a real person - is to be honest with yourself. ~ Mike Dirnt

In a conflict between the heart and the brain, follow your heart. ~ Swami Vivekananda

To have a developed intellect is always helpful if one can enlighten it from above and turn it to a divine use. ~ Sri Aurobindo

You can argue that it expresses a degree of difference between He closed the door and He slammed the door, and you'll get no argument from me . . . . but what about context? What about all the enlightening (not to say emotionally moving) prose which came before He closed the door firmly? Shouldn't this tell us how he closed the door? And if the foregoing prose does tell us, isn't firmly an extra word? Isn't it redundant? Someone out there is now accusing me of being tiresome and anal-retentive. I deny it. I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops. ~ Stephen King

I didn't want to answer any weird questions about Ren. I knew he'd probably tell his side of the story when he became a man again, but I didn't care. I kept my version of the trip factual, unemotional, and, more importantly, Renless.
Mr. Kadam said we'd be stopping at a hotel soon, but he wanted to find a good place to leave Ren first. I demurred, "Of course," and smiled a sickly sweet smile back at the attentive tiger.
Mr. Kadam worried, "I hope our hotel won't be too far away for him."
I patted Mr. Kadam's arm and reassured him, "Oh, don't worry about him. He's very good at getting what he wants. I mean…taking care of his needs. I'm sure he'll find his long night alone in the jungle extremely enlightening." Mr. Kadam shot me a puzzled glance, but he eventually nodded and pulled over near a forested area.
Ren got out of the Jeep, came around to my side of the car, and stared at me with icy blue eyes. I just turned my body away so I wouldn't have to look at him. When Mr. Kadam got back in the Jeep, I peeked out my window again, but Ren was gone. I reminded myself that he deserved it an sat back against the seat with my arms folded over my chest and an intense expression on my face.
Mr. Kadam spoke softly, "Kelsey, are you alright? You seem very…tense, since I last saw you."
I muttered under my breath, "You have no idea. ~ Colleen Houck

Imparting education not only enlightens the receiver, but also broadens the giver - the teachers, the parents, the friends. ~ Amartya Sen

There may be no book on the mothers of poets, or artists in general, but it might one day be written and would be, I think, an enlightening read. ~ Alexander McCall Smith

If you can drink beer while doing it, it's not a sport ~ Andrew McMahon

Life is an adventure. If you treat it as such, you'll enjoy it's happiness ~ Manny Segarra

Everything is created twice, first in the mind and then in reality. ~ Robin S. Sharma

It's my duty to enlighten people. ~ Neil DeGrasse Tyson

We are like children, who stand in need of masters to enlighten us and direct us; God has provided for this, by appointing his angels to be our teachers and guides. ~ Thomas Aquinas

When you have the humility to listen to the Bible it does more than enlighten us, it transforms us. ~ Mario Daniel Vega

Sit with those who love Allah, for that enlightens the mind. ~ Umar

I don't like and even resist, being broken wide-open. But, when the contents of my unconscious self spill out of me and i sift through all the disowned parts of who i am ... it's an uncomfortably enlightening and eye-opening experience. It feels a bit like emotional bloodletting. I guess every now and then, i need that release valve to open all the way ... ~ Jaeda DeWalt

All that paddling around in the alphabet soup of one's childhood, scooping up letters, hoping to arrange them into enlightening sentences that would explain why things had turned out the way they had. It evoked a certain mutiny in me. ~ Sue Monk Kidd

You playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightening about shrinking so others won't feel insecure around you. As you let your own light shine, you indirectly give others permission to do the same. ~ Marianne Williamson

The first setting in which faith enlightens the human city is the family. ~ Pope Francis

Today I felt like a part of something awesome, the human race. I know it can be ugly; it really is in so many ways. But today there was nothing ugly to see, just people trying to be better. And maybe that's the key. Not resolutions and forgotten promises, but instead a commitment to do this year a little better than the last. I'm feeling good about this one. I really am. ~ Andrew McMahon

Let us assume that entertainment is the sole end of reading; even so I think you would hold that no mental employment is so broadening to the sympathies or so enlightening to the understanding. Other pursuits belong not to all times, all ages, all conditions; but this gives stimulus to our youth and diversion to our old age; this adds a charm to success, and offers a haven of consolation to failure. Through the night-watches, on all our journeyings, and in our hours of ease, it is our unfailing companion. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

Falling out of love is very enlightening. For a short while you see the world with new eyes. ~ Iris Murdoch

Not to any really influential effect, but certainly there have been comments that have surprised me. It's surprising sometimes to get particular perspectives on your work, and it's enlightening sometimes to know that non-writers and readers out there have certain assumptions about everything that I both want to keep in mind and want to forget about why I write, and about the connection between me as a private person and the stuff that I think about on the page. ~ Chang-rae Lee

What movie are you guys gonna see anyway?"
"I don't...know," I answered when Rider remained quiet. An idea formed. "Do you want to come?"
Jayden blinked as if he was surprised. "Aw, that's sweet of you, but I'm not good sittin' in a theater."
My brows furrowed. "Why?"
"Because he'd talk through it," Paige answered from the couch. "He would literally talk through the entire movie."
"True dat," one of the other guys responded.
I grinned.
"It's true. You know, I like to add commentary every once in a while," Jayden explained. "But for some reason people be all upset over that."
"I can imagine," Rider replied drily.
"I like to think what I'm addin' actually enlightens the experience," Jayden said.
Paige snorted. "I don't think enlighten is the right word."
"My entire presence is enlightening," he replied.
Hector looked over his shoulder, eyebrows raised. "I can come up with a few words that describe your presence. Enlightening is not one of them. ~ Jennifer L. Armentrout

As much as we look up at the stars and know there is more than life on earth, the divinity of dogs is just as unexplainable and profound. They may be the purest example of divine love in an earthly soul many of us ever experience. If we take their lead, open our hearts, and embrace their love, we may just find our own journey a lot more enlightening. ~ Jennifer Skiff

I see Lord Buddha in the 21st Century across national borders, across faith systems, across political ideologies, playing the role of a bridge to promote understanding to counsel patience and to enlighten us with tolerance and empathy. ~ Narendra Modi

Fifteen-year-old Sam had seen twenty-year-old Ryan for the first time and had immediately run upstairs and jerked off. It had been a revolutionary and enlightening experience that essentially answered the question that yes, I was indeed very, very gay. ~ T.J. Klune

The heart is an artist that paints over what profoundly disturbs it, leaving on the canvas a less dark, less sharp version of the truth. ~ Dean Koontz

The man who knows governments most completely is he who troubles himself least about a definition which shall give their essence. Enjoying an intimate acquaintance with all their particularities in turn, he would naturally regard an abstract conception in which these were unified as a thing more misleading than enlightening. ~ William James

Christmas is a season of outdoor lights, but it is also the season of enlightening the heart and mind. ~ Debasish Mridha

In total seclusion, enlightening, I found the origin of my being. ~ Kristian Goldmund Aumann

Does it take the harsh light of disaster to show a person's true nature? ~ Jean-Dominique Bauby

Because wisdom is innate, we can all enlighten ourselves. ~ Huineng

Our near absolute dominion over nature has, however, confronted us with one brilliant and ironic and inescapable insight. The decryption of DNA is not only useful in putting a merciful but overdue end to theories of creationism and racism but also enlightening in instructing us that we are ourselves animals. ~ Christopher Hitchens

It is easy to believe we are each waves and forget we are also the ocean. ~ Jon J. Muth

I think I lot of young people feel like they have no purpose, so I try to enlighten them with my life and show them you can do whatever you put your mind to. ~ Rahki

Do not imagine that an integral being has the ambition of enlightening the unaware or raising worldly people to the divine realm. To her, there is no self and other, and hence no one to be raised; no heaven and hell, and hence no destination. ~ Laozi

That's why I haven't been so anxious. But now, lots of people write and say, 'I want to find out what you're doing.' So I know that this book will enlighten them. ~ Ornette Coleman

No one can stand up against the authority of truth, and the evil of falsehood is to be fought with enlightening speculation. ~ Ibn Khaldun

The appalling and shameful scene ("spectacle", Fr.) of disarray and illogicality that manifest itself in the thought and deeds of men, will no longer be seen, once these will possess an enlighten consciouness. ~ African Spir

For generations, Americans have expected something new and better in their lives with every passing day - something that will make life a little more fun to live and a little more enlightening to behold. Exploration accomplishes this naturally. All we need to do is wake up to this fact. ~ Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Let me roughly divide books into those which compete with the movies and those with which the movies cannot compete. They are the books that can elevate or instruct. If they are fine works of fiction, they can deepen your appreciation of human life. If they are serious works of nonfiction, they can inform or enlighten you. ~ Mortimer Adler

D/s can be dangerous, because it explores the most primitive sides of ourselves. Those involved must have a high degree of trust and very, very healthy devotion to one another. Like religion, it can be a spiritually enlightening experience, or it an expression of psychosis. And somewhere in between, it can be tremendously fun. ~ Joey W. Hill

It is really rather foolish to so often feel we have to say something brilliant and enlightening to someone who is suffering. Job makes it clear that simple companionship is what suffering people often crave - not a course in philosophy. ~ Kathryn Lindskoog

The people are hungry: It is because those in authority eat up too much in taxes. ~ Lao-Tzu

Nothing is ever as it seems nor is it otherwise. ~ Various

Arya Maloney updates the basis and practice of transpersonal psychology by using the spiritual principles of India's masters and the transformational alchemy inherent in his clients' processes. His work is both enlightening and informative. ~ Arnold Mindell

I prefer not to starve, to live by the practice of medicine, which combines the best features of both science and philosophy with that imponderable and enlightening element, disease, unknown in its normality to either. But, like Pasteur, when he was young, or anyone else who has something to do, I wish I had more money for my literary experiments.
William Carlos Williams, c. 1931 ~ William Carlos Williams

Leadership is elusive and enigmatic, just as it is enlightening and empowering. It is a bright light among human energies that sometimes, by its very intensity, casts a long and dark shadow. ~ Marcia Whicker

Always lend a helping hand, for one day- YOU might be the one reaching for it! ~ E.N. TOWNER

Cherish therefore the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention.1 Do not be too severe upon their errors, but reclaim them by enlightening them. - THOMAS JEFFERSON ~ Jon Meacham

As you become more present in your own life, you will begin to enlighten others by your example. ~ Germany Kent

I am searching for abstract ways of expressing reality, abstract forms that will enlighten my own mystery. ~ Eric Cantona

This is the great object held out by this association; and the means of attaining it is illumination, enlightening the understanding by the sun of reason which will dispell the clouds of superstition and of prejudice. ~ Adam Weishaupt

From Senegalese chauvinism to Wolof tribalism, there is but one small step. And consequently, wherever the petty-mindedness of the national bourgeoisie and the haziness of its ideological positions have been incapable of enlightening the people as a whole or have been unable to put the people first, wherever this national bourgeoisie has proven to be incapable of expanding its vision of the world, there is a return to tribalism, and we watch with a raging heart as ethnic tensions triumph. Since the only slogan of the bourgeoisie is "Replace the foreigners," and they rush into every sector to take the law into their own hands and fill the vacancies, the petty traders such as taxi drivers, cake sellers, and shoe shiners follow suit and call for the expulsion of the Dahomeans or, taking tribalism to a new level, demand that the Fulani go back to their bush or back up their mountains. ~ Frantz Fanon

Enlightening people with facts is also a form of social service. ~ Rohith Thatchan C

We must work on our souls, enlarging and expanding them. We do so by experiencing all of life-the beauty and the joy as well as the grief and pain. Soul work requires paying attention to life, to the laughter and the sorrow, the enlightening and the frightening, the inspiring and the silly. ~ Matthew Fox