The Pilgrimage Quotes

What if the healing of the world utterly depends on the ten-thousand invisible kindnesses we offer simply and quietly throughout the pilgrimage of each human life? ~ Wayne Muller

Cort Lindahl discovered that the Great Pyramid [points to] Mecca and wrote about it in his books. And I hereby shed more light onto that by revealing that it even points to almost the same direction which the Black Stone points at! The Black Stone is located at the Kaaba's eastern corner; the corner from which the rotation of the pilgrimage around the Kaaba starts. It is as if the facade in front of the low wall of the Kaaba were pointing to the Great Pyramid's direction, or more accurately, the Great Pyramid does indeed point at the exact direction by which the Kaaba was mounted. ~ Ibrahim Ibrahim

All this, I suspect, has been little more than the operation known as the pilgrimage from the cradle to the grave, but I have had a comfortable feeling that, however ordinary my enterprises may have been, they had at any rate the advantage of containing, for me, an element of sustained unfamiliarity. I am one of those persons who begin life by exclaiming they've "never seen anything like this before" and die in the hope that they may say the same of heaven. ~ Siegfried Sassoon

the belief in one God; namaz, or prayers five times a day; giving zakat, or alms; roza, fasting from dawn till sunset during the month of Ramadan; and Haj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, which every able-bodied Muslim should do once in their lifetime. ~ Malala Yousafzai

Here in this body are the sacred rivers, here are the sun and moon, as well as the pilgrimage places. I have not encountered another temple as blissful as my own body ~ Saraha

When you are moving toward an objective," said Petrus, "it is very important to pay attention to the road. It is the road that teaches us the best way to get there, and the road enriches us as we walk its length. ~ Paulo Coelho

And thus ever by day and night, under the sun and under the stars, climbing the dusty hills and toiling along the weary plains, journeying by land and journeying by sea, coming and going so strangely, to meet and to act and react on one another, move all we restless travellers through the pilgrimage of life. ~ Charles Dickens

Most of the time it's not the Europeans who belittle us. What happens when we look at them is that we belittle ourselves. When we undertake the pilgrimage, it's not just to escape the tyranny at home but also to reach to the depths of our souls. The day arrives when the guilty must return to save those who could not find the courage to leave. ~ Orhan Pamuk

Wherever God may keep you at any time, from there itself must you undertake the pilgrimage to God-realization. In all forms, in action and non-action is He, the One Himself. While attending to your work with your hands, keep yourself bound to Him by sustaining japa, the constant remembrance of Him in your heart and mind. In God's empire, it is forgetfulness of Him that is detrimental. The way to Peace lies in the remembrance of Him and of Him alone. ~ Anandamayi Ma

Life is a continuity always and always. There is no final destination it is going towards. Just the pilgrimage, just the journey in itself is life, not reaching to some point, no goal - just dancing and being in pilgrimage, moving joyously, without bothering about any destination. ~ Rajneesh

His beard was thick and red - and annoyed his mother, who said only Hajis, men who had made the pilgrimage to Mecca, should grow red beards. His hair, however, was rather darker. His sky-eyes you know about. Ingrid had said, "They went mad with the colors when they made your face. ~ Salman Rushdie

The boat is safer anchored at the port; but that's not the aim of boats. ~ Paulo Coelho

I love incorrectly

There is a solemnity in hands,
the way a palm will curve in
accordance to a contour of skin,
the way it will release a story.

This should be the pilgrimage.
The touching of a source.
This is what sanctifies.

This pleading. This mercy.
I want to be a pilgrim to everyone,
close to the inaccuracies, the astringent
dislikes, the wayward peace, the private
words. I want to be close to the telling.
I want to feel everyone whisper.

After the blossoming I hang.
The encyclical that has come
through the branches
instructs us to root, to become
the design encapsulated within.

Flesh helping stone turn tree.

I do not want to hold life
at my extremities, see it prepare
itself for my own perpetuation.
I want to touch and be touched
by things similar in this world.

I want to know a few secular days
of perfection. Late in this one great season
the diffused morning light
hides the horizon of sea. Everything
the color of slate, a soft tablet
to press a philosophy to. ~ Carl Adamshick

Since much wealth too often proves a snare and an incumbrance in the Christian's race, let him lighten the weight by 'dispersing abroad and giving to the poor'; whereby he will both soften the pilgrimage of his fellow travelers, and speed his own way the faster. ~ Augustus Toplady

Sometimes the Church patently tried to profit from such incidents: the Benedictine monks of Norwich Cathedral in England, encouraged by their bishop, were pioneers in the blood-libel business when in the 1140s they tried to foster in their own church a cult of an alleged young victim of the Jews called William. Unfortunately for the monks, the good folk of Norwich loathed their cathedral more than they did the Jews, and the pilgrimage to little St William never amounted to much. Other cults were more successful (see chapter 2, p. 59), and the blood-libel has remained a recurring motif in the worst atrocities against the Jews. ~ Diarmaid MacCulloch

As a general rule of biology, migratory species are less 'aggressive' than sedentary ones.
There is one obvious reason why this should be so. The migration itself, like the pilgrimage, is the hard journey: a 'leveller' on which the 'fit' survive and stragglers fall by the wayside.
The journey thus pre-empts the need for hierarchies and shows of dominance. The 'dictators' of the animal kingdom are those who live in an ambience of plenty. The anarchists, as always, are the 'gentlemen of the road'. ~ Bruce Chatwin

Even if I were not able to find my sword, the pilgrimage along the Road to Santiago was going to help me to find myself. ~ Paulo Coelho

Orthodoxy is the wide open field within which successful breeding can take place. If one maintains that Jesus was an eater of magic mushrooms or a Martian, then this will not make for fertility. There is not enough in common for there to be intercourse in any sense. How different can two believers be for the encounter to be fertile? This is a complex question which we do not need to explore here. Of course ultimately we must share orthodoxy, but this is not to narrow the scope of the conversation; it is to enter the broad terrain of the mystery, in which we are liberated from the tightness of ideology. It is a serious misuse of language to use the word 'orthodox' to mean conservative or, even worse, rigid. Orthodoxy does not lie in the unvarying and thoughtless repetition of received formulas. As Karl Rahner pointed out, that can be a form of heresy. Orthodoxy is speaking about our faith in ways that keep open the pilgrimage towards the mystery. Often it is hard to know immediately whether a new statement of belief is a new way of stating our faith or its betrayal. It takes time for us to tell. ~ Timothy Radcliffe

I remember my first lesson on the pilgrimage was the lesson of receiving. I had been on the giving side for many years and I needed to learn to accept as gracefully as I had been able to give, in order to give the other fellow the joy and blessing of giving. It's so beautiful when you live to give. To me it's the only way to live because as you give you receive spiritual blessings. ~ Peace Pilgrim

So how big an interest have you been taking in the Pilgrimage?' 'Big. That idiot Ethan really could trigger the end of the galaxy. I'd have to move.' 'How terrible. ~ Peter F. Hamilton

Mr. Nath and I talked further about the pilgrimage. Examining his hand he said, 'I wonder what it will look like after I finish this pilgrimage.'
What do you mean?' I asked. 'Do you expect this pilgrimage to change your hand?'
It must,' he replied. 'This pilgrimage changes one's life. The change must be evident in the lines of one's hands. ~ David L. Haberman

There is of course a deep spiritual need which the pilgrimage seems to satisfy, particularly for those hardy enough to tackle the journey on foot. ~ Edwin Mullins

The pilgrimage provided a sense of purpose. As well as the long march towards Jerusalem, it also knitted my life into the landscape. The months were replaced by the shifting seasons, while he weeks were measured out in rounds of worship. Staying in monasteries and convents, presbyteries and churches calmed what was restless within me, and during the regular services I noticed how the minutes slowed and the silence assembled, until the days were worth more than they had been before. ~ Guy Stagg

The pilgrimage to Swaraj is a painful climb. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Life is a pilgrimage, and unless love is attained, it remains a pilgrimage, never reaching anywhere. ~ Osho

Religion points to that area of human experience where in one way or another man comes upon mystery as a summons to pilgrimage. ~ Frederick Buechner

Fullness to such a burden is
That go on pilgrimage;
Here little, and hereafter bliss,
Is best from age to age. ~ John Bunyan

Life is a pilgrimage of learning, a voyage of discovery, in which our mistaken views are corrected, our distorted notions adjusted, our shallow opinions deepened and some of our vast ignorances diminished. ~ John R.W. Stott

Did you see those Iraqis making that pilgrimage slashing their foreheads with knives and whipping their backs with chains. See, when Saddam Hussein was around they weren't allowed to make that pilgrimage. If they tried that with Saddam Hussein, he would have slashed their foreheads with knives and whipped their backs with chains. ~ Jay Leno

Give my scallop-shell of quiet, My staff of faith to walk upon, My scrip of joy, immortal diet, My bottle of salvation, My gown of glory, hope's true gage; And thus I'll take my pilgrimage. ~ Walter Raleigh

O You who are mad about Your creature! true God and true Man, You have left Yourself wholly to us, as food, so that we will not fall through weariness during our pilgrimage in this life, but will be fortified by You, celestial nourishment ~ St. Catherine Of Siena

{369} HOPE. I do believe, as you say, that fear tends much to men's good, and to make them right, at their beginning to go on pilgrimage. ~ John Bunyan

Asceticism doesn't lie in mere words; He is an ascetic who treats everyone alike. Asceticism doesn't lie in visiting burial places; it lies not in wandering about nor in bathing at places of pilgrimage. Asceticism is to remain pure amidst impurities. ~ Guru Nanak

Such seem'd this Man, not all alive nor dead, Nor all asleep; in his extreme old age: His body was bent double, feet and head Coming together in their pilgrimage; As if some dire constraint of pain, or rage Of sickness felt by him in times long past, A more than human weight upon his frame had cast. ~ William Wordsworth

Man is a substantial emigrant on a pilgrimage of being , and it is accordingly meaningless to set limits to what he is capable of being. ~ Jose Ortega Y Gasset

For there was soft remembrance, and sweet trust
In one fond breast, to which his own would melt,
And in its tenderer hour on that his bosom dwelt. ~ Lord Byron

I do not think a pilgrimage is a proper pilgrimage if you are also using it as an excuse to visit your favourite aunt, or buy silk cheaply to re-sell," she murmured sombrely. "That's just business dressed up in orange robes. ~ Claire North

My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it. ~ John Bunyan

My keen love of travel was seldom hindered by Father. He permitted me, even as a mere boy, to visit many cities and pilgrimage spots. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda

Conversion is not a single prayer. Conversion is pilgrimage. ~ Diana Butler Bass

For in their hearts doth Nature stir them so Then people long on pilgrimage to go And palmers to be seeking foreign strands To distant shrines renowned in sundry lands. ~ Geoffrey Chaucer

She looked at her doctors as if they were all nuts. "it's a pilgrimage,", she said. "It's not supposed to be easy. ~ Robert Dugoni

I think everybody has their own way of looking at their lives as some kind of pilgrimage. Some people will see their role as a pilgrim in terms of setting up a fine family, or establishing a business inheritance. Everyone's got their own definition. Mine, I suppose, is to know myself. ~ Eric Clapton

Life is very different when you walked through it...How was it he never noticed all this before? ~ Rachel Joyce

Self-denial is spiritual. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

This field is so spacious that it were easy for a man to lose himself in it; and if I should spend all my pilgrimage in this walk, my time would sooner end than my way. ~ Joseph Hall

Queenie Hennessy - "I am here to die."
Sister Mary Inconnue - "Pardon me but you are here to live until you die. There is a significant difference. ~ Rachel Joyce

Rameswaram has, since antiquity, been an important pilgrimage destination. ~ A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

Be on pilgrimage
To a place that's undefined,
Destinationless ~ Eric Overby

Nobody really knows what "creativity" is. Every year thousands of people take a pilgrimage to find out. This involves flying to Cannes, snorting cocaine, and having sex with smokers. ~ Bob Hoffman

It was like a weary pilgrimage amongst hints for nightmares. ~ Joseph Conrad

God was inviting me to go on Hajj, but before that I needed to settle my debts. Muslims may only embark on their pilgrimage if they are debt-free or at least have made an arrangement for repayment. ~ Kristiane Backer

Shorten my days thou canst with sullen sorrow,
And pluck nights from me, but not lend a morrow;
Thou canst help time to furrow me with age,
But stop no wrinkle in his pilgrimage. ~ William Shakespeare

A pilgrimage is an admirable remedy for over-fastidiousness and sickly refinement. ~ Henry Theodore Tuckerman