“Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.”
- Herman Hesse
amid the noise
“Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there is in silence.”
- Max Ehrmann
the mind and silence
“Silence is a state totally outside the machinery of the mind; the mind cannot conceive of it and the mind’s attempts to reach silence are still part of noise.”
- Krishnamurti
returning to the source
Empty yourself of everything.
The ten thousand things rise and fall
while the Self watches their return.
They grow and flourish
and then return to the source.
Returning to the source is stillness,
which is the way of nature.
- Lao Tzu
the stillness of nature
“My heart is tuned to the quietness that the stillness of nature inspires.”
- Hazrat Inayat Khan
the beautiful pattern
“If you could only keep quiet, clear of memories and expectations, you would be able to discern the beautiful pattern of events. It’s your restlessness that causes chaos.”
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
stillness introduces you
Attention pays attention to a lot of things, but when attention pays attention to attention, then there is a stillness, and that stillness introduces you to your Self.
- Mooji
let life happen
Learning how to be still, to really be still and let life happen – that stillness becomes a radiance.
— Morgan Freeman
you are at peace
“When you deeply accept this moment as it is–no matter what form it takes–you are still, you are at peace.”
- Eckhart Tolle
great wisdom
“It is great wisdom to know how to be silent and to look at neither the remarks, nor the deeds, nor the lives of others.”
- St. John of the Cross
the tangle
“Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking. Live in silence.”
- Rumi
the silent openness
“The mystery, the essence of all life is not separate from the silent openness of simple listening.”
- Toni Packer
you are the stillness
“Be the silent watcher of your thoughts and behavior. You are beneath the thinker. You are the stillness beneath the mental noise.”
- Eckhart Tolle
teach me to love
“Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they are, not for what they say.”
- Thomas Merton
heal and connect
“A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.”
- Rachel Naomi Remen
the mind's natural state
“No particular thought can be mind’s natural state, only silence. Not the idea of silence, but silence itself. When the mind is in its natural state, it reverts to silence spontaneously after every experience, or, rather, every experience happens against the background of silence.”
— Nisargadatta Maharaj
allow nature to teach
“Look at a tree, a flower, a plant. Let your awareness rest upon it. How still they are, how deeply rooted in Being. Allow nature to teach you stillness.”
- Eckhart Tolle
nothing to cling to
“When the mind is left with nothing to cling to, it becomes still.”
- Ramana Maharshi
give up the notion
“Give up the notion that 'I am so and so'. All that is required to realize the Self is to be still. What can be easier than that?”
- Ramana Maharshi
presence of stillness
“It is like being in the desert. At first you listen to the absence of sounds and call it silence. Then suddenly you may be taken by the presence of stillness where you are one with listening itself.”
- Jean Klein
