Most Enlightening Quotes & Sayings

Every moment is brand new, but we often fill the new with fear of the future or pain of the past instead of simply enjoying the present. — Vivian Amis

But karma is not in fact a material accumulation, and does not depend on externals; rather its power to condition us depends on the obstacles that impede our knowledge. If we compare our karma and the ignorance that creates it to a dark room, knowledge of the primordial state would be like a lamp, which, when lit in the room, at once causes the darkness to disappear, enlightening everything. In the same way, if one has the presence of the primordial state, one can overcome all hindrances in an instant. — Namkhai Norbu

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

Eating a meal with full awareness can be a powerful, enlightening, and healing experience. — David Simon

Getting photographs is not the most important thing. For me it's the act of photographing. It's enlightening, therapeutic and satisfying, because the very process forces me to connect with the world. When you make four-hour exposures in the middle of the night, you inevitably slow down and begin to observe and appreciate more what's going on around you. In our fast-paced, modern world, it's a luxury to be able to watch the stars move across the sky. — Michael Kenna

The idea of having more technology solving this idea of hyperactive lifestyle is not really the mainstream problem. I think the real innovation that's going to be rewarded will be on things like, let's convert our computers from being tools to being companions. Let's convert our computers from being utilitarian to being enlightening. These are human needs. — Horace Dediu

The press is the best instrument for enlightening the mind of man, and improving him as a rational, moral and social being — Thomas Jefferson

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

My experiences and training back at drama school were very enlightening. I always believe in improving, be it kathak or my acting skills, and would want to experiment more when it comes to work. — Jiah Khan

To sing a simple round is truly an enlightening experience. — Phil Lesh

You learn stuff from every character you play about the human condition that can be quite enlightening. — Jacki Weaver

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

I don't subscribe to the thesis, 'Let the buyer beware,' I prefer the disregarded one that goes, 'Let the seller be honest.' — Isaac Asimov

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

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

The world will burn for a hundred years. Fire will consume the things we made from wood and plastic and rubber and cloth, then water and wind and time will chew the stone and steel into dust. How baffling it is that we imagined cities incinerated by alien bombs and death rays when all they needed was Mother Nature and time. — Rick Yancey

On thee, Jesus, all our hopes depend. In thee all power is vested, even power to make sinful creatures instrumental in enlightening the heathen. — Adoniram Judson

[A community chalkboard is] about knowing you're not alone. It's about understanding our neighbors in new and enlightening ways. — Candy Chang

After you have loss in your life and after you experience something like losing your parents, the greatest gift of that was it prepared me for [anything]. Nothing else is as scary, and certainly stand-up comedy is not as scary as sitting there with your mom and having to have last conversations and things like that. It's heavy stuff, but it's enlightening because it makes me think I shouldn't be afraid of sharing ideas and thoughts with people. It's the yin and the yang of life. — Dane Cook

There's greatness in smallness. Just look into the eyes of a child. — Dean Henryson

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

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

Where am I?" Magnus croaked.
"Nazca."
So Magnus was still in Peru. That indicated that he had been rather more sensible than he'd feared.
"Oh, so we went on a little trip."
"You broke into a man's house," Catarina said. "You stole a carpet and enchanted it to fly. Then you sped off into the night air. We pursued you on foot."
"Ah," said Magnus.
"You were shouting some things."
"What things?"
"I prefer not to repeat them," Catarina said. She was a weary shade of blue. "I also prefer not to remember the time we spent in the desert. It is a mammoth desert, Magnus. Ordinary deserts are quite large. Mammoth deserts are so called because they are larger than ordinary deserts."
"Thank you for that interesting and enlightening information, — Cassandra Clare

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

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

I've always been prepared to write about the hard things. Only for healing, teaching, and enlightening purposes not to hurt or disparage anyone. — Luis J. Rodriguez

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

I can't believe how some of the most unfortunate people in the world can be the happiest.It's just so enlightening to me. — Ariana Grande

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

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

All creative art is magic , is evocation of the unseen in forms persuasive, enlightening, familiar and surprising, for the edification of mankind , pinned down by the conditions of its existence to the earnest consideration of the most insignificant tides of reality . — Joseph Conrad

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

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 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

Not enough books focus on how a culture responds to radically new ideas or discovery. Especially in the biography genre, they tend to focus on all the sordid details in the life of the person who made the discovery. I find this path to be voyeuristic but not enlightening. Instead, I ask, After evolution was discovered, how did religion and society respond? After cities were electrified, how did daily life change? After the airplane could fly from one country to another, how did commerce or warfare change? After we walked on the Moon, how differently did we view Earth? My larger understanding of people, places and things derives primarily from stories surrounding questions such as those. — Neil DeGrasse Tyson

How's daydreaming affecting nightmares??
Showing the light where is all dark! — Ana Claudia Antunes

It was kind of enlightening to become a playwright. — Beth Henley

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

Autobiography of a Yogi is justifiably celebrated as one of the most entertaining and enlightening spiritual books ever written. — Tom Butler-Bowdon

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

The only thing you really get to figure out after a lifetime of study is that there's more stuff to figure out. Frustrating and enlightening at the same time. — Jasper Fforde

This is really enlightening. I didn't know life was supposed to be easy. How could I have lived all these years and not realized life was supposed to be easy? I feel really stupid now. — Amanda Usen

Enlightening editorial writers is even more difficult than educating educators. — Malcolm Forbes

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

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

There are many other possibilities more enlightening than the struggle to become the local doctor's most affluent ulcer case. — Nelson Rockefeller

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

If people are driving you around to look at animals, that's wonderful. That's educational, but it's not necessarily enlightening and you're not finding out much about yourself. — Paul Theroux

For most of us enlightenment is not a destination or graduation into a permanent higher state of consciousness, but a moment-by-moment experience constantly fluctuating between degrees of wholeness and limited consciousness. I like to call this enlightening-ment. — Jennifer Howard

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

Religion is very enlightening - to those who don't understand it. — Chapman Cohen

Hatred never ceases with hatred, but with love alone is healed. — T. Scott McLeod

...people who struggle against tyranny are more psychologically healthy than those who are docile and simply conform to current ways of thinking...there is much evidence that some of the most creative people in history were driven individuals who were terribly unhappy and out of sync with their social context. Creativity itself is a form of deviant behavior that requires individuals to break from usual assumptions and understandings in developing entirely new perspectives and approaches. — David Mechanic

I rocked in silence, and realized for the first time that 'home' wasn't this place anymore. It was wherever Victor was. It was both a terrifying and an enlightening realization, and I took a deep breath and thought carefully before I answered.
'Yes. I'm ready to go home.'
It was like saying hello and good-bye at the same time. — Jenny Lawson