Sri Aurobindo Quotes

All vital truth contains the memory of all that for which it is not true.

Thought can never be compared with action, but when it awakens in us the image of truth.

Thinking does not lead to truth; truth is the beginning of thought.

The solitary knows the essence of the thought, the scholar in society only its fair face.

There are secrets to our world that only practice can reveal, and no opinion or analysis will ever capture in full.

Truth is much too complicated to allow anything but approximations.

Even if a fool lived with a wise man all his life, he would still not recognise the truth, like a wooden spoon cannot recognise the flavour of the soup.

Paranoia is just having the right information.

Enlightenment is its own reward, its own punishment. You begin to see so much more. And so much more sees you.

What, concretely, is Enlightenment ?" "Seeing Reality as it is," said the Master. "Doesn't everyone see Reality as it is?" "Oh, no! Most people see it as they think it is." "What's the difference?" "The difference between thinking you are drowning in a stormy sea and knowing you cannot drown because there isn't any water in sight for miles around.

There is enough light for those who only desire to see, and enough obscurity for those who have a contrary disposition

Those who know it do not speak about it. Those who speak about it do not know it.

Once you realize something, then you can't pretend you don't know it any more.

There are no new truths, but only truths that have not been recognized by those who have perceived them without noticing.

Men of the world who value the Way all turn to books. But books are nothing more than words. Words have value; what is of value in words is meaning. Meaning has something it is pursuing, but the thing that it is pursuing cannot be put into words and handed down. The world values words and hands down books but, though the world values them, I do not think them worth valuing. What the world takes to be values is not real value.

One night, a group of moths gathered on a shelf watching a burning candle. Puzzled by the nature of the light, they sent one of their members to go and check on it. The scouting moth circled the candle several times and came back with a description: The light was bright. Then a second moth went to examine it. He, too, came back with an observation: The light was hot. Finally a third moth volunteered to go. When he approached the candle he didn't stop like his friends had done, but flew straight into the flame. He was consumed there and then, and only he understood the nature of the light.

No one sees further into a generalization than his own knowledge of detail extends.

Knowing many things doesn't teach insight.

I have to tell it again and again: I have no doctrine. I only point out something. I point out reality, I point out something in reality which has not or too little been seen. I take him who listens to me at his hand and lead him to the window. I push open the window and point outside. I have no doctrine, I carry on a dialogue.

There is truth in all things, if you understand them well.

Every day that you attempt to see things as they are in truth Is a supremely successful day.

Knowledge is like fire 'cause it breaks down things so you can see what they truly are. It's like how a fire breaks your body down to carbon.

Seeing is believing and believing is knowing and knowing beats unknowing and the unknown.

Knowledge, idea, belief stands in the way of wisdom.

Reason saw not, till Faith sprung the Light.