Anthony de Mello Quotes

Unending joy is actually closer to us than our own skin, and there is nothing we have to do or get or be to experience it. All we have to do is stop driving it away.

To forget oneself is to be happy.

Desire nothing, give up all desires and be happy.

I used to feel like I had to be the best at what I did, but I realized I don't have to be the best. It's so freeing. I've never been this happy.

Enjoy doing nothing, and you can enjoy doing anything. Enjoy having nothing, and you can enjoy whatever you have.

Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it.

If you have to have it, it's ego. If you have to not have it, it's ego. Hold life lightly and it will deliver what you need and release what you don't.

Without desire there is stillness, and the world settles by itself.

Experiment with this a little. During these days that you are here with me, don't nourish any desire for happiness, and then see how your heart becomes filled with happiness. Don't have any desire for peace, and see how the turmoil within you vanishes. Don't beg for contentment and see how contentment showers down on you. Please try this - only then will you understand.

To be happy is only to have freed one's soul from the unrest of unhappiness.

Most people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can only be felt if you don't set any condition.

Happiness can only be found if you can free yourself of all other distractions.

Happy is the man who has broken the chains which hurt the mind, and has given up worrying once and for all.

I don't have anything to prove anymore. I can relax.

When you relinquish the desire to control your future, you can have more happiness.

All I want is to live a peaceful life, to regain my life and be happy.

I see nothing wrong with the human trait to desire. In fact, I consider it integral to our success mechanism. Becoming attached to what we desire is what causes the trouble. If you must have it in order to be happy, then you are denying the happiness of the here and now.

The secret of happiness is to admire without desiring. And that is not happiness.

Be content to be what you are, and prefer nothing to it, and do not fear or wish for your last day.

Not being anxious requires a level of humility, doesn't it? It does, I think. It's not all about you.

When you stop thinking about yourself all the time, a certain sense of repose overtakes you.

There are still things I want to do but they're not necessary for me to do. I'm not clinging to anything that I can't open my hands and let go.

What's real freedom? Real freedom is being able to not have my way and still be just as happy as if I did.

The longer I live, the more I feel that true repose consists in 'renouncing' one's own self, by which I mean making up one's mind to admit that there is no importance whatever in being 'happy' or 'unhappy' in the usual meaning of the words.

I'm not a showoff. My happiness comes from very basic and simple things.