Evelyn Underhill Quotes

People will notice the beauty of what they usually ignore ~

You see only the beautiful things when you stand still. You only see things that you don't ordinarily notice. The birds are the prettiest things, I imagine.

We are all too much inclined, I think, to walk through life with our eyes shut. There are things all round us and right at our very feet that we have never seen, because we have never really looked.

Many eyes go through the meadow, but few see the flowers in it

Splendid architecture, the love of your life, an old friend... they can all go drifting by unseen if you're not careful.

If you're living strictly for the future or living in the past, it can make your partner feel neglected. Make yourself focus on the moment you're in.

We are so distracted and focused on what's next, we can fail to see what is actually in front of us.

Out of sight is out of mind.

Let not things, because they are common, enjoy for that the less share of our consideration.

If your eyes are blinded with your worries, you cannot see the beauty of the sunset.

So many things become beautiful when you really look.

The beauty and mystery of this world only emerges through affection, attention, interest and compassion . . . open your eyes wide and actually see this world by attending to its colors, details and irony.

Beauty is all about us, but how many are blind! They look at the wonder of this earth and seem to see nothing. People move hectically but give little thought to where they are going. They seek excitement ... as if they were lost and desperate.

Maybe some are so busy waiting, they forget what indescribable beauty is right there in front of them.

Another way to be awakened by the beauty and complexity of the word is to get a dog. Small Things like a plant that I had passed a thousand time and never given a second thought to. But the dog is curious. And the dog stops and wants to smell this and smell that. And the dog makes you look and focus and take the time.

And in their rush to create wonders, they have ignored the wonders all around them, ignored the mysteries, the beauty.

... every time you look at the world and the people in it closely, lovingly, imaginatively, it changes you. The world, under the microscope of your attention, opens up like a beautiful, strange flower and gives itself back to you in ways you could never imagine.

Gorgeous, amazing things come into our lives when we are paying attention: mangoes, grandnieces, Bach, ponds. This happens more often when we have as little expectation as possible. If you say, "Well, that's pretty much what I thought I'd see," you are in trouble. At that point you have to ask yourself why you are even here. [...] Astonishing material and revelation appear in our lives all the time. Let it be. Unto us, so much is given. We just have to be open for business.

The eyes see not what is before them when the mind is intent on other matters.

If you pay close attention to each day, you will discover the magic moment.

He said, if you allow yourself to be enchanted by the beauty to be seen in even ordinary things, then all things proved to be extraordinary.

As you awaken to your divine nature, you'll begin to appreciate beauty in everything you see, touch and experience.

Don't be the rider who gallops all nightand never sees the horse that is beneath him

If I'm watching my son play soccer, that's what I'm doing. If I'm going to a school concert, that's what I'm doing. I turn the phone off. I actively tune into whatever I'm doing. I walk every evening with one of my sons and for that half an hour, 45 minutes, that's what I'm doing.

If I am incapable of washing dishes joyfully, if I want to finish them quickly so I can go and have dessert, I will be equally incapable of enjoying my dessert. With the fork in my hand, I will be thinking about what to do next, and the texture and flavor of the dessert, together with the pleasure of eating it, will be lost. I will always be dragged into the future, never able to live in the present moment.