Karen Armstrong Quotes

Reading will put you into the minds and hearts of others. It might help you understand why other people do what they do sometimes.

There are always two or three or four sides to every story.

Actions are always more complex and nuanced than they seem. We have to be willing to wrestle with paradox in pursuing understanding.

Sometimes the truth is more than the sum of the facts.

Uneducated people are unfortunate in that they do grasp complex issues, educated people, on the other hand, often do not understand simplicity, which is a far greater misfortune.

There are so many things admirable people do not understand.

A clever mind is not a heart. Knowledge doesn't really care, wisdom does.

Intelligence makes sincerity difficult.

Intelligence complicates. Wisdom simplifies.

As I come to understand Vietnam and what it implies about the human condition, I also realize that few humans will permit themselves such an understanding.

I would now put all my heart with the Tibetan people and the Tibetan cause, but not at the expense of the Chinese, and not say that Tibetans are good and Chinese are bad. And in my own life, I hope I would learn to be a little less full of right and wrongs, and a little more able to see everything as a potential right.

There is more to knowing than just being correct

To know another's heart, you must first know your own.

Study the world's skin before you set out to look for its heart.

To judge human character rightly, a man may sometimes have very small experience, provided he has a very large heart.

We long for unity, but are unwilling to pay the price. But of course, true unity cannot be so easily won. It starts with a change in attitudes - a broadening of our minds, and a broadening of our hearts.

Real power has to do with one's ability to influence the hearts and minds of others.

Exactly!" said Deep Thought. "So once you do know what the question actually is, you'll know what the answer means.

Those alone are wise who know how to love.

It is not at all simple to understand the simple.

Aphorisms know the angles, but not the structure.

A lot of the issues that I see, it is not an either-or situation.

Can't you recognize the human in the inhuman?

You can't be wise without being intelligent, but you certainly can be intelligent without being wise.

Dear Hilde, if the human brain was simple enough for us to understand, we would still be so stupid that we couldn't understand it. Love, Dad.