Meister Eckhart Quotes

The ultimate question of who we are is set before us at all times and answered with every action.

What we know matters but who we are matters more.

It doesn't matter what you do. It matters who you are.

it matters infinitely less what we do than what we are.

People often tell me I could be a great man. I'd rather be a good man.

Who we are matters immeasurably more than what we know or who we want to be.

I laugh at people who say things like 'I'm a good person, I just do bad things.' No, that's not how it works. What you do IS who you are.

Action is character.

Even more important than what we do, then, is who we are.

But whether it be dream or truth, to do well is what matters. If it be truth, for truth's sake. If not, then to gain friends for the time when we awaken.

We become what we do.

Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.

We look at what we do to determine who we are.

Do what you know and perception is converted into character.

It is not so much what we know that is important, as what we are and what we do.

Many good people mistake their reputation for their character. It is a mistake I have made many, many times.

Our integrity determines what we really are.

Our ideals are our better selves.

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.

Being good is just a matter of temperament in the end.

Ask me not what I have, but what I am.

Character is simply habit long continued.

I've never had any desire to be good. I don't like goodness particularly.

I'm an advocate of 'it's not what you are, it's who you are.'

It's not who I am underneath but what I do that defines me.