Richard Rohr Quotes

Maturity, one discovers, has everything to do with the acceptance of ‘not knowing.

Life changes for the better when we realize that we don't have to know everything and we don't have to pretend we do.

I always told, Sandra Bullock was my student when she was younger, I always told her it's important that we hold on to our insecurity, the wisdom of insecurity.

Be humble, be gracious, and make peace with inner fears before stepping out into the limelight and allowing yourself to be subjected to all of humanity.

It's not a gift of mine, but one given to me, to be able to criticise myself and not be crushed, by myself or by others.

I do not know myself, and God forbid that I should.

I don't think I am fearless. I am just me.

I saw that we're all doing the best we can. This is how a lifetime of humility begins.

The final mystery is oneself... Who can calculate the orbit of his own soul.

There is no need to sally forth, for it remains true that those things which make us human are, curiously enough, always close at hand. Resolve, then, that on this very ground, with small flags waving and tiny blasts on tiny trumpets, we shall meet the enemy, and not only may he be ours, he may be us.

I like when people know exactly, have a good sense of themselves, and know exactly what's good for them, I admire that, but I don't have anywhere near that kind of perspective on my own.

I should have the courage of my lack of convictions.

The complementary movement towards divine love is growth in humility which is the acceptence of the reality about ourselves, our own weakness and limitations.

Self-assurance is contemptible and fatal unless it is self-knowledge.

Grace only sticks to our imperfections. Those who can’t accept their imperfections can’t accept grace either.

It takes strength to show vulnerability.

The hardest thing to remember is that what we each really want is the truth of our lives, good or bad. Not rocking the boat is an illusion that can only be maintained by the unspoken agreement not to feel and in the long run it never really works. Let go of saving the boat and save the passengers instead.

There's nothing wrong with not understanding yourself.

It is courageous to occasionally admit that there are certain things one can't do.

I was going through the hardest thing, also the greatest thing, for any human being to do; to accept that which is already within you, and around you.

Maybe at the same time as I'm more confident today, I'm also more humble.

For other people, I can't speak - but, personally, I haven't gotten wise on anything. Certainly, I've been through this and that; and when it happens again, I say to myself, Here it is again. But that doesn't seem to help me. In my opinion, I, personally, have gotten steadily sillier and sillier - and that's a fact.

Be a man. Discover where you are now, and go on from there, making the best of things. accept your life, and you might survive it. If you hold back from it, insisting this is not your life, not where you are meant to be, life will pass you by. You may not die from such foolishness, but you might as well be dead for all the good your life will do you or anyone else.

The more we chase away the false mysteries - those things we think we know about ourselves and others - the more mysterious our existence becomes.

The truth about your own life is not always easy to accept, and sometimes hasn't even occurred to you.