Jiddu Krishnamurti Quotes

I don't like gurus. I don't like people who ask you to follow or believe. I like people who ask you to think independently.

Children who know how to think for themselves spoil the harmony of the collective society…

There is sort of a hobbit-like element to a lot of British people. They don't want to be told something until they have worked it out for themselves.

Cultivate your garden. Do not depend upon teachers to educate you... follow your own bent, pursue your curiosity bravely, express yourself, make your own harmony.

...I'm no longer prepared to accept what people say and what's written in books. I must think things out for myself, and try to find my own answer.

I studiously avoided all so-called "holy men." I did so because I had to make do with my own truth, not accept from others what I could not attain on my own. I would have felt it as a theft had I attempted to learn from the holy men and to accept their truth for myself. Neither in Europe can I make any borrowings from the East, but must shape my life out of myself-out of what my inner being tells me, or what nature brings to me.

You must look most intimately and discover for yourself; then it is your own, not somebody else’s, not something that you have been told, because there is no teacher and no follower.

When all authority of every kind is put aside, denied, then you can find out for yourself.

In Scouting, a boy is encouraged to educate himself instead of being instructed.

People tell you the world looks a certain way. Parents tell you how to think. Schools tell you how to think. TV. Religion. And then at a certain point, if you're lucky, you realize you can make up your own mind. Nobody sets the rules but you. You can design your own life.

You don't have to burn books, you don't have to rebel against teachers to rebel; to rebel is to truly own your own self.

Questioning authority is, I think, a great thing to instill in children. I just didn't have enough of that when I was little.

I agree with no one's opinion. I have some of my own.

I was brought up to question authority, and thank God for that.

It's a question of not copying the masters, to look for something, good or bad, for oneself. To enter this liberated state of mind, one cannot copy the others.

A Western upbringing tends to stress questioning authority, which is always asking why, why, why.

The philosophical spirit is not satisfied to simply accept what it is told, no matter how much prestige the teller seems to have. This is true even if the teller is a god.

From now on, I'll connect the dots my own way.

I'm my own person. You can't generalise about people.

For me, university was a bit of a rebellious streak. I love teachers but I'm inherently a bit of an anarchist and don't trust you because you're my teacher. Somewhere around my second or third year, I realized as an artist that it's up to us to choose our path, and there's nothing wrong with being given many different tools to put in your tool bag.

I think there's something important in going against the grain and perhaps finding value in things that aren't necessarily institutionally recognized.

In my limited experience, you have to make your own decisions in life and experience things for yourself.

You gotta do things your own way. You have to find your own path. You have to take what appeals to you and leave all the rest.

Off fall the wife, the mother, the lover, the teacher, and the violent artist takes over. I am I alone. I belong to no one but myself. I mate with no one but the spirit. I own no land, have no kin, no friend or enemy. I have no road but this one.

If religion and life depend upon books or upon the existence of any prophet whatsoever, then perish all religion and books! Religion is in us. No books or teachers can do more than help us to find it, and even without them we can get all truth within. You have gratitude for books and teachers without bondage to them; and worship your Guru as God, but do not obey him blindly; love him all you will, but think for yourself. No blind belief can save you, work out your own salvation. Have only one idea of God - that He is an eternal help.