Inner Refuge Quotes

Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.

You are safe inside your mind. No one can reach you there.

In the circle of light on the state in the midst of darkness, you have the sensation of being entirely alone... This is called solitude in public... During a performance, before an audience of thousands, you can always enclose yourself in this circle, like a snail in its shell... You can carry it wherever you go.

I fell into the books, and left myself there for safekeeping.

Inside myself is a place where I live all alone and that is where I renew my springs that never dry up.

Withdraw to the untroubled quietude deep within the soul, and refresh yourself.

Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea, and every sight afforded by these wonderful regions, seems still to have the power of elevating his soul from earth. Such a man has a double existence: he may suffer misery, and be overwhelmed by disappointments; yet, when he has retired into himself, he will be like a celestial spirit that has a halo around him, within whose circle no grief or folly ventures.

Writing was my real life and I was more at home with the people of my imagination than with the best I met in the objective world.

Excuse me if I have/some place in my mind/where I go time to time.

May we have communion with God in the secret of our hearts, and find Him to be to us as a little sanctuary.

Make an island of yourself, make yourself your refuge; there is no other refuge. Make truth your island, make truth your refuge; there is no other refuge.

Turn the key deftly in the oiled wards, And seal the hushed Casket of my Soul.

Humility collects the soul into a single point by the power of silence. A truly humble man has no desire to be known or admired by others, but wishes to plunge from himself into himself, to become nothing, as if he had never been born. When he is completely hidden to himself in himself, he is completely with God

No poet is ever completely lost. He has the secret of his childhood safe with him, like some secret cave in which he can kneel. And, when we read his poetry, we can join him there.

I'm all over the place, up and down, scattered, withdrawing, trying to find some elusive sense of serenity." The world can't give that serenity. The world can't give us peace. We can only find it in our hearts." I hate that." I know. But the good news is that by the same token, the world can't take it away.

Every man carries within himself a world made up of all that he has seen and loved; and it is to this world that he returns, incessantly, though he may pass through and seem to inhabit a world quite foreign to it.

The ultimate comfort zone is within.

Zazen is better than a home. Zazen is a home that you can't ever lose.

We can find true refuge within our own hearts and minds-right here, right now, in the midst of our moment-to-momen t lives.

I advise everyone to find an island in this life. Find a place where this culture can't take energy away from you, sap your will and originality. Since anything physical can be mental, that island can be your home. Turn off the electromagnetic waves being forced upon you, the countless invisible forces coming at you all the time.

I have no place left to live but in my own heart.

True refuge is that which allows us to be at home, at peace, to discover true happiness. The only thing that can give us true refuge is the awareness and love that is intrinsic to who we are. Ultimately, it's our own true nature.

I cannot imagine how religious persons can live satisfied without the practice of the presence of GOD. For my part I keep myself retired with Him in the depth of centre of my soul as much as I can; and while I am so with Him I fear nothing; but the least turning from Him is insupportable.

He who tries to flee from God takes refuge in himself.

Escapism is survival to me.