The book by author M. Scott Peck is an all time favourite for many seeking a highly inspirational read in search for hope. Here are some quotes from the much loved book.
- “Once we truly know that life is difficult… then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.”
- “The more honest one is, the easier it is to continue being honest, just as the more lies one has told, the more necessary it is to lie again. By their openness, people dedicated to the truth live in the open, and through the exercise of their courage to live in the open, they become free from fear.”
- “The only real security in life lies in relishing life’s insecurity.”
- “Move out or grow in any dimension and pain as well as joy will be your reward. A full life will be full of pain.”
- “When I genuinely love I am extending myself, and when I am extending myself I am growing. The more I love, the longer I love the larger I become.”
- “Conversely, it is not only possible but necessary for a loving person to avoid acting on feelings of love.”
- “Genuine love is self-replenishing. The more I nurture the spiritual growth of others, the more my own spiritual growth is nurtured.”
- “The attempt to avoid legitimate suffering lies at the root of all emotional illness.”
- “Genuine love not only respects the individuality of the other but actually seeks to cultivate it, even at the risk of separation or loss.”
- “Human beings are poor examiners, subject to superstition, bias, prejudice, and a profound tendency to see what they want to see rather than what is really there.”
- “Human beings have a profound tendency to conceptualize in terms of discrete entities.”
- “It is only because of problems that we grow mentally and spiritually.”
- “If we know exactly where we’re going, exactly how to get there, and exactly what we’ll see along the way, we won’t learn anything.”
- “If your goal is to avoid pain and escape suffering, I would not advise you to seek higher levels of consciousness or spiritual evolution. First, you cannot achieve them without suffering, and second, insofar as you do achieve them, you are likely to be called on to serve in ways more painful to you, or at least demanding of you, than you can now imagine. Then why desire to evolve at all, you may ask. If you ask this question, perhaps you do not know enough of joy.”
- “The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.”
- “We are incapable of loving another unless we love ourselves, just as we are incapable of teaching our children self-discipline unless we ourselves are self-disciplined. It is actually impossible to forsake our own spiritual development in favor of someone else’s. We cannot forsake self-discipline and at the same time be disciplined in our care for another. We cannot be a source of strength unless we nurture our own strength. I believe that not only do self-love and love of others go hand in hand but that ultimately they are indistinguishable.”