Anthony de Mello quotes

Anthony de Mello was an Indian Jesuit priest, psychotherapist, and spiritual teacher, renowned for his writings on spirituality and personal awareness. His teachings combined Christian spirituality with Eastern traditions, inspiring people worldwide to seek inner freedom and enlightenment. He is remembered for his impactful books, talks, and workshops that continue to influence spiritual seekers. Here are 169 of his quotes:

These things will destroy the human race: politics without principle, progress without compassion, wealth without work, learning without silence, religion without fearlessness and worship without awareness.

Anthony de Mello

People mistakenly assume that their thinking is done by their head; it is actually done by the heart which first dictates the conclusion, then commands the head to provide the reasoning that will defend it.

Anthony de Mello

A disciple asked, "Who is a Master?" The Master replied, "Anyone to whom it is given to let go of the ego. Such a person's life is then a masterpiece.

Anthony de Mello

I seek the meaning of existence." said the stranger. "You are of course, assuming." said the Master, "that existence has a meaning." "Doesn't it?" "When you experience existence as it is - not as you think it is - you will discover that your question has no meaning.

Anthony de Mello

A disciple said to him, "I am ready, in the quest for God, to give up anything: wealth, friends, family, country, life itself. What else can a person give up?" The Master calmly replied, "One's beliefs about God.

Anthony de Mello

Is there life before death? - that is the question!

Anthony de Mello

What is the secret of your serenity?" Said the master: "Wholehearted cooperation with the inevitable.

Anthony de Mello

You will seek for God in vain till you understand that God can't be seen as a "thing"; he needs a special way of looking - similar to that of little children whose sight is undistorted by prefabricated doctrines and beliefs.

Anthony de Mello

What is the work of a Master?" said a solemn-faced visitor. "To teach people to laugh," said the Master gravely.

Anthony de Mello

"What is love?"; "The total absence of fear," said the Master; "What is it we fear?"; "Love," said the Master.

Anthony de Mello

Step by step, let whatever happens happen. Real change will come when it is brought about, not by your ego, but by reality. Awareness releases reality to change you.

Anthony de Mello

A good teacher offers practice, a bad one offers theories.

Anthony de Mello

Wisdom can be learned. But it cannot be taught.

Anthony de Mello

Whatever is truly alive must die. Look at the flowers; only plastic flowers never die.

Anthony de Mello

Silence is not the absence of sound, but the absence of self.

Anthony de Mello

When you come to see you are not as wise today as you thought you were yesterday, you are wiser today.

Anthony de Mello

When God means you to be a healer he sends you patients; when he makes you a teacher he sends you pupils; when he destines you to be a Master he sends you stories.

Anthony de Mello

If you search within your heart, you will find something there that will make it possible for you to understand: a spark of disenchantment and discontent, which if fanned into flame will become a raging forest fire that will burn up the whole of the illusory world you are living in, thereby unveiling to your wondering eyes the kingdom that you have always lived in unsuspectingly.

Anthony de Mello

One year of life is worth more than twenty years of hibernation.

Anthony de Mello

One always treads with a joyful step when one has dropped the burden called the ego.

Anthony de Mello

Thought can organize the world so well that you are no longer able to see it.

Anthony de Mello

Every word, every image used for God is a distortion more than a description.

Anthony de Mello