P. D. Ouspensky quotes

P. D. Ouspensky was a Russian philosopher and esotericist, renowned for his work on mysticism and the Fourth Way teachings. As a close student of G.I. Gurdjieff, he was instrumental in introducing esoteric concepts to Western audiences. He wrote several influential books and sought to synthesize Eastern wisdom with Western thought. Here are 44 of his quotes:

If a man gives way to all his desires, or panders to them, there will be no inner struggle in him, no 'friction,' no fire. But if, for the sake of attaining a definite aim, he struggles with the desires that hinder him, he will then create a fire which will gradually transform his inner world into a single whole. (P. D. Ouspensky)
Two things can get people to make efforts: if people want to get something, or if they want to get rid of something. Only, in ordinary conditions, without knowledge, people do not know what they can get rid of or what they can gain. View quote
P. D. Ouspensky
I felt that on a basis of a "search for the miraculous" it would be possible to unite together a very large number of people who were no longer able to swallow the customary forms of lying and living in lying. View quote
P. D. Ouspensky
When a man begins to know himself a little he will see in himself many things that are bound to horrify him. So long as a man is not horrified at himself he knows nothing about himself. View quote
P. D. Ouspensky
It is only when we realize that life is taking us nowhere that it begins to have meaning. View quote
P. D. Ouspensky
The greatest barrier to consciousness is the belief that one is already conscious. View quote
P. D. Ouspensky
Our ancestors were very rich and eminent people, and they left us an enormous inheritance, which we have completely forgotten, especially since the time when we began to consider ourselves the descendants of a monkey. View quote
P. D. Ouspensky
I've found that the chief difficulty for most people was to realize that they had really heard new things: that is things that they had never heard before. They kept translating what they heard into their habitual language. They had ceased to hope and believe there might be anything new. View quote
P. D. Ouspensky
The problem of Eternity, of which the face of the Sphinx speaks, takes us into the realm of the impossible. Even the problem of Time is simple in comparison with the problem of Eternity. View quote
P. D. Ouspensky
Possibly the most interesting first impression of my life came from the world of dreams. View quote
P. D. Ouspensky
Humanity in the face of the idea of hidden knowledge reminds one of the people in fairy-tales who are promised by some goddess, fairy or magician that they will be given whatever they want on condition that they say exactly what they want. (P. D. Ouspensky)
Hints towards the solution of the problem of Eternity can be found in the various symbols and allegories of ancient religions and in some of the modern as well as ancient philosophies. View quote
P. D. Ouspensky
Learn to see it in thyself and thou wilt understand the infinite essence, hidden in all illusory forms. Understand that the world which thou knowest is only one of the aspects of the infinite world, and things and phenomena are merely hierolgyphics of deeper ideas. View quote
P. D. Ouspensky
The strangest and most fantastic fact about negative emotions is that people actually worship them. View quote
P. D. Ouspensky
The most difficult thing is to know what we do know, and what we do not know. View quote
P. D. Ouspensky
The most precise and complete formulation of the law of higher logic I find in the writing of Plotinus, in his On Intelligible Beauty. I shall quote this passage in the succeeding chapter. I have called this system of higher logic Tertium Organum because for us it is the third canon - third instrument - of thought after those of Aristotle and Bacon. The first was Organon, the second, Novum Organum. But the third existed earlier than the first. Man, master of this instrument, of this key, may open the door of the world of causes without fear. View quote
P. D. Ouspensky
The number of these laws is constantly growing in all countries and, owing to this, what is called crime is very often not a crime at all, for it contains no element of violence or harm. View quote
P. D. Ouspensky
In all living nature (and perhaps also in that which we consider as dead) love is the motive force which drives the creative activity in the most diverse directions. View quote
P. D. Ouspensky
Philosophy is based on speculation, on logic, on thought, on the synthesis of what we know and on the analysis of what we do not know. Philosophy must include within its confines the whole content of science, religion and art. View quote
P. D. Ouspensky
Existing criminology is insufficient to isolate barbarism. View quote
P. D. Ouspensky
I Saw the Man. His figure reached from earth to heaven and was clad in a purple mantle. (P. D. Ouspensky)
An unexpected vision appeared to me. A circle not unlike a wreath woven from rainbow and lightnings, whirled from heaven to earth with a stupendous, velocity, blinding me by its brilliance. View quote
P. D. Ouspensky
People who think they can control their negative emotions and manifest them when they want to, simply deceive themselves. View quote
P. D. Ouspensky
I saw myself reflected in him as in a mirror and in his eyes I seemed to look upon myself. And I heard a voice saying: -"Look, this is the Great Magician! View quote
P. D. Ouspensky
He knows that it is he who stands before an altar with magic symbols, and reaches from earth to heaven; that he also walks on a dusty road under a scorching sun to a precipice where a crocodile awaits him. View quote
P. D. Ouspensky