Mind - Quotes

‘Tis the sharpness of our mind that gives the edge to our pains and pleasures. - Michel De Montaigne

A closed mind is like a closed book; just a block of wood. - Chinese Proverb

A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it. - Rabindranath Tagore

A mind at peace, a mind centered and not focused on harming others, is stronger than any physical force in the universe. - Wayne Dyer

A mind grows by what it feeds on. - Josiah Gilbert Holland

A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge. - Unknown

A mind without instruction can no more bear fruit than can a field, however fertile, without cultivation. - Cicero

A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner, so if one’s life is cold and bare he can blame none but himself. - Louis L 'Amour

A narrow mind has a broad tongue. - Arabian Proverb

A negative mind will never give you a positive life. - Unknown

A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow. - Charlotte Bronte

All the resources we need are in the mind. - Theodore Roosevelt

All things may corrupt when minds are prone to evil. - Ovid

An open mind, like an open window, should be screened to keep the bugs out. - Virginia Hutchinson

At certain times, a silent mind is very important, but ‘silent’ does not mean closed. The silent mind is an alert, awakened mind; a mind seeking the nature of reality. - Lama Yeshe

Control of the mind is the key to happiness. It is the kind of virtue and the force behind all true achievement. It is owing to lack of control that various conflicts arise in man’s mind. If he is to control them, he must learn not to give free rein to his longings and inclinations and should try to live a self-governed, pure and calm life. -  K. Sri Dhammananda

Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body. - Marcus Tullius Cicero

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. - The Buddha

Do not let trifles disturb your tranquillity of mind. The little pin-pricks of daily life when dwelt upon and magnified, may do great damage, but if ignored or dismissed from thought, will disappear from inanition. - Grenville Kleiser 

Every human mind is a great slumbering power until awakened by a keen desire and by definite resolution to do. - Edgar F. Roberts

Everything is in the mind. That is where it all starts. Knowing what you want is the first step towards getting it. - Mae West

Familiar things happen, and mankind does not bother about them. It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious. - Alfred Whitehead

Gallantry of the mind is saying the most empty things in an agreeable manner. - Duc de La Rochefoucauld

Great minds are like eagles, and build their nest in some lofty solitude. - Arthur Schopenhauer

Great minds have purposes, others have wishes. - Washington Irving

I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief. - Gerry Spence

If any part of your uncertainty, is a conflict between your heart and your mind – follow your mind. - Ayn Rand

If the mind is not contrived, it is spontaneously blissful, just as water, when not agitated, is by nature transparent and clear. - Unknown

If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place. - Lao Tzu

If you don't control your mind, someone else will. - John Allston

If you let cloudy water settle, it will become clear.  If you let your upset mind settle, your course will also become clear. - Unknown

Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity, and in cold weather becomes frozen: even so does inaction sap the vigour of the mind. - Leonardo da Vinci

It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways. – The Buddha

It is only when the mind is controlled and is kept to the right road of orderly progress that it becomes useful for its possessor and for society. A disorderly mind is a liability both to its owner and to others, all the havoc wrought in the world is wrought by men who have not learned the way of mind control, balance and poise. -  K. Sri Dhammananda

It is our mind, and that alone, that chains us or sets us free. - Dilgo Rinpoche 

It is our minds that make our lives so homeless. - John O'Donohue

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. - Aristotle

It is the mind that makes the man, and our vigour is in our immortal soul. - Ovid

Keep your mind humble, and open to new ideas. You will learn much more in the process, and continue to develop as a human being. - Unknown

Learn deeply of the Mind and its mystery, for therein lies the secret of immortality. - Joseph Addison

Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them. - Washington Irving

Man has amazing potentialities of mind but like treasure hidden in the mountain they are of little use to him until he has cleared away the dense matter that keeps them concealed from himself. -  K. Sri Dhammananda

Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions. - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own mind. -Franklin Roosevelt

Mind is the Master-power that moulds and makes, and Man is Mind, and ever more he takes the Tool of Thought, and shaping what he wills, brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills-He thinks in secret and it comes to pass; Environment is but his looking-glass. - James Allen

Minds are like parachutes; they work best when open. - Lord Thomas Dewar

Minds of moderate caliber ordinarily condemn everything which is beyond their range. - Duc de La Rochefoucauld

Minds that have nothing to confer find little to perceive. - William Wordsworth

My mind is at peace knowing that what was meant for me will never miss me, and that which misses me was never meant for me. - Unknown

My mind to me a kingdom is, Such present joys therein I find, That it excels all other bliss. - Edward Dyer

No matter where the body is, the mind is free to go elsewhere. - W.H. Davies

No mind can run continually and remain effective. Remember, even a paddy field needs a good rest after a harvest in order to produce quality crops in the future. - Unknown

Quiet people have the loudest minds. - Stephen Hawking

The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive. - Eckhart Tolle

No mind is much employed upon the present: recollection and anticipation fill up almost all our moments. - Smauel Johnson

No mind, however loving, could bear to see plainly into all the recess of another mind. - Arnold Bennett

Nothing is so bitter that a calm mind cannot find comfort in it. - Seneca

Nothing mattered except states of mind, chiefly our own. - John Maynard Keynes

Nurture your mind with great thoughts. - Benjamin Disraeli

Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order. - John Quincy Adams

One cannot have a mind that is empty of all thoughts, but one can have a mind that is content with whatever thoughts fill it at the moment. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

One man that has a mind and knows it, can always beat ten men who haven’t and don’t. - George Bernard Shaw

One’s mind has a way of making itself up in the background, and it suddenly becomes clear what one means to do. - Arthur C. Benson

Only in quiet waters do things mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world. - Hans Margolius

Our minds are like our stomachs; they are whetted by the change of their food, and variety supplies both with fresh appetite. - Marcus Fabius Quintilian

Our Minds can be wonderful, but at the same time they can be our very worst enemy. - Sogyal Rinpoche

Paradoxically, as the mind becomes simpler, it can perceive greater complexity. - William Hamilton

Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened, but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock in a thunderstorm. - Robert Luis Stevenson

Research has clearly demonstrated that the subconscious mind makes no distinction between constructive and destructive thought-impulses, and will drive our actions based on the material we used in nourishing it. - Unknown

Since  everything is a reflection of our minds … everything can be changed by our minds. - The Buddha

Some minds are like concrete, all mixed up and permanently set. - Unknown

Strength of mind rests in sobriety; for this keeps your reason unclouded by passion. - Pythagoras

The deepest sin against the human mind is to believe things without evidence. - Thomas Huxley

The empires of the future are empires of the mind. - Winston Churchill

The greatest minds are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues. - Rene Descartes

The hardest thing in the world to open is a closed mind. - Unknown

The human mind is seldom at stay: If you do not grow better, you will most undoubtedly grow worse. - Samuel Richardson

The idle mind knows not what it wants. - Ennius

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift. - Albert Einstein

The knowing mind is active in attending, selecting and interpreting; but it must attend to, select from and interpret what is presented to it; and therefore, it must be passive as well as active. - Unknown

The mind is a dangerous weapon, even to the possessor, if he knows not discreetly how to use it. - Michel Montaigne

The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive. - Eckhart Tolle

The mind is its own place and in itself, can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven. - John Milton

The mind is more vulnerable than the stomach, because it can be poisoned without feeling immediate pain. - Unknown

The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled. - Plutarch

The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it – as long as you really believe 100 percent. - Arnold Schwarzenegger

The mind is the root from which all things grow. If you can understand the mind, everything else is included. - Bodhidharma

The mind is unstable and flighty. It wanders wherever it desires. Therefore it is good to control the mind.  A disciplined mind brings happiness. - Buddha

The mind of man is like a clock that is always running down, and requires to be constantly wound up. - William Hazlit

The mind of man is like an unbroken horse that would go anywhere except where you wanted it to. - Unknown

The mind should be allowed some relaxation, that it may return to its work all the better for the rest. - Seneca

The most disastrous times have produced the greatest minds. The purest metal comes of the most ardent furnace; the most brilliant lightning come of the darkest clouds. - Francois Rene Chateaubriand

The most distinctive mark of a cultured mind is the ability to take another’s point of view; to put one’s self in another’s place, and see life and its problems from a point of view different from one’s own. To be willing to test a new idea; to be able to live on the edge of difference in all matters intellectually; to examine without heat the burning question of the day; to have imaginative sympathy, openness and flexibility of mind, steadiness and poise of feeling, cool calmness of judgment, is to have culture. - A. H. R. Fairchild

The only prison we need to escape from is the prison of our own minds. - Unknown

The pain of the mind is worse than the pain of the body. - Unknown

The primary sign of a well-ordered mind is a man’s ability to remain in one place and linger in his own company. - Seneca

The subconscious mind is a mental fireless cooker where ideas simmer and develop. - Unknown

The treacherous, unexplored areas of the world are not in continents or seas; they are in the minds and hearts of men. - Unknown

There are no chaste minds. Minds copulate wherever they meet. - Eric Hoffer

There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge. - Napoleon Hill

There are so many powers within the mind of man that have yet to be tapped, that thinking of its possible limitations may be considered a joke.  - Unknown

'Tis the sharpness of our mind that gives the edge to our pains and pleasures. - Michel De Montaigne

To the dull mind nature is leaden. To the illumined mind the whole world burns and sparkles with light. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Turn your mind to yourself, and try to find pleasure within yourself, and you will always find therein an infinite source of pleasure ready for your enjoyment. -  K. Sri Dhammananda

We cannot see things that stare us in the face until the hour comes that the mind is ripened. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

We must form our minds by reading deep rather than wide. - Marcus Fabius Quintilian 

What the mind doesn't understand, it worships or fears. -  Alice Walker

What the mind of man can conceive and believe, the mind of man can achieve. - Napoleon Hill

Where there is an open mind, there will always be a frontier. - Dorthea Brande

Within our impure mind the pure one is to be found. - Hui Neng

Your mind is like a garden. Tend it well by filling it with positive, encouraging, and faith-building thoughts throughout the day. Disorder sets in when the garden is not tended to for some time; the same goes for our mind if we neglect it too long. - Unknown

Your mind can be your best friend and your worst enemy. - Marinela Reka

Your mind is what makes everything else work. - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Your own mind is a sacred enclosure into which nothing harmful can enter except by your permission. - Arnold Bennett