8 Anthony de Mello Quotes on Wisdom

Anthony de Mello quotes on wisdom

3. A zealous disciple expressed a desire to teach others the Truth and asked the Master what he thought about this. The Master said, 'Wait.' Each year the disciple would return with the same request and each time the Master would give him the same reply: 'Wait.' One day he said to the Master, 'When will I be ready to teach?' Said the Master, 'When your excessive eagerness to teach has left you.'

4. All I did was sit on the riverbank handing out river water. After I'm gone, I trust you will notice the river.

23. The disciples were absorbed in a discussion of Lao-tzu's dictum: Those who know do not say;Those who say do not know. When the master entered, they asked him what the words meant. Said the master, 'Which of you knows the fragrance of a rose?' All of them indicated that they knew. Then he said, 'put it into words.' All of them were silent.

33. This is what Wisdom means: To be changed without the slightest effort on your part, to be transformed, believe it or not, merely by waking to the reality that is not words, that lies beyond the reach of words. If you are fortunate enough to be Awakened thus, you will know why the finest language is the one that is not spoken, the finest action is the one that is not done and the finest change is the one that is not willed.

35. To a disciple who was forever complaining about others the Master said, 'If it is peace you want, seek to change yourself, not other people. It is easier to protect your feet with slippers than to carpet the whole of the earth.'

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

44. Wisdom tends to grow in proportion to one's awareness of one's ignorance.

53. Concerning the power of story, William Dych, S.J. writes in his introduction to selected writings of Anthony De Mello, 'A master was once unmoved by the complaints of his disciples that, though they listened with pleasure to his parables and stories, they were also frustrated for they longed for something deeper. To all their objections he would simply reply: 'You have yet to understand, my friends, that the shortest distance between a human being and truth is a story.''