Quotes about Contemplation
Personally I have no bone to pick with graveyards.
— Samuel Beckett
Treat a work of art like a prince: let it speak to you first.
— Arthur Schopenhauer
With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things.
— William Wordsworth
For I have learned to look on nature, not as in the hour of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes the still, sad music of humanity.
— William Wordsworth
I once asked a hermit in Italy how he could venture to live alone, in a single cottage, on the top of a mountain, a mile from any habitation? He replied, that Providence was his next-door neighbor.
— Laurence Sterne
Contemplating a purported work of art is a social activity. Either you have a rewarding time, or you don't. You don't have to say why afterward. You don't have to say anything.
— Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Though we are involved in social work, our goal is to be contemplatives at the heart of the world. We are with Jesus twenty-four hours a day. We do everything for Jesus. We do it all unto Jesus.
— Mother Teresa
It seemed to be a necessary ritual that he should prepare himself for sleep by meditating under the solemnity of the night sky... a mysterious transaction between the infinity of the soul and the infinity of the universe.
— Victor Hugo
One is not idle because one is absorbed. There is both visible and invisible labor. To contemplate is to toil, to think is to do. The crossed arms work, the clasped hands act. The eyes upturned to Heaven are an act of creation.
— Victor Hugo
Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees.
— Victor Hugo
Glance at the sun. See the moon and stars. Gaze at the beauty of the green earth. Now think.
— Hildegard of Bingen
Fixing our thoughts on Jesus requires time, for true reflection cannot happen with a glance. No one can see the beauty of the country if he hurries through it on the interstate.
— Kent Hughes