Hugh Prather Quotes

“A whole mind cannot create chaos. A conflicted mind can create nothing else.”

“Books seek us out. They slip themselves into our hands just at the time we are ready for a new self-concept.”

“Discouragement, if pursued, is the exercise of an option: to turn from creative to noncreative mental activity, to turn from what is present to what is over, to turn from that which builds to that which destroys.”

“Egos clash. That's the nature of egos. Treat these outbursts as sneezing fits.”

“Forgive and be happy. That is the ancient secret – the only wisdom ever to be attained.”

“How genuine is my capacity for love if there is no one for me to love, to laugh with, to treat tenderly, to be trusted by?”

“Perfectionism is a slow death. If everything were to turn out just like I would want it to, just like I would plan for it to, then I would never experience anything new. My life would be an endless repetition of stale successes. When I make a mistake I experience something unexpected. When I have listened to my mistakes I have grown.”

“True humor is fun - it does not put down, kid, or mock. It makes people feel wonderful, not separate, different, and cut off. True humor has beneath it the understanding that we are all in this together.”

“Happiness is gentleness, peace, concentration, simplicity, forgiveness, humor, fearlessness, trust, and now.”

“By approaching my problems with 'What might make things a little better?' rather than 'What is the solution?' I avoid setting myself up for certain frustration. My experience has shown me that I am not going to solve anything in one stroke; at best I am only going to chip away at it.”

“No matter what we talk about, we are talking about ourselves.”

“A messy mortal is my friend. Come walk with me in the mud.”

“All my life, I have made it complicated, but it is so simple. I love when I love. And when I love, I am myself.”

“An argument is always about what has been made more important than the relationship.”

“Because the results are unpredictable, no effort of mine is doomed to failure.”

“Before, I thought I was actually fighting for my own self-worth; that is why I so desperately wanted people to like me. I thought their liking me was a comment on me, but it was a comment on them.”

“Being myself includes taking risks with myself, taking risks on new behavior, trying new ways of 'being myself', so that I can see who it is I want to be.”

“Boredom is useful to me when I notice it and think: Oh I'm bored; there must be something else I want to be doing... Boredom acts as an initiator of originality by pushing me into new activities or new thoughts.”

“Boredom or discontent is useful to me when I acknowledge it and see clearly my assumption that there's something else I would rather be doing. In this way boredom can act as an invitation to freedom by opening me to new options and thoughts. For example, if I can't change the activity, can I look at it more honestly?”

“But it's morning. Within my hands is another day. Another day to listen and love and walk and glory. I am here for another day.”

“Do I avoid looking a stranger in the eyes because I don't want to make him uncomfortable, or do I turn my eyes so he can't look into me?”

“Don't fight a fact, deal with it.”

“Don't strive for love, be it.”

“Fault means failure to meet a standard. Whose? Mine.”

“Fears, indecision, and frustration feed on words. Without words they usually stop. Words are at times good for looking back, but they are confining when I need to act in the present.”

“Happiness is a present attitude and not a future condition.”

“I don't need a reason to be happy. I don't have to consult the future to know how happy I feel now.”

“If the desire to write is not accompanied by actual writing, then the desire is not to write.”

“Almost any difficulty will move in the face of honesty. When I am honest I never feel stupid. And when I am honest I am automatically humble.”

“Every moment that I am centered in the future I suffer a temporary loss of this life.”