16 Quotes Tagged: substance

Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.

Everything turns on grasping and expressing the True, not only as Substance, but equally as Subject.

Expression that comes from the deepest, darkest place that most of us would rather hide from the rest of the world is the substance that will most likely also deeply affect others.

The universal and ever-present urge to self-transcendence is not to be abolished by slamming the current popular Doors in the Wall. The only reasonable policy is to open other, better doors in the hope of inducing men and women to exchange their old habits for new and less harmful ones.

Character is like a tree and reputation its shadow. The shadow is what we think it is and the tree is the real thing.

The people of today would rather stand next to a man with no substance but covered in gold, rather than the man with substance and wisdom of gold. What if God was dressed as a carpenter with dirty nails and beaten boots? Would you recognize your Maker? Would you give him your time? Your vote? A cup of tea or water? Only those with truth in them will recognize truth. And you must learn to recognize all that is untrue to get the truth.

True beauty is measured by the number of pearls within you, not those around your neck.

As long as politics is the shadow of big business, the attenuation of the shadow will not change the substance.

Beyond the edge of the world there’s a space where emptiness and substance neatly overlap, where past and future form a continuous, endless loop. And, hovering about, there are signs no one has ever read, chords no one has ever heard.

Happiness is the art of learning how to get joy from your substance.

Beware of those who are too focused with polishing and beautifying their outer shells. They lack true substance to understand that genuine beauty is reflected from the heart that resides inside.

The human ego is the ugliest part of man. We lift up men who only show us darkness, and put down those brave enough to show us the light. Likewise, people engage in darkness when it is light outside, and acknowledge the light only when it is dark. We abandon those fighting for us to cheer behind those fighting against us. And, we only remember good people and God when it is convenient for us, and take them for granted because their doors are always open - only to chase after closed doors and personalities void of substance and truth.

This interconnection or accommodation of all created things to each other, and each to all the others, brings it about that each simple substance has relations that express all the others, and consequently, that each simple substance is a perpetual, living mirror of the universe.

Once upon a time I was riding on the top of a First Avenue bus when I heard a mythical housewife say to another, “Molly, my dear, I would have bought that new brand of toilet soap if only they hadn’t set the body copy in ten-point Garamond.” Don't you believe it. What really decides consumers to buy or not buy is the content of your advertising, not its form.

WHAT IS TRUTH?

Truth is not a thing
Or a concept.
It is as multidimensional
In its meaning
As it is in its reflection.
It is both invisible
And visible.
It carries tons of weight,
But can be carried.
It is understood first through the spirit
Before science,
And felt in the heart,
Before the mind.
Truth is not always heard by reason,
Because reason sometimes
Ignores Truth.

Always listen to your conscience.
Your conscience is your heart
And reason is your mind.
Your mind is simply there to reason
With your heart.
But remember,
Truth is in your heart,
And only through your heart
Can you connect to the light of God.
He who is not motivated by his heart
Will not see Truth,
And he who thinks only with his mind
Will be blind to Truth.
He who does not think
With his conscience,
Does not stand by God,
For the language of light
Can only be decoded by the heart.
He who reads and recites words of God
Also does not stand by God –
If he merely understands
Words with his mind
But not his heart.

Truth is black and white,
And the entire spectrum
Of colors in-between.
It can have many parts,
But has a solid foundation.
Truth lacks perfection,
For it is the reflection of all,
Yet its reflection as a whole,
Is more beautiful
Than the accumulated flaws
Of the small.
Truth is the only brand
Worth breathing
And believing.
So stand for truth
In everything you do,
And only then
Does your life have
Meaning.

Poetry by Suzy Kassem