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Alan Watts Quotes

1915–1973 England

Alan Wilson Watts (6 January 1915 – 16 November 1973) was an English philosopher, writer, speaker, and expert in comparative religion.

England
Academics
Non-fiction authors
Philosophers

Also known as: Watts, Alan

Random Alan Watts quote

58 quotes

I have suggested that behind almost all myth lies the mono-plot of the game of hide-and-seek.

The Two Hands of God : The Myths of Polarity (1963)

What you are basically, deep, deep down, far, far in, is simply the fabric and structure of existence itself.

The Nature of Consciousness; also published as What Is Reality? (1989)

The greater part of human activity is designed to make permanent those experiences and joys which are only lovable because they are changing.

The Wisdom of Insecurity (1951)

Life and love generate effort, but effort will not generate them.

The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are (1966)

There is no formula for generating the authentic warmth of love. It cannot be copied.

The Wisdom of Insecurity (1951)

Just as in the retina there are myriads of little nerve endings, we are the nerve endings of the universe.

Ways of Liberation: Essays and Lectures on the Transformation of Self (1983)

God is not something in Hindu mythology with a white beard that sits on a throne, that has royal perogatives.

The Nature of Consciousness; also published as What Is Reality? (1989)

Every one of us is marvellous and complicated and interesting and gorgeous just as we are.

Out of Your Mind: Tricksters, Interdependence, and the Cosmic Game of Hide-and-Seek (2017)

In other words, what exists, reality itself is gorgeous, it is the fullness of total joy.

The Nature of Consciousness; also published as What Is Reality? (1989)

This is the real secret of life—to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.

The Essence of Alan Watts (1977)

The more we struggle for life (as pleasure), the more we are actually killing what we love.

The Wisdom of Insecurity (1951)

A person who thinks all the time has nothing to think about except thoughts. So he loses touch with reality, and lives in a world of illusion.

Alan Watts Teaches Meditation (1992)

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.

The Wisdom of Insecurity (1951)

Everyone has a religion, whether admitted or not, because it is impossible to be human without having some basic assumptions (or intuitions) about existence and the good life.

In My Own Way: An Autobiography 1915-1965 (1972)

Wonder is not a disease. Wonder, and its expression in poetry and the arts, are among the most important things which seem to distinguish men from other animals, and intelligent and sensitive people from morons.

The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are (1966)

I just want you to enjoy a point of view that I enjoy.

Zen (2015)

Ego is a social institution with no physical reality. The ego is simply your symbol of yourself.

If Christianity is wine and Islam coffee, Buddhism is most certainly tea.

The Way of Zen (1957)

Every individual is an expression of the whole realm of nature, a unique action of the total universe. This fact is rarely, if ever, experienced by most individuals.

The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are (1966)

The most strongly enforced of all known taboos is the taboo against knowing who or what you really are behind the mask of your apparently separate, independent, and isolated ego.

The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are (1966)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Alan Watts (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.