Skip to content

G. I. Gurdjieff Quotes

1860–1949 Armenia

George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (Russian: Георгий Иванович Гюрджиев, Georgij Ivanovich Gjurdzhiev; 13 January c. 1867 – 29 October 1949) was a Greco-Armenian mystic and spiritual teacher of what came to be called "the Work" or "The Fourth Way", in which he taught people how to increase and focus their attention and energy through various awareness exercises. According to his teachings, such inner development is the beginning of a possible further process of change, and spiritual evolution.

Armenia
Composers
Philosophers

Also known as: George Gurdjieff, Gurdjieff, Gurdjieff, G. I., Fourth Way

Random G. I. Gurdjieff quote

61 quotes

The worse the conditions of life the more productive the work, always provided you remember the work.

A man may be born, but in order to be born he must first die, and in order to die he must first awake.

In Search of the Miraculous (1949)

A man will renounce any pleasures you like but he will not give up his suffering.

In Search of the Miraculous (1949)

Hope of receiving reward only for merit.

All and Everything: Meetings with Remarkable Men (1963)

Conscious faith is freedom. Emotional faith is slavery. Mechanical faith is foolishness.

You must understand that ordinary efforts do not count; only superefforts count.

In Search of the Miraculous (1949)

Remorse of conscience for the ill-treatment of animals.

All and Everything: Meetings with Remarkable Men (1963)

Belief in receiving punishment for disobedience.

All and Everything: Meetings with Remarkable Men (1963)

Joy in being content merely with what one has.

All and Everything: Meetings with Remarkable Men (1963)

Fearlessness towards devils, snakes and mice.

All and Everything: Meetings with Remarkable Men (1963)

Sorrow at the loss of the goodwill of others.

All and Everything: Meetings with Remarkable Men (1963)

Man is a plurality. Man's name is legion.

In Search of the Miraculous (1949)

Don't judge a man by the tales of others.

I find it necessary on the first page of this book, quite ready for publication, to give the following advice

All and Everything: Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson (1950)

Rest comes not from the quantity but from the quality of sleep.

Here we can only direct and create conditions, but not help.

By teaching others you will learn yourself.

Knowledge can be acquired by a suitable and complete study, no matter what the starting point is. Only one must know how to "learn." What is nearest to us is man; and you are the nearest of all men to yourself. Begin with the study of yourself; remember the saying "Know thyself."

All and Everything: Views from the Real World (1973)

So we have to deal with them indirectly in order to free ourselves from several at once.

All and Everything: Views from the Real World (1973)

Death must come before rebirth. But what must die? False confidence in one’s own knowledge, self-love and egoism. Our egoism must be broken.

All and Everything: Views from the Real World (1973)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: G. I. Gurdjieff (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.