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Quotes from Jonathan Livingston Seagull — Richard Bach

born 1936 United States

← All quotes by Richard Bach

12 quotes

The gulls who scorn perfection for the sake of travel go nowhere, slowly. Those who put aside travel for the sake of perfection go anywhere, instantly.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1970)

There's no disaster that can't become a blessing, and no blessing that can't become a disaster.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1970)

Heaven is not a place, and it is not a time. Heaven is being perfect.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1970)

We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1970)

Most gulls don’t bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight — how to get from shore to food and back again.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1970)

But the speed was power, and the speed was joy, and the speed was pure beauty.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1970)

The gull sees farthest who flies highest.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1970)

Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gull’s life is so short, and with these gone from his thoughts, he lived a long fine life indeed.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1970)

For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1970)

Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1970)

"Such promises are only for the gulls that accept the ordinary. One who has touched excellence in his learning has no need of that kind of promise."

Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1970)

"You will begin to touch heaven, Jonathan, in the moment that you touch perfect speed. And that isn't flying a thousand miles an hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light. Because any number is a limit, and perfection doesn't have limits. Perfect speed, my son, is being there."

Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1970)

Attribution

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