--- title: "10 Ifs Quotes By Mark Nepo" description: "10 Ifs quotes by Mark Nepo. Plus more from Mark Nepo and more Ifs sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34b/mark-nepo-1670_feels_if-you-truly-hold-a-stone-you-can-feel-t_1675703.png" --- > [If you truly hold a stone, you can feel the mountain it came from.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/if-you-truly-hold-a-stone-you-can-feel-the-mountain-it-came-from/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34b/mark-nepo-1670_feels_if-you-truly-hold-a-stone-you-can-feel-t_1675703.png) > [If we are to access the resources of life, we must listen with our common heart to the cries of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/if-we-are-to-access-the-resources-of-life-we-must-listen-with-our/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a0e/mark-nepo-1670_access_if-we-are-to-access-the-resources-of-lif_3131466.png) > [If we devote ourselves to the life at hand, the rest will follow. For life, it seems, reveals itself through those willing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/if-we-devote-ourselves-to-the-life-at-hand-the-rest-will-follow-for/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/79c/mark-nepo-1670_advertising_if-we-devote-ourselves-to-the-life-at-ha_1988657.png) > [At the heart of each spiritual tradition is the question of how to be in the world without losing what matters, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/at-the-heart-of-each-spiritual-tradition-is-the-question-of-how-to-be/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f78/mark-nepo-1670_awakened_at-the-heart-of-each-spiritual-tradition_1598239.png) > [Each of us carries some wisdom waiting to be discovered at the center of our experience. Everything we meet, if faced and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/each-of-us-carries-some-wisdom-waiting-to-be-discovered-at-the-center/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d19/mark-nepo-1670_carrie_each-of-us-carries-some-wisdom-waiting-t_1332376.jpg) > [Before we can count we are taught to be grateful for what others do. As we are broken open by our experience,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/before-we-can-count-we-are-taught-to-be-grateful-for-what-others-do/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bbe/mark-nepo-1670_be-grateful_before-we-can-count-we-are-taught-to-be_233889.png) > [For listening to the stories of others ... is a kind of water that breaks the fever of our isolation. If we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/for-listening-to-the-stories-of-others-is-a-kind-of-water-that-breaks/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ad/mark-nepo-1670_break_for-listening-to-the-stories-of-others-i_2836077.png) > [It is imperative that we find that vital element that brings us alive... the true vitality that waits beneath all occupations for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/it-is-imperative-that-we-find-that-vital-element-that-brings-us-alive/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b07/mark-nepo-1670_alive_it-is-imperative-that-we-find-that-vital_1854151.jpg) > [It seems that the ancient Medicine Men understood that listening to another's story somehow gives us the strength of example to carry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/it-seems-that-the-ancient-medicine-men-understood-that-listening-to/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8fe/mark-nepo-1670_ancient_it-seems-that-the-ancient-medicine-men-u_3028149.jpg) > [There are many ways that we grow, but there are two major ways: We shed what no longer works, or we're broken…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/there-are-many-ways-that-we-grow-but-there-are-two-major-ways-we-shed/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d5/mark-nepo-1670_beauty_there-are-many-ways-that-we-grow-but-the_3124894.jpg) ## Other authors on Ifs ## More by Mark Nepo > [“Often we find it easier to think our way around things rather than to feel our way through them:”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/often-we-find-it-easier-to-think-our-way-around-things-rather-than-to/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [When we don't get what we want, there's a legitimate grieving, and then the spiritual journey truly begins, because not getting what we want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/when-we-don-t-get-what-we-want-there-s-a-legitimate-grieving-and-then/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [Each soul on earth is complete unto itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/each-soul-on-earth-is-complete-unto-itself/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [“a living symbol that can call into my moment of sadness a deeper sense of plenitude and generosity that is always there, but not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/a-living-symbol-that-can-call-into-my-moment-of-sadness-a-deeper/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [“COMING OUT While there is much to do we are not here to do.   Under the want to problem-solve is the need to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/coming-out-while-there-is-much-to-do-we-are-not-here-to-do-under-the/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [The greatest thing we can do to be closer to our own lives and to the freshness of living is to open up again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/the-greatest-thing-we-can-do-to-be-closer-to-our-own-lives-and-to-the/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [For though we stubbornly cling, believing in our moment of hunger that there is no other possibility of love, we only have to let…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/for-though-we-stubbornly-cling-believing-in-our-moment-of-hunger-that/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [Perhaps the hardest thing I've learned, and still struggle with, is that I don't have to be finished in order to be whole.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/perhaps-the-hardest-thing-i-ve-learned-and-still-struggle-with-is/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [A successful creative expression is one in which the person who has expressed it was transformed for having encountered it](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/a-successful-creative-expression-is-one-in-which-the-person-who-has/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [No amount of thinking can stop thinking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/no-amount-of-thinking-can-stop-thinking/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [“Yet beneath all the talk of tragedy and grace, I have come to believe that we are destined to be opened by the living…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/yet-beneath-all-the-talk-of-tragedy-and-grace-i-have-come-to-believe/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [The glassblower knows: while in the heat of beginning, any shape is possible. Once hardened, the only way to change is to break.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/the-glassblower-knows-while-in-the-heat-of-beginning-any-shape-is/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [We work so hard to get somewhere, to realize a dream, to arrive at some destination, that we often forget that though some satisfaction…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/we-work-so-hard-to-get-somewhere-to-realize-a-dream-to-arrive-at-some/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [Our job is not to expose the mystery but to participate in it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/our-job-is-not-to-expose-the-mystery-but-to-participate-in-it/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [Pursue the obstacle It will set you free](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/pursue-the-obstacle-it-will-set-you-free/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/mark-nepo/#itemlist", "name": "10 Ifs Quotes By Mark Nepo", "numberOfItems": 10, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If you truly hold a stone, you can feel the mountain it came from.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mark Nepo" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/if-you-truly-hold-a-stone-you-can-feel-the-mountain-it-came-from/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34b/mark-nepo-1670_feels_if-you-truly-hold-a-stone-you-can-feel-t_1675703.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34b/mark-nepo-1670_feels_if-you-truly-hold-a-stone-you-can-feel-t_1675703.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34b/mark-nepo-1670_feels_if-you-truly-hold-a-stone-you-can-feel-t_1675703.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If you truly hold a stone, you can feel the mountain it came from.” — Mark Nepo", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If we are to access the resources of life, we must listen with our common heart to the cries of the world.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mark Nepo" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/if-we-are-to-access-the-resources-of-life-we-must-listen-with-our/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a0e/mark-nepo-1670_access_if-we-are-to-access-the-resources-of-lif_3131466.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a0e/mark-nepo-1670_access_if-we-are-to-access-the-resources-of-lif_3131466.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a0e/mark-nepo-1670_access_if-we-are-to-access-the-resources-of-lif_3131466.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If we are to access the resources of life, we must listen with our common heart to the cries of the world.” — Mark Nepo", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If we devote ourselves to the life at hand, the rest will follow. 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Everything we meet, if faced and held, reveals a part of that wisdom.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mark Nepo" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/each-of-us-carries-some-wisdom-waiting-to-be-discovered-at-the-center/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d19/mark-nepo-1670_carrie_each-of-us-carries-some-wisdom-waiting-t_1332376.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d19/mark-nepo-1670_carrie_each-of-us-carries-some-wisdom-waiting-t_1332376.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d19/mark-nepo-1670_carrie_each-of-us-carries-some-wisdom-waiting-t_1332376.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Each of us carries some wisdom waiting to be discovered at the center of our experience. Everything we meet…” — Mark Nepo", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Before we can count we are taught to be grateful for what others do. As we are broken open by our experience, we begin to be grateful for what is, and if we live long enough and deep enough and authentically enough, gratitude becomes a way of life.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mark Nepo" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/before-we-can-count-we-are-taught-to-be-grateful-for-what-others-do/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bbe/mark-nepo-1670_be-grateful_before-we-can-count-we-are-taught-to-be_233889.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bbe/mark-nepo-1670_be-grateful_before-we-can-count-we-are-taught-to-be_233889.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bbe/mark-nepo-1670_be-grateful_before-we-can-count-we-are-taught-to-be_233889.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Before we can count we are taught to be grateful for what others do. As we are broken open by our…” — Mark Nepo", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "For listening to the stories of others ... is a kind of water that breaks the fever of our isolation. If we listen closely enough, we are soothed into remembering our common name.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mark Nepo" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/for-listening-to-the-stories-of-others-is-a-kind-of-water-that-breaks/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ad/mark-nepo-1670_break_for-listening-to-the-stories-of-others-i_2836077.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ad/mark-nepo-1670_break_for-listening-to-the-stories-of-others-i_2836077.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ad/mark-nepo-1670_break_for-listening-to-the-stories-of-others-i_2836077.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“For listening to the stories of others ... is a kind of water that breaks the fever of our isolation. If we…” — Mark Nepo", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It is imperative that we find that vital element that brings us alive... the true vitality that waits beneath all occupations for us to tap into, if we can discover what we love. If you feel energy and excitement and a sense that life is happening for the first time, you are probably near your God-given nature. Joy in what we do is not an added feature; it is a sign of deep health.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mark Nepo" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/it-is-imperative-that-we-find-that-vital-element-that-brings-us-alive/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b07/mark-nepo-1670_alive_it-is-imperative-that-we-find-that-vital_1854151.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b07/mark-nepo-1670_alive_it-is-imperative-that-we-find-that-vital_1854151.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b07/mark-nepo-1670_alive_it-is-imperative-that-we-find-that-vital_1854151.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is imperative that we find that vital element that brings us alive... the true vitality that waits…” — Mark Nepo", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It seems that the ancient Medicine Men understood that listening to another's story somehow gives us the strength of example to carry on, as well as showing us aspects of ourselves we can't easily see. For listening to the stories of others - not to their precautions or personal commandments - is a kind of water that breaks the fever of our isolation. If we listen closely enough, we are soothed into remembering our common name.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mark Nepo" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/it-seems-that-the-ancient-medicine-men-understood-that-listening-to/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8fe/mark-nepo-1670_ancient_it-seems-that-the-ancient-medicine-men-u_3028149.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8fe/mark-nepo-1670_ancient_it-seems-that-the-ancient-medicine-men-u_3028149.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8fe/mark-nepo-1670_ancient_it-seems-that-the-ancient-medicine-men-u_3028149.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It seems that the ancient Medicine Men understood that listening to another's story somehow gives us the…” — Mark Nepo", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There are many ways that we grow, but there are two major ways: We shed what no longer works, or we're broken open. If we're unwilling to shed, then we will be broken open. Through shedding, we are worn down, just as nature is eroded to its beauty. I think that through suffering, human beings are eroded to our beauty.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mark Nepo" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/there-are-many-ways-that-we-grow-but-there-are-two-major-ways-we-shed/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d5/mark-nepo-1670_beauty_there-are-many-ways-that-we-grow-but-the_3124894.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d5/mark-nepo-1670_beauty_there-are-many-ways-that-we-grow-but-the_3124894.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d5/mark-nepo-1670_beauty_there-are-many-ways-that-we-grow-but-the_3124894.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There are many ways that we grow, but there are two major ways: We shed what no longer works, or we're…” — Mark Nepo", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/mark-nepo/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/mark-nepo/", "name": "Ifs Quotes by Mark Nepo", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/mark-nepo/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34b/mark-nepo-1670_feels_if-you-truly-hold-a-stone-you-can-feel-t_1675703.png" }, "description": "10 Ifs quotes by Mark Nepo. 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