--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Know all ritual, ceremony, and conditions…" description: "\"“Know all ritual, ceremony, and conditions to be arbitrary (you have yourself to please): in the end, they are just a hindrance and a confusion; their ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b08/austin-osman-spare-13247_deceiving-others_know-all-ritual-ceremony-and-conditions_1092169.jpg" --- # Know all ritual, ceremony, and conditions to be arbitrary… ![“Know all ritual, ceremony, and conditions to be arbitrary (you have yourself to please): in the end, they are just a hindrance and a confusion; their origin was as an amusement, but they were later used for the purpose of deceiving others from knowing the truth and inducing ignorance and ,as…” quote by Austin Osman Spare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b08/austin-osman-spare-13247_deceiving-others_know-all-ritual-ceremony-and-conditions_1092169.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b08/austin-osman-spare-13247_deceiving-others_know-all-ritual-ceremony-and-conditions_1092169.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b08/austin-osman-spare-13247_deceiving-others_know-all-ritual-ceremony-and-conditions_1092169.jpg) > ““Know all ritual, ceremony, and conditions to be arbitrary (you have yourself to please): in the end, they are just a hindrance and a confusion; their origin was as an amusement, but they were later used for the purpose of deceiving others from knowing the truth and inducing ignorance and ,as always, the high priests involved were the most deceived themselves. He who deceives another deceives himself much more. Therefore know the charlatans by their love of rich robes, ceremony, ritual, magical retirements, absurd conditions, and other stupidities too numerous to relate. Their entire doctrine is a boastful display, a cowardice hungering for notoriety; their standard everything unnecessary, their certain failure assured. Hence it is that those with some natural ability lose it by their teaching. They can only dogmatise, implant and multiply that which is entirely superficial. Were”” [Austin Osman Spare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-osman-spare/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author critiques rituals and dogma as distractions that obscure truth, warning that those who create elaborate systems often deceive themselves. **In simple terms:** Rituals can hide truth and mislead. Key Takeaway Question authority and seek authentic understanding. Themes skepticism truth dogma Mood critical thoughtful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - personal growth - spiritual practice - education - leadership Key Concepts philosophy spirituality critical thinking Questions to Reflect On - What rituals hold genuine meaning for you? - How can we balance tradition with truth? A Different Perspective The view may dismiss valuable cultural traditions. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Deceiving others](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deceiving-others/) [Knowing the truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowing-the-truth/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [“As the French know well, ritual is how we give meaning to different aspects of being alive, including the most elemental: birth, marriage, death,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mireille-guiliano/as-the-french-know-well-ritual-is-how-we-give-meaning-to-different/) [Mireille Guiliano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mireille-guiliano/) > [“He who deceives another deceives himself much more. Therefore know the Charlatans by their love of rich robes, ceremony, ritual, magical retirements, absurd conditions,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-osman-spare-2/he-who-deceives-another-deceives-himself-much-more-therefore-know-the/) [Austin Osman, Spare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-osman-spare-2/) > [I enjoy ritual and ceremony. What I don't like is when it's badly done or sloppily done. This is actually a theological issue -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-hollingworth/i-enjoy-ritual-and-ceremony-what-i-don-t-like-is-when-it-s-badly-done/) [Peter Hollingworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-hollingworth/) > [In Japan, I took part in a tea ceremony. You go into a small room, tea is served, and that's it really, except that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/okakura-kakuzo/in-japan-i-took-part-in-a-tea-ceremony-you-go-into-a-small-room-tea/) [Okakura Kakuzo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/okakura-kakuzo/) > [“Ritual and ceremony are powerful bonding tools. They result in a sense of community, a feeling of unity far beyond what you might expect.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/del-suggs/ritual-and-ceremony-are-powerful-bonding-tools-they-result-in-a-sense/) [Del Suggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/del-suggs/) > [“In Druidry rather than performing 'spells' to bring about change, we focus on making changes in our life through study, meditation, therapy, ritual, ceremony…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophie-cornish/in-druidry-rather-than-performing-spells-to-bring-about-change-we/) [Sophie Cornish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophie-cornish/) > [Ritual and ceremony in their due times kept the world under the sky and the stars in their courses. It was astonishing what ritual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/ritual-and-ceremony-in-their-due-times-kept-the-world-under-the-sky/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [What they're not ready for is guys like you and I and Nails and all the other gnarly gnarlingtons in my life, that we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-sheen/what-they-re-not-ready-for-is-guys-like-you-and-i-and-nails-and-all/) [Charlie Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-sheen/) > [I hate that which we have decided to call realism, even though I have been made one of its high priests.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/i-hate-that-which-we-have-decided-to-call-realism-even-though-i-have/) [Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/) > [“Deathless Kings, High Priests, let’s call them the thaumaturgical class, are growing used to power and the resources that accompany it. They form a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-gladstone/deathless-kings-high-priests-let-s-call-them-the-thaumaturgical-class/) [Max Gladstone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-gladstone/) > [Once the high priests and the traders took over, we were lost as a species.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-carlin/once-the-high-priests-and-the-traders-took-over-we-were-lost-as-a/) [George Carlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-carlin/) > [The high priests and priestesses taught the children the secret meditation techniques, along with methods and ways of living that would increase their pranic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/the-high-priests-and-priestesses-taught-the-children-the-secret/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [In their meditations, the high priests and priestesses of Atlantis had seen that the Atlantean civilization was going to end cataclysmically.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/in-their-meditations-the-high-priests-and-priestesses-of-atlantis-had/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [“the Jewish high priests but to the custodians of any monotheistic faith, popes included, to maintain the purity of belief and of people in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-blech/the-jewish-high-priests-but-to-the-custodians-of-any-monotheistic/) [Benjamin Blech](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-blech/) > [“Dan Ariely did a study in which people were given the opportunity to cheat on a test. (They didn’t know the researchers administering the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-barker/dan-ariely-did-a-study-in-which-people-were-given-the-opportunity-to/) [Eric Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-barker/) ## More by Austin Osman Spare > [And remember, you shall suffer all things and again suffer: until you have sufficient sufferance to accept all things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-osman-spare/and-remember-you-shall-suffer-all-things-and-again-suffer-until-you/) [Austin Osman Spare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-osman-spare/) > [“Quietism, Buddhism, and other religions, everything which denies the flesh—is the great inferiority to God in ourselves, an escapism seeking sanctuary through fear of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-osman-spare/quietism-buddhism-and-other-religions-everything-which-denies-the/) [Austin Osman Spare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-osman-spare/) > [The more Chaotic I am, the more complete I am.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-osman-spare/the-more-chaotic-i-am-the-more-complete-i-am/) [Austin Osman Spare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-osman-spare/) > [For I am I: ergo, the truth of myself; my own sphinx, conflict, chaos, vortex—asymmetric to all rhythms, oblique to all paths. 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For example, the word ‘Woman’ in Sigil form is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-osman-spare/sigils-are-made-by-combining-the-letters-of-the-alphabet-after-a/) [Austin Osman Spare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-osman-spare/) > [“Sigils are the art of believing; my invention for making belief unconscious66 and therefore true belief. A wish to believe something is of necessity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-osman-spare/sigils-are-the-art-of-believing-my-invention-for-making-belief/) [Austin Osman Spare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-osman-spare/) > [“The intrinsic non-existence at the heart of entity is what Spare designated the Kiã, and he strove to convey his vision in a theory…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-osman-spare/the-intrinsic-non-existence-at-the-heart-of-entity-is-what-spare/) [Austin Osman Spare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-osman-spare/) > [“In what way can it act as master? Through scores of incarnations, the ‘self ’ we end up with is derived from the attributes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-osman-spare/in-what-way-can-it-act-as-master-through-scores-of-incarnations-the/) [Austin Osman Spare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-osman-spare/) > [“Oh, you men of small pleasure and enterprise, oblivious to your purpose, fault-finding, avaricious and sinful, who cannot live without women and cannot enjoy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-osman-spare/oh-you-men-of-small-pleasure-and-enterprise-oblivious-to-your-purpose/) [Austin Osman Spare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-osman-spare/) > [“Oh God, thou art the stagnant environment’.12 All is quackery: these religions, whose very existence depends on their failure, are full of misery and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-osman-spare/oh-god-thou-art-the-stagnant-environment-12-all-is-quackery-these/) [Austin Osman Spare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-osman-spare/) > [“The desire to be ‘great’can only become unconscious at a time of vacuity67 and by giving it (Sigil) form. If you become conscious of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-osman-spare/the-desire-to-be-great-can-only-become-unconscious-at-a-time-of/) [Austin Osman Spare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-osman-spare/) > [“The one law of Art is its own spontaneity, its pleasure and freedom. How mystic, pure and simple is its wish; it has no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-osman-spare/the-one-law-of-art-is-its-own-spontaneity-its-pleasure-and-freedom/) [Austin Osman Spare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-osman-spare/) > [Give me the death of my soul. Intoxicate me with self-love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-osman-spare/give-me-the-death-of-my-soul-intoxicate-me-with-self-love/) [Austin Osman Spare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-osman-spare/) [Explore all 51 Austin Osman Spare quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-osman-spare/) ## More Charlatans quotes > [I realized early on that the academy and the literary world alike - and I don't think there really is a distinction between the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/i-realized-early-on-that-the-academy-and-the-literary-world-alike-and/) [Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bloom/) > [ The most recent incarnation of \[Bob\] Dylan has been the traveling journeyman/ charlatan who sings roots music, snarls dark lyrics that make "All Along… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-michaelson/the-most-recent-incarnation-of-bob-dylan-has-been-the-traveling/) [Jay Michaelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-michaelson/) > [If I did only one thing at a time I'd think I was wasting my time. 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They fake it very, very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-mcburney/in-my-opinion-there-s-nothing-new-in-the-theatre-ever-theatre-makers/) [Simon McBurney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-mcburney/) > [I will go wherever the truth leads me. It is secular scholarship, Rebbe; it is not the scholarship of tradition. In secular scholarship there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chaim-potok/i-will-go-wherever-the-truth-leads-me-it-is-secular-scholarship-rebbe/) [Chaim Potok](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chaim-potok/) > [The greater the mental charlatan, the more definite his insistence on the wickedness and weaknesses of human nature. Yet how can anyone speak of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emma-goldman/the-greater-the-mental-charlatan-the-more-definite-his-insistence-on/) [Emma Goldman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emma-goldman/) > [We can't possibly have a summer love. So many people have tried that the name's become proverbial. Summer is only the unfulfilled promise of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/we-can-t-possibly-have-a-summer-love-so-many-people-have-tried-that/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [To be a person who sees a political ad on television and takes the statements in it as fact, how can you exist in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/curtis-sittenfeld/to-be-a-person-who-sees-a-political-ad-on-television-and-takes-the/) [Curtis Sittenfeld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/curtis-sittenfeld/) > [“The old stars-and-moons act was a good way to farm the unduly trusting. But the need to raise money in the first place seemed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neal-stephenson/the-old-stars-and-moons-act-was-a-good-way-to-farm-the-unduly/) [Neal Stephenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neal-stephenson/) > [My first meeting with you only confirmed what I first suspected. You are a fraud, a charlatan and a shyster. My favourite kind of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-fry/my-first-meeting-with-you-only-confirmed-what-i-first-suspected-you/) [Stephen Fry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-fry/) > [I have been saying for many years that we are using the word 'guru' only because 'charlatan' is too long to fit into a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-drucker/i-have-been-saying-for-many-years-that-we-are-using-the-word-guru/) [Peter Drucker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-drucker/) > [The soldier's business is to take life. For that he is paid by the State, eulogized by political charlatans and upheld by public hysteria.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emma-goldman/the-soldier-s-business-is-to-take-life-for-that-he-is-paid-by-the/) [Emma Goldman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emma-goldman/) > [Scientific literacy is an intellectual vaccine against the claims of charlatans who would exploit ignorance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/scientific-literacy-is-an-intellectual-vaccine-against-the-claims-of/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) Browse all 110 Charlatans quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Know all ritual, ceremony, and conditions to be arbitrary (you have yourself to please): in the end, they are just a hindrance and a confusion; their origin was as an amusement, but they were later used for the purpose of deceiving others from knowing the truth and inducing ignorance and ,as always, the high priests involved were the most deceived themselves. 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