“The future is unknown. Prophecy contaminates it with the past, which is why liberated people do not bother with fortunetelling or astrology,… — Alan Wilson Watts Prophecy Copy Share Image
“who believe more firmly in the Devil than in God are always afraid that if they let go, the Devil will take… — Alan Wilson Watts God Afraid Copy Share Image
“Real freedom cannot exist alongside false freedom, but the abandonment of false freedom looks as if it would leave you as good… — Alan Wilson Watts Freedom Copy Share Image
“He who thinks that God is not comprehended, by him God is comprehended; but he who thinks that God is comprehended knows… — Alan Wilson Watts God Copy Share Image
“All too easily, we confuse the world as we symbolize it with the world as it is. As semanticist Alfred Korzybski used… — Alan Wilson Watts Patriotism Copy Share Image
“Do not suppose, however, that we are merely a society of lotus-eaters, lolling on divans and cuddling lovely women. Ecstasy is something… — Alan Wilson Watts Art Copy Share Image
“But Taoism must on no account be understood as a revolution against convention, although it has sometimes been used as a pretext… — Alan Wilson Watts Heaven and earth Copy Share Image
“The more we accustom ourselves to understanding the present in terms of memory, the unknown by the known, the living by the… — Alan Wilson Watts Fear Copy Share Image
“But this is at the same time a vivid way of saying that your soul, or rather your essential Self, is the… — Alan Wilson Watts Soul Copy Share Image
“But spontaneity is not by any means a blind, disorderly urge, a mere power of caprice. A philosophy restricted to the alternatives… — Alan Wilson Watts Intelligence Copy Share Image
“As soon as we freed ourselves from the mirage of hurrying time—which was nothing more than the projection of our own impatience—we… — Alan Wilson Watts Children Copy Share Image
“In this respect, the Chinese written language has a slight advantage over our own, and is perhaps symptomatic of a different way… — Alan Wilson Watts Chinese proverb Copy Share Image
“But you cannot understand life and its mysteries as long as you try to grasp it. Indeed, you cannot grasp it, just… — Alan Wilson Watts Bucket Copy Share Image
“A particularly significant example of brain against body, or measures against matter, is urban man’s total slavery to clocks. A clock is… — Alan Wilson Watts Clock Copy Share Image
“Man as an organism is to the world outside like a whirlpool is to a river: man and world are a single… — Alan Wilson Watts Identity Copy Share Image
“This, then, is the human problem: there is a price to be paid for every increase in consciousness. We cannot be more… — Alan Wilson Watts Consciousness Copy Share Image
“Now as you plumb out into the universe and explore it astronomically, it gets very strange. You begin to see things in… — Alan Wilson Watts First sight Copy Share Image
“For Lao-tzu’s Taoism is the philosophical equivalent of jujitsu, or judo, which means the way of gentleness. Its basis is the principle… — Alan Wilson Watts Chinese language Copy Share Image
“On the one hand, there are people known as straight, regular, square (and there are also cubes and tesseracts), classified, degreed, graduated,… — Alan Wilson Watts Eccentrics Copy Share Image
“Advice? I don’t have advice. Stop aspiring and start writing. If you’re writing, you’re a writer. Write like you’re a goddamn death… — Alan Wilson Watts Bird flying Copy Share Image
“It is in vain that we can predict and control the course of events in the future, unless we know how to… — Alan Wilson Watts Future Copy Share Image
“According to convention, I am not simply what I am doing now. I am also what I have done, and my conventionally… — Alan Wilson Watts Time Copy Share Image
“when somebody plays music, you listen. you just follow those sounds, and eventually you understand the music. the point can't be explained… — Alan Wilson Watts Eastern philosophy Copy Share Image
“The way of Wisdom lies, therefore, in recognizing things which happen to you as your own karma—not as punishments for misdeeds or… — Alan Wilson Watts Character Copy Share Image
“The effects of what are now called psychedelic (mind–manifesting) chemicals differ from those of alcohol as laughter differs from rage or delight… — Alan Wilson Watts Creative act Copy Share Image
“Consider the difference between the two types of globemaps of planet Earth, the physical and the political. The first is a marvelous… — Alan Wilson Watts Outer space Copy Share Image
“According to tradition, the originator of Taoism, Lao-tzu, was an older contemporary of Kung Fu-tzu, or Confucius, who died in 479 B.C.1… — Alan Wilson Watts Books Copy Share Image
“Money is a way of measuring wealth but is not wealth in itself. A chest of gold coins or a fat wallet… — Alan Wilson Watts Money Copy Share Image
“Just as true humour is laughter at oneself, true humanity is knowledge of oneself.” — Alan Wilson Watts Comedy Copy Share Image
“Life is a series of urgent choices demanding firm commitment to this or to that.” — Alan Wilson Watts Choices Copy Share Image
“Life seems to be a system that eats itself to death, and in which victory equals defeat.” — Alan Wilson Watts Death Copy Share Image
“us. The good of contemplation is contemplation—not some result that it may bring.” — Alan Wilson Watts Contemplation Copy Share Image
“The structure of your organism, of your senses and nerves, endows the world with all its sensible and measurable properties—for rocks cannot… — Alan Wilson Watts Senses Copy Share Image
“The centipede was happy, quite, Until a toad in fun Said, “Pray, which leg goes after which?” This worked his mind to… — Alan Wilson Watts Psychology Copy Share Image
“For Taoism concerns itself with unconventional knowledge, with the understanding of life directly, instead of in the abstract, linear terms of representational… — Alan Wilson Watts Heaven and earth Copy Share Image
“The death of the individual is not disconnection but simply withdrawal. The corpse is like a footprint or an echo—the dissolving trace… — Alan Wilson Watts Death Copy Share Image
“But if you do not know, your desires are limitless and no one can tell how to deal with you. Nothing satisfies… — Alan Wilson Watts Desire Copy Share Image
“tomorrow and plans for tomorrow can have no significance at all unless you are in full contact with the reality of the… — Alan Wilson Watts Tomorrow Copy Share Image
