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Portrait of Carlos Castaneda

Carlos Castaneda

244 quotes in 975 categories

Carlos Castaneda invites readers into a world where myth and reality blur. These 244 passages let you glimpse the shamanic wisdom that threads through his storytelling, without any need for exposition.

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Carlos Castaneda was a Peruvian-American writer, trained as an anthropologist.

Quick Facts About Carlos Castaneda

Notable works: The Teachings of Don Juan: a Yaqui way of knowledge

About Carlos Castaneda

Carlos Castaneda was a Peruvian-American writer, trained as an anthropologist. Starting in 1968, Castaneda published a series of books that describe alleged training in shamanism that he received under the tutelage of a Yaqui "Man of Knowledge" named Don Juan Matus. While Castaneda's work was accepted as factual by many when the books were first published, the character of Don Juan and the training he described is now generally considered to be fabricated and to have little relation to the actual cultural practices of the Yaqui. Castaneda's early writings featuring Don Juan were bestsellers with the general public, and are considered to be a significant influence on neoshamanism and the New Age movement more broadly.

Biography source: Wikipedia

Quotes by Carlos Castaneda

A warrior never worries about his fear.

Carlos Castaneda

Attitude

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Man has a dark side, yes, and it is called stupidity.

Carlos Castaneda

Dark

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We're a feeling, an awareness encased here

Carlos Castaneda

Awareness

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Leave Jesus on the cross. He's very happy there!

Carlos Castaneda

Cross

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Self importance is man's greatest enemy.

Carlos Castaneda

Don juan

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Life in itself is sufficient, self-explanatory and complete.

Carlos Castaneda

Life

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...one should never turn to one's left when facing the nagual.

Carlos Castaneda

Facing

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Only as a warrior can one survive the path of knowledge.

Carlos Castaneda

Don juan

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If you were a warrior, you would know that the worst thing one can do is confront human beings directly.

Carlos Castaneda

Can do

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You're chained to you reason ... Understanding is only a very small affair, so very small

Carlos Castaneda

Affair

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What is a truthful life? A life lived with deliberateness, a good, strong life.

Carlos Castaneda

Life

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One can say that the nagual accounts for creativity. The nagual is the only part of us that can create.

Carlos Castaneda

Accounts

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“We either make ourselves miserable, or make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same.”

Carlos Castaneda

Happiness

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This very rock where we're sitting is a rock because we have been forced to give out attention to it

Carlos Castaneda

Attention

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Any path is only a path, and there is no affront to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is…

Carlos Castaneda

Affront

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All paths lead nowhere, so it is important to choose a path that has heart.

Carlos Castaneda

Heart

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I'm never angry at anybody! No human being can do anything important enough for that. You get angry at people when you…

Carlos Castaneda

Angry

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The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is…

Carlos Castaneda

Happiness

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Men have to be hooked. Women don't need that. Women go freely into anything. That's their power and at the same time…

Carlos Castaneda

Drawbacks

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Fright never injures anyone. What injures the spirit is having someone always on your back, beating you, telling you what to do…

Carlos Castaneda

Fright

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The world is incomprehensible. We won't ever understand it; we won't ever unravel its secrets. Thus we must treat the world as…

Carlos Castaneda

Incomprehensible

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Never take a path that has no heart in it. You can't lose if your heart is in your work, but you…

Carlos Castaneda

Can't win

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... the daily world exists because we know how to hold its images; consequently, if one drops the attention needed to maintain…

Carlos Castaneda

Attention

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...the spirit reveals itself to everyone with the same intensity and consistency, but only warriors are consistently attuned to such revelations.

Carlos Castaneda

Consistency

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All of us, whether or not we are warriors, have a cubic centimeter of chance that pops out in front of our…

Carlos Castaneda

Average

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The average man is hooked to his fellow men, while the warrior is hooked only to himself. Perhaps you are chasing rainbows.…

Carlos Castaneda

Action

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Within these premises, the only thing one can be is an impeccable mediator. One is not the player in this cosmic match…

Carlos Castaneda

Chess

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Death is the only wise advisor that we have. Whenever you feel, as you always do, that everything is going wrong and…

Carlos Castaneda

Advisors

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All paths are the same: they lead nowhere. However, a path without a heart is never enjoyable. On the other hand, a…

Carlos Castaneda

Doe

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Things are only real after one has learned to agree on their realness. What took place this evening, for instance, cannot possibly…

Carlos Castaneda

Agree

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The humbleness of a warrior is not the humbleness of the beggar. The warrior lowers his head to no one, but at…

Carlos Castaneda

Attitude

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Intent is not a thought, or an object, or a wish. Intent is what can make a man succeed when his thoughts…

Carlos Castaneda

Defeated

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“To be a warrior a man has to be, first of all, and rightfully so, keenly aware of his own death. But…

Carlos Castaneda

Death

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“The diagram in the ashes had two epicenters; one he called “reason,” the other, “will.” “Reason” was interconnected directly with a point…

Carlos Castaneda

Diagram

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The reason you keep on coming back to see me is very simple; every time you have seen me your body has…

Carlos Castaneda

Body

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You're in a terrible spot. It's too late for you to retreat but too soon to act. All you can do is…

Carlos Castaneda

Action

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“Our way of perceiving is a predator's way," he said to me on one occasion. "A very efficient manner of appraising and…

Carlos Castaneda

Energy

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“Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore you must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if…

Carlos Castaneda

Disciplined life

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“Don’t try to hurry,” he said. “You’ll know in due time and then you will be on your own, by yourself.” “Do…

Carlos Castaneda

Saying

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Fright is something one can never get over. When a warrior is caught in such a tight spot he would simply turn…

Carlos Castaneda

All time

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Carlos Castaneda by topic

Warrior (87) Men (38) Don juan (38) World (37) Life (27) Knows (26) Spiritual (24) Path (24) Inspirational (23) Ifs (23) Juan (22) Time (21) Way (19) Journey (19) Spirit (15) Knowledge (15) Heart (15) Self (14) Doe (14) Death (14) Path Heart (13) Spiritual warrior (13) Action (13) Religion (12) Attitude (12)