--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The only times that we can have what we…" description: "\"The only times that we can have what we long for are those moments when we stop grasping for it. At such times, all things are possible: \"to a mind tha..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/99f/sheldon-b-kopp-10645_all-things_the-only-times-that-we-can-have-what-we_1740853.jpg" --- # The only times that we can have what we long for are those… ![“The only times that we can have what we long for are those moments when we stop grasping for it. At such times, all things are possible: "to a mind that is 'still' the whole universe surrenders".” quote by Sheldon B. Kopp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/99f/sheldon-b-kopp-10645_all-things_the-only-times-that-we-can-have-what-we_1740853.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/99f/sheldon-b-kopp-10645_all-things_the-only-times-that-we-can-have-what-we_1740853.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/99f/sheldon-b-kopp-10645_all-things_the-only-times-that-we-can-have-what-we_1740853.jpg) > “The only times that we can have what we long for are those moments when we stop grasping for it. At such times, all things are possible: "to a mind that is 'still' the whole universe surrenders".” [Sheldon B. Kopp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheldon-b-kopp/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. When we cease striving, we open to possibility; stillness allows the universe to reveal what we seek. **In simple terms:** Let go to receive. Key Takeaway Practice stillness to attract what you desire. Themes mindfulness letting go possibility trust Mood contemplative encouraging Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - meditation - creative work - decision making - stress relief Key Concepts stillness universal flow inner peace manifestation Questions to Reflect On - When have you felt stillness helped you? - What practices bring you calm? A Different Perspective Stillness can be mistaken for inactivity, hindering progress. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Meditation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meditation/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moments/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Surrender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/surrender/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Universe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/universe/) ## Related quotes > [“Life isn’t defined by how long it is. It’s the moments you have while you’re alive.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-j-klune/life-isn-t-defined-by-how-long-it-is-it-s-the-moments-you-have-while/) [T.J. Klune](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-j-klune/) > [For several long moments we remained locked together, and I think I covered her hair with small sacred kisses, her perfume crucifying me with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/for-several-long-moments-we-remained-locked-together-and-i-think-i/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [I have lived so long because in those moments when I am dancing, I am beyond time and space.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-st-denis/i-have-lived-so-long-because-in-those-moments-when-i-am-dancing-i-am/) [Ruth St. Denis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-st-denis/) > [Life is unnecessarily long. Moments of insight, of fine personal relation, a smile, a glance,--what ample borrowers of eternity they are!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/life-is-unnecessarily-long-moments-of-insight-of-fine-personal/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“To a mind that is still the whole universe surrenders.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lao-tzu/to-a-mind-that-is-still-the-whole-universe-surrenders/) [Lao Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lao-tzu/) > [The words of truth are always paradoxical. To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laozi/the-words-of-truth-are-always-paradoxical-to-the-mind-that-is-still/) [Laozi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laozi/) > [To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lao-tzu/to-the-mind-that-is-still-the-whole-universe-surrenders/) [Lao Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lao-tzu/) > [“To a mind that is still, the entire universe surrenders.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuang-tzu/to-a-mind-that-is-still-the-entire-universe-surrenders/) [Chuang Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuang-tzu/) > [“The world surrenders to an enlightened mind. The stars surrender to a joyful heart. The universe surrenders to a loving soul.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matshona-dhliwayo/the-world-surrenders-to-an-enlightened-mind-the-stars-surrender-to-a/) [Matshona Dhliwayo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matshona-dhliwayo/) > [“No matter how screwed up life is today, today is just a collection of moments that stop and start where you want them to.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robyn-schneider/no-matter-how-screwed-up-life-is-today-today-is-just-a-collection-of/) [Robyn Schneider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robyn-schneider/) > [There are moments that stop the heart, that catch the breath, that halt the beat of blood in your veins, and you are suspended…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-cormier/there-are-moments-that-stop-the-heart-that-catch-the-breath-that-halt/) [Robert Cormier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-cormier/) > [Rewind the memories. Fast forward the drama. Play the good times. Pause the moments. Stop right there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kiara-leigh/rewind-the-memories-fast-forward-the-drama-play-the-good-times-pause/) [Kiara Leigh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kiara-leigh/) > [I think if you asked people "what's the biggest problem in your life?" They'd say, "I just don't have time for anything!" And at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-lesser/i-think-if-you-asked-people-what-s-the-biggest-problem-in-your-life/) [Elizabeth Lesser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-lesser/) > [“No matter how screwed up your life is today, today is just a collection of moments that stop and start whenever you want them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robyn-schneider/no-matter-how-screwed-up-your-life-is-today-today-is-just-a/) [Robyn Schneider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robyn-schneider/) > [There are moments where you stop living, if you stop changing, and if you stop seeking growth of some sort.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavia-spencer/there-are-moments-where-you-stop-living-if-you-stop-changing-and-if/) [Octavia Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavia-spencer/) ## More by Sheldon B. Kopp > [“Research in self-disclosure supports my own experience that the personal openness of the guru facilitates and invites the increased openness of the pilgrim. (24)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheldon-b-kopp/research-in-self-disclosure-supports-my-own-experience-that-the/) [Sheldon B. Kopp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheldon-b-kopp/) > [I remember a group therapy session when one of the patients was reluctantly turning his corner. He would accept it, he said, but he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheldon-b-kopp/i-remember-a-group-therapy-session-when-one-of-the-patients-was/) [Sheldon B. Kopp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheldon-b-kopp/) > [Sometimes life seems like a poorly designed cage within which man has been sentenced to be free.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheldon-b-kopp/sometimes-life-seems-like-a-poorly-designed-cage-within-which-man-has/) [Sheldon B. Kopp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheldon-b-kopp/) > [“Crises marked by anxiety, doubt, and despair have always been those periods of personal unrest that occur at the times when a man is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheldon-b-kopp/crises-marked-by-anxiety-doubt-and-despair-have-always-been-those/) [Sheldon B. Kopp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheldon-b-kopp/) > [Everything good is costly, and the development of the personality is one of the most costly of all things. It will cost you your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheldon-b-kopp/everything-good-is-costly-and-the-development-of-the-personality-is/) [Sheldon B. Kopp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheldon-b-kopp/) > [I have long trusted dreams as prophetic visions. I do not mean that they foretell the future, only that they illuminate the present, when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheldon-b-kopp/i-have-long-trusted-dreams-as-prophetic-visions-i-do-not-mean-that/) [Sheldon B. Kopp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheldon-b-kopp/) > [Each person's only hope for improving his lot rests on recognizing the true nature of his or her basic personality, surrendering to it, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheldon-b-kopp/each-person-s-only-hope-for-improving-his-lot-rests-on-recognizing/) [Sheldon B. Kopp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheldon-b-kopp/) > [“Of course, one other hypothetical alternative would have been for the child to decide that since she was fine the way she was, there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheldon-b-kopp/of-course-one-other-hypothetical-alternative-would-have-been-for-the/) [Sheldon B. Kopp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheldon-b-kopp/) > [“Unwilling to tolerate life’s ambiguity, its unresolvability, its inevitability, we search for certainty, demanding that someone else must provide it. Stubbornly, relentlessly, we seek…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheldon-b-kopp/unwilling-to-tolerate-life-s-ambiguity-its-unresolvability-its/) [Sheldon B. Kopp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheldon-b-kopp/) > [But after a while, she began to experience the new reality of each person as being as strong and as weak as anyone else.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheldon-b-kopp/but-after-a-while-she-began-to-experience-the-new-reality-of-each/) [Sheldon B. Kopp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheldon-b-kopp/) > [So it is that God tugs at a pilgrim's sleeve telling him to remember that he is only human. He must be his own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheldon-b-kopp/so-it-is-that-god-tugs-at-a-pilgrim-s-sleeve-telling-him-to-remember/) [Sheldon B. Kopp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheldon-b-kopp/) > [“You can't get there from here, and besides there's no place else to go.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheldon-b-kopp/you-can-t-get-there-from-here-and-besides-there-s-no-place-else-to-go/) [Sheldon B. Kopp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheldon-b-kopp/) > [He prefers the security of known misery to the misery of unfamiliar insecurity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheldon-b-kopp/he-prefers-the-security-of-known-misery-to-the-misery-of-unfamiliar/) [Sheldon B. Kopp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheldon-b-kopp/) > [For a long time now I have trusted my dreaming self as wiser than that waking self whose head is cluttered with reason and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheldon-b-kopp/for-a-long-time-now-i-have-trusted-my-dreaming-self-as-wiser-than/) [Sheldon B. Kopp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheldon-b-kopp/) > [All significant battles are fought within self.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheldon-b-kopp/all-significant-battles-are-fought-within-self/) [Sheldon B. Kopp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheldon-b-kopp/) [Explore all 64 Sheldon B. Kopp quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheldon-b-kopp/) ## More All things quotes > [Those whose life is long still strive for gain, and for all mortals all things take second place to money.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophocles/those-whose-life-is-long-still-strive-for-gain-and-for-all-mortals/) [Sophocles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophocles/) > [To explicate the uses of the Brain seems as difficult a task as to paint the Soul, of which it is commonly said, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-willis/to-explicate-the-uses-of-the-brain-seems-as-difficult-a-task-as-to/) [Thomas Willis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-willis/) > [A tree is a self: it is 'unseen shaping' more than it is leaves or bark, roots or cellulose or fruit ... What this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-swimme/a-tree-is-a-self-it-is-unseen-shaping-more-than-it-is-leaves-or-bark/) [Brian Swimme](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-swimme/) > [Dear God, I trust that no matter what happens in my life, it is for my highest good. And no matter what happens in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-jeffers/dear-god-i-trust-that-no-matter-what-happens-in-my-life-it-is-for-my/) [Susan Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-jeffers/) > [Moderation, honey, in all things but love and chocolate. That's my motto.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-bretton/moderation-honey-in-all-things-but-love-and-chocolate-that-s-my-motto/) [Barbara Bretton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-bretton/) > [There is a spirit which I feel that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-nayler/there-is-a-spirit-which-i-feel-that-delights-to-do-no-evil-nor-to/) James Nayler > [What greater weakness can there be than not to know what is the source of one's being, of one's life, of one's senses, of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-bruyere/what-greater-weakness-can-there-be-than-not-to-know-what-is-the/) [Jean de la Bruyere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-bruyere/) > [When I was in my teens I had a series of intensely religious experiences. They deepened my sense of God as the creator of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-linzey/when-i-was-in-my-teens-i-had-a-series-of-intensely-religious/) [Andrew Linzey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-linzey/) > [It is more than a little ironic that "capital accumulation" once a rather tendentious Marxian view of a supposed capitalist obsession, should have become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-kuttner/it-is-more-than-a-little-ironic-that-capital-accumulation-once-a/) [Robert Kuttner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-kuttner/) > [The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, as it pleases him, for he can do all things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/homer/the-lord-gives-and-the-lord-takes-away-as-it-pleases-him-for-he-can/) [Homer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/homer/) > [Time, which wears down and diminishes all things, augments and increases good deeds, because a good turn liberally offered to a reasonable man grows…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-rabelais/time-which-wears-down-and-diminishes-all-things-augments-and/) [Francois Rabelais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-rabelais/) > [Standing as a witness in all things means being kind in all things, being the first to say hello, being the first to smile,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-d-nadauld/standing-as-a-witness-in-all-things-means-being-kind-in-all-things/) [Margaret D. 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The universal Cause, by knowing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-dionysius/god-does-not-possess-a-private-knowledge-of-himself-and-a-separate/) [Pope Dionysius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-dionysius/) Browse all 2,486 All things quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The only times that we can have what we long for are those moments when we stop grasping for it. At such times, all things are possible: \"to a mind that is 'still' the whole universe surrenders\".", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sheldon B. 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