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Quotations about the Soul
Related Quotes Purpose Self God Self-Discovery Body
A struggle to do something more than exist is the sign of human life — the mission of the human soul. ~Walter Moxon, M.D., F.R.C.P. (1836–1886), "Alcohol and Individuality; or, Why Did He Become a Drunkard?"
Neither height nor depth can measure the possibilities of the human soul. ~James Lendall Basford (1845–1915), Sparks from the Philosopher's Stone, 1882
[A] great soul, with a great purpose, can make a weak body strong and keep it so... ~Mark Twain, Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, 1895
When you say a man has guts, you say he has a soul. ~Martin H. Fischer (1879–1962)
The windows of my soul I throw
Wide open to the sun.
~John Greenleaf Whittier, "My Psalm"
The human soul is as a seed sown in the world. It contains within, the germ of the flower and the leaf, but from without must come the means of nourishment and growth. ~Henry James Slack (1818–1896), The Ministry of the Beautiful, "Conversation V: A Journey by Night," 1850 [Edith speaking
"Never tell a child," said George Macdonald, "you have a soul. Teach him, you are a soul; you have a body." [T]he body is but the temporary clothing of the soul... ~W.H.F.A., "Be Not Entangled Again in a Yoke of Bondage," in The British Friend, 1892 Seventh Month 5th
[E]verything has a soul and a body, or something like them. By the body we know the soul. But we are always ready to love the body instead of the soul. Therefore, God makes the body die continually, that we may learn to love the soul indeed. ~George MacDonald, The Seaboard Parish, "Chapter XIX: Niceboots," 1872
As if my soul would burst the prisoned skin... ~H.W. Jeffree, Life: An Epic, "Book IV," written 1861, revised 1874
Every human soul has celestial energy which can attract power. ~Psychological Year Book: Quotations for Every Day in the Year, Showing That the Power of Thought and a Right Use of the Will May Attain Good Results, Improve Conditions & Bring Success, Gathered by Janet Young, 1904
If I should die to-night what have I to show for my life in the way of soul-winning? ~Fredonia Ellsworth Holloway (1867–1920), c.1909
The soul may sleep and the body still be happy, but only in youth. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1963
So in an evil world do good souls, even in the busiest turmoil, catch some light from above and make heaven visible by reflection in the dark places of earth. ~Henry James Slack (1818–1896), The Ministry of the Beautiful, "Conversation I: The Cavern," 1850 [Edith speaking
The soul lives unstably in the body, and is capable of mysterious transformations. ~W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, 1919
He went to the medicine closet in the bathroom, took some painkiller, and went to lie down on the bed until his head felt better. If only there were something as simple he could take for the ache in his soul. ~Abigail Reynolds, Pemberley by the Sea: A Modern Love Story, Pride and Prejudice Style, 2008
Confession is good for the conscience, but it usually bypasses the soul. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1963
Good for the body is the work of the body, and good for the soul, the work of the soul, and good for either, the work of the other. ~Henry David Thoreau
Truly, life is by the sweat of the soul! ~Muriel Strode (1875–1964), My Little Book of Life, 1912
We must not tamper with the organic motion of the soul. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Quotation and Originality"
...there was fog in his soul, but joy and warmth... ~Anton Chekhov, "Ionitch," 1898, translated from the Russian by Constance Garnett, 1917
Anne roamed through the pineland alleys in the park and, as she said, let that great sweeping wind blow the fogs out of her soul. Anne was not wont to be troubled with soul fog. ~L. M. Montgomery, Anne of the Island, 1915
Care I for the limb, the thews, the stature, bulk, and big assemblance of a man! Give me the spirit... ~William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part II, c.1597 [III, 2, Falstaff]
I believe that the soul consists of its sufferings. For the soul that cures its own sufferings dies. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
I began by being perplexed about my body; and I ended by being anxious about my soul. In short, I wished to know what I was. ~Adolphe Monod, "Introduction. Letter I: Lucilla to the Abbe Favien," Lucilla; or, The Reading of the Bible, translated from the French by an unnamed translator, 1842
When the soul sought refuge in the place of rest,
Overborne by strife and pain beyond control,
From some secret hollow, whisper soft-confessed,
Came the legend of the soul.
~Æ (George William Russell), "Self-Discipline," Homeward Songs by the Way, 1894
[T]he greatest battle of life is fought out within the silent chambers of your own soul. ~President Richards (LDS), quoted by David O. McKay, 1954
Soul is a vast realm, a gigantic world, whose immensity challenges all measurement and the mighty reach of gravity. ~James Lendall Basford (1845–1915), Seven Seventy Seven Sensations, 1897
It is not my fault if, when one tears away the veils and shows them naked, people's souls give off such a pungent smell of decay. ~Octave Mirbeau, The Diary of a Chambermaid, 1900, translated by Douglas Garman, 1966
Adventure most unto itself
The Soul condemned to be;
Attended by a Single Hound –
Its own Identity.
~Emily Dickinson, 1854
...all my soul within me burning... ~Edgar A. Poe, "The Raven"
When I moan in agony of body, you may heal me, but when I moan in agony of soul, I must heal myself. ~Muriel Strode (1875–1964), My Little Book of Life, 1912
How strange a thing this is! The Priest telleth me that the Soul is worth all the gold in the world, and the merchants say that it is not worth a clipped piece of silver. ~Oscar Wilde, "The Fisherman and His Soul," House of Pomegranates, 1891
Lying back in the hansom, with his hat pulled over his forehead, Dorian Gray watched with listless eyes the sordid shame of the great city, and now and then he repeated to himself the words that Lord Henry had said to him on the first day they had met, "To cure the soul by means of the senses, and the senses by means of the soul." Yes, that was the secret. There were opium-dens, where one could buy oblivion, dens of horror where the memory of old sins could be destroyed by the madness of sins that were new.... "To cure the soul by means of the senses, and the sense by means of the soul!" How the words rang in his ears! His soul, certainly, was sick to death. ~Oscar Wilde (1854–1900), The Picture of Dorian Gray [Quoted from the Copyright Edition, Leipzig Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1908.
I do not care for the body, I love the timid soul, the blushing, shrinking soul; it hides, for it is afraid, and the bold, obtrusive body— Pray, marm, did you call me? We are very small... I think we grow still smaller — this tiny, insect life the portal to another; it seems strange — strange indeed. ~Emily Dickinson, 1851
...as though my soul were winged as a bird... ~Bram Stoker, The Mystery of the Sea, 1902
Be careless in your dress if you must, but keep a tidy soul. ~Mark Twain
You are a beautiful soul hidden by the trench coat of the ego. ~Mike Dolan, @HawaiianLife, tweet
I may be lost in the underground of life, but I will trust my soul to know the passages. ~Muriel Strode (1875–1964), My Little Book of Life, 1912
we feel poetry and art
in the sensitive veins
that run through soul and
carry not blood but spirit
~Terri Guillemets, "Plexus," 2002
Upturned toward the sun, eyes closed. That color and warmth I see and feel is the soul on fire. If only it remained when again my eyes opened. ~Jeb Dickerson, @JebDickerson, tweet, 2009
With all your science can you tell how it is, and whence it is, that light comes into the soul? ~Henry David Thoreau, 1851
But his eyes speak, though his lips are silent. And they prowl around me, and they envelop me, and they descend into me, into my very depths, in order to turn my soul inside out and see what is in it. ~Octave Mirbeau, A Chambermaid's Diary, translated from the French by Benjamin R. Tucker, 1900
God of the oriole's yellow breast, of the eagle's talon and spread of wing, of the bluebird's blue and the tanager's crimson... Let me abide by my own soul as the violet does by its purple, and believe in it as the rose must believe in its fragrance and hue. ~Muriel Strode (1875–1964), "At the Roots of Grasses: XII," At the Roots of Grasses, 1923 [a little altered
And in the soul of man, that lived and thought
And felt, 'twas on immortal parchment wrote,
With heart-blood ink and with the Almighty's pen.
~Samuel J. Cassels, "Providence: The Church," 1838
The one thing in the world of value, is, the active soul, — the soul, free, sovereign, active. This every man is entitled to; this every man contains within him, although, in almost all men, obstructed, and as yet unborn. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1837
...my soul, now as calloused as my hands... ~Katherine Paterson, Jacob Have I Loved, 1980
The hidden well-spring of your soul must needs rise and run murmuring to the sea;
And the treasure of your infinite depths would be revealed to your eyes.
But let there be no scales to weigh your unknown treasure;
And seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line.
For self is a sea boundless and measureless.
Say not, "I have found the truth," but rather, "I have found a truth."
Say not, "I have found the path of the soul." Say rather, "I have met the soul walking upon my path."
For the soul walks upon all paths.
The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed.
The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.
~Khalil Gibran, The Prophet
Each individual life is a world by itself, suspending within the realm of possibilities; while the soul is ever its center of gravitation. ~James Lendall Basford (1845–1915), Sparks from the Philosopher's Stone, 1882
Is soul the stem and
body the blossom —
or body our stem, with
soul its indigenous bloom?
~Terri Guillemets
...the storm-winds of the soul... ~Ebenezer Elliott, "Elegy on William Cobbett," 1835
I tell you what I see — the landscape of the spirit requires a lung, but no tongue. ~Emily Dickinson
To and fro her soul beat its wings... ~Elizabeth Godfrey (Jessie Bedford), The Winding Road, 1902
Voice of the wind,
Of the rollicking wind in the trees;
Voice of the leaves,
Of the sweet-singing boughs in the breeze;
Voice of the streams,
Of the silver tongued waves on the shore;
Voice of the shower,
Of the mirthful, May-visioned downpour;
Voice of the stars,
Of the lyre-tuned lights of the sky;
Voice of the flowers,
Of the blithe buds that know not a sigh;
Voice of the birds,
Of the nest-seeking spirits of light;
Voice of the dark,
Of the golden imperious night;
Voice of my soul,
Thou art wind, wave and shower,
Leaf, dark, and bower,
Bird, star and flower
One and inseparable whole!
~Blanche Shoemaker Wagstaff, "Voices," Narcissus and Other Poems, 1918
Dreams grow like wildflowers in her soul. ~Terri Guillemets
Some mystic philosophers believe that the soul radiates out from a man in concentric spheres or atmospheres, felt by those that approach him. ~Ethlyn M. Davis, "Making a Happier World," 1915
...the soul and body are the same shape,—that the soul is not a speck or spot in the heart, or brain,—a something and nothing, but that it inhabits every part of the body, and thus its seat is all over the body. ~James Gillingham (1838–1924), The Seat of the Soul Discovered or the World's Great Problem Solved, with Objections to the Same Answered, second edition, 1870
There is a solitude of space,
A solitude of sea,
A solitude of death, but these
Society shall be,
Compared with that profounder site,
That polar privacy,
A Soul admitted to Itself:
Finite Infinity.
~Emily Dickinson, 1855
Sleep doesn't help if it's your soul that's tired. ~Author unknown
Anybody is liable to rheumatism in her legs, Anne. It's only old people who should have rheumatism in their souls, though... When you get rheumatism in your soul you might as well go and pick out your coffin. ~L. M. Montgomery, Anne of the Island, 1915
There is something at work in my soul, which I do not understand. ~Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley (1797–1851), Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, 1831 edition
"Great thoughts come from the heart," not the mind. To the soul alone, therefore, belong the thoughts that reunite, to the mind those that divide. ~Alexandre Vinet (1797–1847), Philosophy. First Section: Pure Philosophy. Chapter II.—Metaphysics. II. Logic— 3. Problem of Cognition, Outlines of Philosophy and Literature, edited by Jean Frédéric Astié, 1865
A beating heart needs a soul to go with it, or it's nothing but a machine. ~Terri Guillemets
The soul breathes.—Why not speak in metaphors? ~Miguel de Unamuno, "Intellectuality and Spirituality," translated from the Spanish by J. E. Crawford Flitch, 1924
We need it
but apparently
it needs us
for some reason too.
~Wisława Szymborska (1923–2012), "A Few Words on the Soul," Moment, 2002, translated from the Polish by Clare Cavanagh
Our souls are infinitely swirling colors of stardust and hope. ~Terri Guillemets
In my soul, the music of the universe can be heard. ~Eric Honeycutt, @erichoney07, August 2011 entry to The Quote Garden create your own quote contest on Twitter, @quotegarden
...his soul raw with unhealed wounds, weak with helplessness. ~Naomi Ragen, The Tenth Song, 2010
...that soul-wail... ~Bram Stoker, Dracula, 1897
...a soul flowering with spirituality... ~Terri Guillemets
The incoming may still my heart's weeping, but only that which I send forth will still the deeper cry of my soul. ~Muriel Strode (1875–1964), My Little Book of Life, 1912
There are little bits of my soul, little dark corners that you know nothing of. It's not good, it's not right that I should go about with them shut up in me. ~Anita Vivanti Chartres (1866–1942), The Hunt for Happiness, 1896
One of the most difficult jobs of earthly self is to reconcile soul and body. ~Terri Guillemets, "Formidable, forgivable," 1993
That I may have an immortal soul, is irrelevant. That I have a mortal one, is vital. ~Muriel Strode (1875–1964), My Little Book of Life, 1912
Webs of strange patterns we weave (each owns)
From colour and soul; and like unto these,
Soul has its tones and semitones,
Mind has its major and minor keys.
~Amy Levy, "In a Minor Key (An Echo from a Larger Lyre)," c.1884
If something is written in the stars, can't it also be inscribed in the fiery light of our souls? ~Terri Guillemets
Startled nerves often affright the soul into serious reflections. ~James Lendall Basford (1845–1915), Sparks from the Philosopher's Stone, 1882
There are relapses in the disorders of the soul as well as in those of the body. What we take to be our cure is most often nothing but an intermission or a change of the disorder. ~François VI de la Rochefoucault (1613–1680)
My soul lives somewhere between silence and the moon. ~Terri Guillemets
Learning how to operate a soul takes time. ~Timothy Leary
It would be idle to say that life is a steady progression in happiness. But it is most certain that in the natural course of things a healthy soul grows continually richer until its latest day on earth. ~George S. Merriam
Soul shadows you everywhere. ~Terri Guillemets
...every spiritual activity leaves traces, not only in the soul but also in the body; must then, if apoplexy or age destroy corporeal activity, must the soul's fire be therefore quenched? ~Jean Paul Fr. Richter, "506th Station," The Campaner Thal: or, Discourses on the Immortality of the Soul, translated from German by Juliette Bauer
The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire. ~Ferdinand Foch
What colors are the rhythms of your soul? ~Terri Guillemets
[D]ivine Providence... keeps the universe open in every direction to the soul... ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Nominalist and Realist"
He was the only one who had ever been able to calm her wild and fevered soul. ~Terri Guillemets, "Tonic," 2009
Anticipation Awakes the Passion, Vision Ignites the Heart, Touch Erupts the Soul. ~Craig D. Slovak
Shhh. Your soul is humming its tune. Listen well. ~Terri Guillemets
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