Krishnamurti Quotes
Here you will find a wide selection of Krishnamurti quotes, carefully chosen by the staff at Krishnamurti Foundation Trust.
Understand the whole of life
You must understand the whole of life, not just one part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, why you must sing, dance and write poems, and suffer, and understand, for all that is life.
Krishnamurti, Think on These Things
You are the world
You are the world and the world is you.
Krishnamurti in Saanen 1975, Talk 4
Society is an abstraction
Society is an abstraction. Abstraction is not a reality. What is reality is relationship. The relationship between human beings has created what we call society.
Krishnamurti in Bombay 1981, Talk 1
Understanding ourselves
I have to study myself in actuality – as I am, not as I wish to be.
Krishnamurti, Freedom From the Known
Start as if you know nothing
Forget all you know about yourself; forget all you have ever thought about yourself; start as if you know nothing.
Krishnamurti, Freedom From the Known
A mind free of ambition flowers in goodness
A mind that is not concerned with itself, that is free of ambition, a mind that not caught up in its own desires or driven by its own pursuit of success – such a mind is not shallow and it flowers in goodness.
Krishnamurti, Think on These Things
It is good to be anonymous
It is good to hide your brilliance under a bushel, to be anonymous, to love what you are doing and not to show off.
Krishnamurti, Think on These Things
You cannot depend upon anybody
You cannot depend upon anybody. There is no guide, no teacher, no authority. There is only you – your relationship with others and with the world.
Krishnamurti, Freedom From the Known
To be aware
To be aware means to be sensitive, alive to the things about one, to nature, to people, to colour, to trees, to the environment, to the social structure, the whole thing; to be aware outwardly of all that’s happening and to be aware of what is happening inside.
Krishnamurti at Brockwood Park 1977, Discussion 2
Seeing the beauty of a tree
Have you ever looked at a tree without a single word of like or dislike, without a single image? What then takes place? For the first time, you see the tree as it is and you see the beauty of it, the colour, depth and vitality of it.
Krishnamurti, The Awakening of Intelligence
We are second-hand human beings
It begins at school and you go through life repeating what others have said. You are therefore second-hand human beings.
Krishnamurti, Flight of the Eagle
The emptying of consciousness
The emptying of consciousness of all its content is to have total movement in perception and action.
Krishnamurti, Meeting Life
We want someone to get us out of confusion
Being in a state of confusion, we want someone to get us out of that confusion. So we become concerned with how to escape or avoid the state in which we are.
Krishnamurti in London 1955, Talk 5
There must be a different kind of education
If there is to be any kind of social change, there must be a different kind of education so that children are not brought up to conform.
Krishnamurti, Beyond Violence
Emotions are natural
Emotions or sensations are natural, healthy, normal. But when thought takes over, all the mischief begins.
Krishnamurti, Truth and Actuality
We fear the known coming to an end
One is never afraid of the unknown; one is afraid of the known coming to an end.
Krishnamurti, You Are the World
Choice is the denial of freedom
We think having capacity to choose gives us freedom. Choice is the very denial of freedom.
Krishnamurti, Truth and Actuality
Only when there is no fear you can ask if there is a God
When there is no fear, the mind is in quite a different dimension. Only then can you ask whether there is a God or not.
Krishnamurti, The Urgency of Change
Fighting habit becomes a habit
When you fight a habit you give life to that habit; and the fighting becomes another habit.
Krishnamurti in London 1962, Talk 6
Happiness comes when you are not seeking it
Happiness is strange; it comes when you are not seeking it. When you are not making an effort to be happy, then unexpectedly, mysteriously, happiness is there, born of purity, of a loveliness of being.
Krishnamurti, Think on These Things
Intellect vs intelligence
Training the intellect does not result in intelligence. Intelligence comes into being when one acts in perfect harmony, intellectually and emotionally.
Krishnamurti, The Book of Life
What a strange thing is loneliness
What a strange thing is loneliness, and how frightening it is! We never allow ourselves to get too close to it; and if by chance we do, we quickly run away from it.
Krishnamurti, Commentaries on Living 1
Love can do nothing
Love can do nothing, but without it nothing can be done.
Krishnamurti’s Notebook
The explosion of meditation
Thought shattering itself against its own nothingness is the explosion of meditation.
Krishnamurti’s Notebook
Out of sorrow comes passion
Remain with sorrow completely, without any movement of thought, and you will find out of that sorrow comes passion.
Krishnamurti, The Awakening of Intelligence
I don’t know you actually now
When one says ‘I know you,’ one means, ‘I know you as you were yesterday; I don’t know you actually now.’
Krishnamurti in Saanen 1967, Talk 6
Tradition becomes our security
Tradition becomes our security, and when the mind is secure it is in decay.
The Second Krishnamurti Reader
Thought is never free
Thought is never free because it is based on knowledge, and knowledge is always limited.
Krishnamurti, The Network of Thought
Truth is a pathless land
I maintain that truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect.
Krishnamurti’s Dissolution Speech
When you separate yourself, it breeds violence
When you separate yourself by belief, nationality or tradition, it breeds violence. So one who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, religion or political party, but is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.
Krishnamurti, Freedom From the Known