Quotes by Krishnamurti
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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
From the book Think on These Things
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Krishnamurti: Why must you read? Just listen quietly. You never ask why you must play, why you must eat, why you must look at the river, why you are cruel – do you? You rebel and ask why you must do something only when you don’t like to do it. But reading, playing, laughing, being cruel, being good, seeing the river, the clouds – all this is part of life; and if you don’t know how to read, if you don’t know how to walk, if you are unable to appreciate the beauty of a leaf, you are not living. You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing, and dance, and write poems, and suffer, and understand; for all that is life.

Emptiness comes as a sunset comes
Emptiness comes as a sunset comes of an evening, full of beauty, enchantment, and richness; it comes as naturally as the blossoming of a flower.
—KRISHNAMURTI
Krishnamurti in Madras 1964, Talk 7
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You are the world
You are the world and the world is you.
—KRISHNAMURTI
Krishnamurti in Saanen, Switzerland 1975, Talk 4
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So, if you actually see the truth that you are the world and the world is you – not as a theory, a verbal assertion but an actuality and you see the extraordinary importance that when you basically transform yourself, you’ll affect the whole of consciousness of the world – bound to.

We waste and dissipate energy
It is a waste of energy when we try to conform to a pattern. To conserve energy we must be aware of how we dissipate energy.
—KRISHNAMURTI
Krishnamurti in London 1966, Talk 5
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Our problem, one of the many that we have, is how to conserve this energy, the energy that is necessary for an explosion to take place in consciousness: an explosion that is not contrived, that is not put together by thought, but an explosion that occurs naturally when this energy is not wasted. Conflict in any form, at any level, at any depth of our being, is a waste of energy.

If I kill, I am killing myself
When I kill an Arab, a Jew, a Muslim, a Hindu, a communist, whatever it is, I am killing myself. I wonder if you realise this, basically.
—KRISHNAMURTI
Krishnamurti at Brockwood Park 1976, School Discussion 13
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Awareness of emptiness without naming it
Can the mind be aware of emptiness without naming it, running away from it or judging it, but just be with it?
—KRISHNAMURTI
From the book The Book of Life
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Now, can the mind stop running away, and not give it a name, not give it the significance of a word such as empty about which we have memories of pleasure and pain? Can we look at it, can the mind be aware of that emptiness without naming it, without running away from it, without judging it, but just be with it? Because, then, that is the mind. Then there is not an observer looking at it; there is no censor who condemns it; there is only that state of emptiness with which we are all really quite familiar but which we are all avoiding, trying to fill it with activity, with worship, with prayer, with knowledge, with every form of illusion and excitement. But when all the excitement, illusion, fear, running away stops, and you are no longer giving it a name and thereby condemning it, is the observer different then from the thing which is observed? Surely, by giving it a name, by condemning it, the mind has created a censor, an observer, outside of itself. But when the mind does not give it a term, a name, condemn it, judge it, then there is no observer, only a state of that thing we have called emptiness.

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
Krishnamurti in Bombay 1981, Talk 1
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When death comes
When death comes, it does not ask your permission; it comes and takes you, it destroys you on the spot.
—KRISHNAMURTI
Krishnamurti in Madras 1959, Talk 6
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I want to know all about death, because death may be reality, it may be what we call God, that most extraordinary something that lives and moves, yet has no beginning and no end. So I want to know all about death – and for that I must die to everything I already know. The mind can be aware of the unknown only when it dies to the known dies without any motive, without the hope of reward or the fear of punishment. Then I can find out what death is while I am living – and in that very discovery there is freedom from fear.

Understanding ourselves
I have to study myself in actuality – as I am, not as I wish to be.
—KRISHNAMURTI
From the book Freedom from the Known
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Now where do we begin to understand ourselves? Here am I, and how am I to study myself, observe myself, see what is actually taking place inside myself? I can observe myself only in relationship because all life is relationship. It is no use sitting in a corner meditating about myself. I cannot exist by myself. I exist only in relationship to people, things and ideas, and in studying my relationship to outward things and people, as well as to inward things, I begin to understand myself. Every other form of understanding is merely an abstraction and I cannot study myself in abstraction; I am not an abstract entity; therefore I have to study myself in actuality – as I am, not as I wish to be.

Your transformation affects the world
If you as a human being transform yourself, you affect the consciousness of the rest of the world.
—KRISHNAMURTI
Krishnamurti in Madras 1974, Talk 1
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A free mind never concludes
A mind that is full of conclusions is a dead mind, it is not a living mind. A living mind is a free mind, learning, never concluding.
—KRISHNAMURTI
Krishnamurti in Ojai, California 1973, Talk 3
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Each of us has built this civilization
Each one of us has built up this competitive, ruthless civilization, in which man is against man.
—KRISHNAMURTI
Krishnamurti in Ojai, California 1945, Talk 1
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Timeless renewal
To live in the eternal present there must be death to the past, to memory. In this death there is timeless renewal.
—KRISHNAMURTI
Krishnamurti in Ojai, California 1945, Talk 10
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The present extends into the past and into the future; without the understanding of the present the door to the past is closed. The perception of the new is so fleeting; no sooner is it felt than the swift current of the past sweeps over it and the new ceases to be. To die to the many yesterdays, to renew each day is only possible if we are capable of being passively aware. In this passive awareness there is no gathering to oneself; in it there is intense stillness in which the new is ever unfolding, in which silence is ever extending with measure.

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
From the book Freedom from the Known
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Revolution begins with you and me
It must begin with you and me. All great things start on a small scale, all great movements begin with individuals; and if we wait for collective action, such action, if it takes place at all, is destructive and conducive to further misery. So revolution must begin with you and me.
—KRISHNAMURTI
Krishnamurti in Madras 1950, Talk 3
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So, revolution must begin with you and me. That revolution, that individual transformation, can take place only when we understand relationship, which is the process of self-knowledge.

Has religion resolved suffering?
Organised religions throughout the world have laid down rules, disciplines, attitudes and beliefs. But have they resolved human suffering and the deep-rooted anxieties, guilts?
—KRISHNAMURTI
From the book The Awakening of Intelligence
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The more you know yourself the more clarity there is
The more you know yourself, the more clarity there is. Self-knowledge has no end – you don’t achieve, you don’t come to a conclusion. It is an endless river.
—KRISHNAMURTI
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Belief is an indication of fear
The constant assertion of belief is an indication of fear.
—KRISHNAMURTI
From the book The Second Krishnamurti Reader
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What we are, the world is
What we are, the world is.
—KRISHNAMURTI
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Analysis is paralysis
Analysis is paralysis.
—KRISHNAMURTI
Krishnamurti in New York 1974, Talk 1
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When one loses relationship with nature
When one loses the deep intimate relationship with nature, then temples, mosques and churches become important.
—KRISHNAMURTI
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