Meister Eckhart quotes

If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.

The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye
and God's eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one loe.

!nly the hand that erases can write the true thing.

"e willing to be a beginner eery single morning.

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, #thank you,# that would suffice.

$pirituality is not to be learned by flight from the world, or by running away from
things, or by turning solitary and going apart from the world. %ather, we must learn an
inner solitude whereer or with whomsoeer we may be. &e must learn to penetrate
things and find God there.

I am as sure as I lie that nothing is so near to me as God. God is nearer to me than I am
to myself; my e'istence depends on the nearness and the presence of God.

Truly, it is in the darkness that one finds the light, so when we are in sorrow, then this
light is nearest of all to us.

$ome people want to see God with their eyes as they see a cow, and to loe (im as they
loe a cow ) for the milk and cheese and profit it brings them. This is how it is with
people who loe God for the sake of outward wealth or inward comfort. They do not
rightly loe God, when they loe (im for their own adantage.

*othing in all creation is so like God as stillness.

+oe is as strong as death, as hard as (ell. ,eath separates the soul from the body, but
loe separates all things from the soul.

$ome people prefer solitude. They say their peace of mind depends on this.
!thers say they would be better off in church.
If you do well, you do well whereer you are. If you fail, you fail whereer you are.
-our surroundings don't matter. God is with you eerywhere )) in the market place as
well as in seclusion or in the church.
If you look for nothing but God, nothing or no one can disturb you.
God is not distracted by a multitude of things.
*or can we be.

&isdom consists in doing the ne't think you hae to do, doing it with your whole heart,
and finding delight in doing it.

.ll God wants of man is a peaceful heart.

If I had a friend and loed him because of the benefits which this brought me and
because of getting my own way, then it would not be my friend that I loed but myself. I
should loe my friend on account of his own goodness and irtues and account of all that
he is in himself. !nly if I loe my friend in this way do I loe him properly.

*obody at any time is cut off from God.
*o)one knows what the soul is.. "ut what we do know is, the soul is where God works
compassion.
-ou may call God loe, you may call God goodness. "ut the best name for God is
compassion.
(e who would be serene and pure needs but one thing, detachment.
&hoeer possesses God in their being, has him in a diine manner, and he shines out to
them in all things; for them all things taste of God and in all things it is God's image that
they see.
There e'ists only the present instant... a *ow which always and without end is itself
new. There is no yesterday nor any tomorrow, but only *ow, as it was a thousand years
ago and as it will be a thousand years hence.
The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me
Truly, it is in darkness that one finds the light, so when we are in sorrow, then this light
is nearest of all to us
. human being has so many skins inside, coering the depths of the heart. &e know so
many things, but we don't know ourseles/ &hy, thirty or forty skins or hides, as thick
and hard as an o''s or bear's, coer the soul. Go into your own ground and learn to know
yourself there.
If you seek the kernel, then you must break the shell. .n likewise, if you would know
the reality of *ature, you must destroy the appearance, and the farther you go beyond the
appearance, the nearer you will be to the essence.
&hat a man takes in by contemplation, that he pours out in loe.
God is in all things, but so far as God is ,iine and so far as he is rational, God is
nowhere so properly as in the soul ) in the innermost of the soul
&hen you are thwarted, it is your own attitude that is out of order
!ne person who has mastered life is better than a thousand persons who hae mastered
only the contents of books, but no one can get anything out of life without God
0eople should not worry as much about what they do but rather about what they are. If
they and their ways are good, then their deeds are radiant. If you are righteous, then what
you do will also be righteous. &e should not think that holiness is based on what we do
but rather on what we are, for it is not our works which sanctify us but we who sanctify
our works.
&ords derie their power from the original word.
1esus might hae said, ''I became man for you. If you do not become God for me, you
wrong me.''
The outward work will neer be puny if the inward work is great.
.ll that God asks you most pressingly is to go out of yourself ) and let God be God in
you'2 !ne could think that, in separating himself from creatures, the mystic leaes his
brothers, humanity, behind. The same 3ckhart affirms that, on the contrary,
If God gae the soul his whole creation she would not be filled thereby but only with
himself.
The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me.
To be right, a person must do one of two things4 either he must learn to hae God in his
work and hold fast to him there, or he must gie up his work altogether. $ince, howeer,
we cannot lie without actiities that are both human and arious, we must learn to keep
God I eerything we do, and whateer the 5ob or place, keep on with him, letting nothing
stand in our way.
Time is what keeps the light from reaching us. There is no greater obstacle to God than
time4 and not only time but temporalities, not only temporal things but temporal
affections, not only temporal affections but the ery taint and smell of time.
The seed of God is in us. Gien an intelligent and hard)working farmer, it will thrie
and grow up to God, whose seed it is; and accordingly its fruits will be God)nature. 0ear
seeds grow into pear trees, nut seeds into nut trees, and God)seed into God.
&e are celebrating the feast of the 3ternal "irth which God the 6ather has borne and
neer ceases to bear in all eternity.... "ut if it takes not place in me, what aails it2
3erything lies in this, that it should take place in me.
God e'pects but one thing of you, and that is that you should come out of yourself in so
far as you are a created being and let God be God in you.
. 5ust person is one who is conformed and transformed into 5ustice.
It is a fair trade and an e7ual e'change4 to the e'tent that you depart from things, thus
far, no more and no less, God enters into you with all that is his, as far as you hae
stripped yourself of yourself in all things. It is here that you should be
8an goes far away or near but God neer goes far)off; he is always standing close at
hand, and een if he cannot stay within he goes no further than the door.

8y +ord told me a 5oke. .nd seeing (im laugh has done more for me than any scripture
I will eer read.

. human being has so many skins inside, coering the depths of the heart. &e know so
many things, but we don't know ourseles/ &hy, thirty or forty skins or hides, as thick
and hard as an o''s or bear's, coer the soul. Go into your own ground and learn to know
yourself there.

!ne must learn an inner solitude, whereer one may be.

%un into peace.

God is not good, or else he could do better.

&hateer God does, the first outburst is always compassion.

If anyone went on for a thousand years asking of life4 '&hy are you liing2' life, if it
could answer, would only say, 'I lie so that I may lie.' That is because life lies out of
its own ground and springs from its own source, and so it lies without asking why it is
itself liing.

!ne must not always think so much about what one should do, but rather what one
should be. !ur works do not ennoble us; but we must ennoble our works.

.nd suddenly you know4 It's time to start something new and trust the magic of
beginnings.

&hoeer possesses God in their being has (im in a diine manner, and (e shines out to
them in all things; for them all things taste of God and in all things it is God's image that
they see.

&hen the $oul wants to e'perience something she throws out an image in front of her
and then steps into it.

&e are all meant to be mothers of God...for God is always needing to be born.

God is at home. &e are in the far country.

I am what I wanted and I want what I am.

If the only prayer you eer say in your whole life is #thank you,# it will be enough.

There is something in the soul that is so akin to God that it is one with (im... It has
nothing in common with anything created.

God is greater than God.

If the only prayer you eer say is thank you, it is enough.

9&:e must come into a transformed knowing, an unknowing which comes not from
ignorance but from knowledge.

Theologians may 7uarrel, but the mystics of the world speak the same language.

I tell you the truth, any ob5ect you hae in your mind, howeer good, will be a barrier
between you and the inmost Truth.

I may err but I am not a heretic, for the first has to do with the mind and the second with
the will/

If the only prayer you say in your life is thank you, that would suffice.

If the only prayer you eer say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.

The more we hae the less we own.

3ery creature is a word of God.

The outward work will neer be puny if the inward work is great.

The price of inaction is far greater than the cost of making a mistake.

The outward man is the swinging door; the inner man is the still hinge.
,o e'actly what you would do if you felt most secure.

God is at home, it's we who hae gone out for a walk.

There e'ists only the present instant... a *ow which always and without end is itself new.
There is no yesterday nor any tomorrow, but only *ow, as it was a thousand years ago
and as it will be a thousand years hence.

The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me.

The more we hae the less we own.
. human being has so many skins inside, coering the depths of the heart. &e know so
many things, but we don't know ourseles/ &hy, thirty or forty skins or hides, as thick
and hard as an o''s or bear's, coer the soul. Go into your own ground and learn to know
yourself there.

&hat we plant in the soil of contemplation, we shall reap in the harest of action.

(e who would be serene and pure needs but one thing, detachment.

!ne person who has mastered life is better than a thousand persons who hae mastered
only the contents of books, but no one can get anything out of life without God.

-ou may call God loe, you may call God goodness. "ut the best name for God is
compassion.

Truly, it is in darkness that one finds the light, so when we are in sorrow, then this light is
nearest of all to us.

3ery creature is a word of God.

The knower and the known are one. $imple people imagine that they should see God as if
he stood there and they here. This is not so. God and I, we are one in knowledge.

. 5ust person is one who is conformed and transformed into 5ustice.

To be full of things is to be empty of God. To be empty of things is to be full of God.

&hen you are thwarted, it is your own attitude that is out of order.

God e'pects but one thing of you, and that is that you should come out of yourself in so
far as you are a created being made and let God be God in you.

8an goes far away or near but God neer goes far)off; he is always standing close at
hand, and een if he cannot stay within he goes no further than the door.

The outward work will neer be puny if the inward work is great.

&e are celebrating the feast of the 3ternal "irth which God the 6ather has borne and
neer ceases to bear in all eternity... "ut if it takes not place in me, what aails it2
3erything lies in this, that it should take place in me.

&hat a man takes in by contemplation, that he pours out in loe.