Anthony > Anthony's Quotes

“You take yourself too seriously, " he said slowly. "You are too damn important in
your own mind. That must be changed! You are so goddamn important that you feel
justified to be annoyed with everything. You're so damn important that you can afford to
leave if things don't go your way. I suppose you think that shows you have character.
That's nonsense! You're weak, and conceited!" - Dom Juan”
― Carlos Castaneda, Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan

“Power rests on the kind of knowledge one holds. What is the sense of knowing things that are useless?”
― Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge

“There are lots of things a warrior can do at a certain time which he couldn’t do years before. Those things themselves did not change; what changed was his idea of himself.”
― Carlos Castaneda, Tales of Power

“You have everything needed for the extravagant journey that is your life.”
― Carlos Castaneda

“We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.”
― Carlos Castaneda

“The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same.”
― Carlos Castaneda

“The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse.”
― Carlos Castaneda

“The aim is to balance the terror of being alive with the wonder of being alive.”
― Carlos Castaneda

“A man of knowledge lives by acting, not by thinking about acting. ”
― Carlos Castaneda

“Think about it: what weakens us is feeling offended by the deeds and misdeeds of our fellow men. Our self-importance requires that we spend most of our lives offended by someone.”
― Carlos Castaneda, The Fire from Within

“Only as a warrior can one withstand the path of knowledge. A warrior cannot complain or regret anything. His life is an endless challenge, and challenges cannot possibly be good or bad. Challenges are simply challenges.”
― Carlos Castaneda

“The internal dialogue is what grounds people in the daily world. The world is such and such or so and so, only because we talk to ourselves about its being such and such and so and so. The passageway into the world of shamans opens up after the warrior has learned to shut off his internal dialogue”
― Carlos Castaneda, The Wheel of Time: The Shamans of Mexico Their Thoughts About Life Death & the Universe

“To worry is to become accessible, unwittingly accessible. And once you worry you cling to anything out of desperation; and once you cling you are bound to get exhausted or to exhaust whoever or whatever you are clinging to.”
― Carlos Castaneda, Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan

“Beware of those who weep with realization, for they have realized nothing.”
― Carlos Castaneda, The Fire from Within

“Self-importance is our greatest enemy. Think about it - what weakens us is feeling offended by the deeds and misdeeds of our fellowmen. Our self-importance requires that we spend most of our lives offended by someone.”
― Carlos Castaneda

“A man goes to knowledge as he goes to war: wide-awake, with fear, with respect, and with absolute assurance. Going to knowledge or going to war in any other manner is a mistake, and whoever makes it might never live to regret it”
― Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge

“Don Juan had always said to me that our great enemy is the fact that we never believe what is happening to us.”
― Carlos Castaneda, Second Ring of Power

“Forget the self and you will fear nothing, in whatever level or awareness you find yourself to be.”
― Carlos Castaneda, The Active Side of Infinity

“To seek freedom is the only driving force I know. Freedom to fly off into that infinity out there. Freedom to dissolve; to lift off; to be like the flame of a candle, which, in spite of being up against the light of a billion stars, remains intact, because it never pretended to be more than what it is: a mere candle.”
― Carlos Castaneda, Don Juan: the Sorcerer

“Nobody knows who I am or what I do. Not even I.

Don Juan Matus
”
― Carlos Castaneda, Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan

“The average man is hooked to his fellow men, while the warrior is hooked only to infinity.”
― Carlos Castaneda

“All paths are the same: they lead nowhere. ... Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't, it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn't. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you.”
― Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge

“All of us, whether or not we are warriors, have a cubic centimeter of chance that pops out in front of our eyes from time to time. The difference between an average man and a warrior is that the warrior is aware of this, and one of his tasks is to be alert, deliberately waiting, so that when his cubic centimeter pops out he has the necessary speed, the prowess, to pick it up.”
― Carlos Castaneda

“You say you need help. Help for what? You have everything needed for the extravagant journey that is your life.”
― Carlos Castaneda, Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan

“Seek and see all the marvels around you. You will get tired of looking at yourself alone, and that fatigue will make you deaf and blind to everything else. - Don Juan”
― Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge

“Life in itself is sufficient, self-explanatory and complete.”
― Carlos Castaneda, Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan

“The self-confidence of the warrior is not the self-confidence of the average man. The average man seeks certainty in the eyes of the onlooker and calls that self-confidence. The warrior seeks impeccability in his own eyes and calls that humbleness. The average man is hooked to his fellow men, while the warrior is hooked only to infinity.”
― Carlos Castaneda

“Look at every path closely and deliberately, then ask ourselves this crucial question: Does this path have a heart? If it does, then the path is good. If it doesn't then it is of no use to us.”
― Carlos Casteneda

“I have no routines or personal history. One day I found out that they were no longer necessary for me and, like drinking, I dropped them. One must have the desire to drop them and then one must proceed harmoniously to chop them off, little by little. If you have no personal history, no explanations are needed; nobody is angry or disillusioned with your acts. And above all no one pins you down with their thoughts. It is best to erase all personal history because that makes us free from the encumbering thoughts of other people. I have, little by little, created a fog around me and my life. And now nobody knows for sure who I am or what I do. Not even I. How can I know who I am, when I am all this?”
― Carlos Castaneda, Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan

“Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore you must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if you feel you should not follow, you must not stay with it under any circumstances.”
― Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge