Ball Mukund > Ball's Quotes

“It is very difficult also to sacrifice one's suffering. A man will renounce any pleasures you like but he will not give up his suffering.”
― G.I. Gurdjieff

“Man has no individual i. But there are, instead, hundreds and thousands of separate small "i"s, very often entirely unknown to one another, never coming into contact, or, on the contrary, hostile to each other, mutually exclusive and incompatible. Each minute, each moment, man is saying or thinking, "i". And each time his i is different. just now it was a thought, now it is a desire, now a sensation, now another thought, and so on, endlessly. Man is a plurality. Man's name is legion.”
― G.I. Gurdjieff

“In order to awaken, first of all one must realize that one is in a state of sleep. And in order to realize that one is indeed in a state of sleep, one must recognize and fully understand the nature of the forces which operate to keep one in the state of sleep, or hypnosis. It is absurd to think that this can be done by seeking information from the very source which induces the hypnosis.
....One thing alone is certain, that man's slavery grows and increases. Man is becoming a willing slave. He no longer needs chains. He begins to grow fond of his slavery, to be proud of it. And this is the most terrible thing that can happen to a man.”
― George Ivanovich Gurdjieff

“Common aim is stronger than blood.”
― G.I. Gurdjieff

“The greatest untold story is the evolution of God.”
― G.I. Gurdjieff

“What is possible for individual man is impossible for the masses.”
― Gurdjieff

“Only super-efforts count.”
― G.I. Gurdjieff

“Man must use what he has, not hope for what is not.”
― G.I. Gurdjieff

“Love without knowledge is demonic.”
― G.I. Gurdjieff

“As long as our ideas are the same, we will never be apart.”
― G.I. Gurdjieff

“Knowledge can be acquired by a suitable and complete study, no matter what the starting point is. Only one must know how to 'learn.' What is nearest to us is man; and you are the nearest of all men to yourself. Begin with the study of yourself; remember the saying 'Know thyself.”
― G.I. Gurdjieff, Views from the Real World

“an honest being who does not behave absurdly has no
chance at all of becoming famous, or even of being noticed, however kind
and sensible he may be.”
― G.I. Gurdjieff, Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson

“Life is real only then, when "I am".”
― G.I. Gurdjieff