Observance Quotes

“I’m riding a tram and, as is my habit, slowly absorbing every detail of the people around me. By ‘detail’ I mean things, voices, words. In the dress of the girl directly in front of me, for example, I see the material it’s made of, the work involved in making it – since it’s a dress and not just material – and I see in the delicate embroidery around the neck the silk thread with which it was embroidered and all the work that went into that. And immediately, as if in a primer on political economy, I see before me the factories and all the different jobs: the factory where the material was made; the factory that made the darker coloured
thread that ornaments with curlicues the neck of the dress’ and I see the different workshops in the factories, the machines, the workmen, the seamstresses. My eyes’ inward gaze even penetrates into the offices, where I see the managers trying to keep calm and the figures set out in the account books, but that’s not all: beyond that I see into the domestic lives of all those who spend their working hours in these factories and offices...A whole world unfolds before my eyes all because the regularly irregular dark green edging to a pale green dress worn by the girl in front of me of whom I see only her brown neck.

‘A whole way of life lies before me.
I sense the loves, the secrets, the souls of all those who worked just so that this woman in front of me on the tram should wear around her mortal neck the sinuous banality of a thread of dark green silk on a background of light green cloth.
I grow dizzy. The seats on the tram, of fine, strong cane, carry me to distant regions, divide into industries, workmen, houses, lives, realities, everything.
I leave the tram exhausted, like a sleepwalker, having lived a whole life.”
― Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet

“It is well to have specifically holy places, and things, and days, for, without these focal points or reminders, the belief that all is holy and "big with God" will soon dwindle into a mere sentiment. But if these holy places, things, and days cease to remind us, if they obliterate our awareness that all ground is holy and every bush (could we but perceive it) a Burning Bush, then the hallows begin to do harm.”
― C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer

“I sometimes wish that people would put a little more emphasis on the observance of the law than they do upon its enforcement.”
― Calvin Coolidge

“To me, everyday is an observance of a 'holy day' for 'this is the day the Lord has made' and as such I do not observe high nor 'low' Holy days."

~R. Alan Woods {2013]”
― R. Alan Woods, The Journey Is the Destination: A Book of Quotes With Commentaries

“Wise people treat laws as guidelines, issued by the society and they understand that observance of these laws is the price that they are paying to live in a civilized society.”
― Awdhesh Singh, 31 Ways to Happiness

“To obey God is better than any observance of religious rituals”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“By being in a state of complete awareness, we can remain observant of our thoughts and feelings with acceptance and non-judgment because we have a heightened awareness of what is occurring in our minds.”
― Ora Nadrich, Mindfulness and Mysticism: Connecting Present Moment Awareness with Higher States of Consciousness

“Learn to discern.”
― Wayne Gerard Trotman

“Of all people, it’s Hollis.
He has a lot of balls.
I know. I’ve seen them when he’s shifted naked. Damn. I don’t blame Shayla at all for being attracted to the shifter.”
― Yve Vale, Hexed