Yoga quotes

Anyone who practices can obtain success in yoga but not one who is lazy. Constant practice alone is the secret of success. (Hatha Yoga Pradipika)

The body is your temple. Keep it pure and clean for the soul to reside in. (B.K.S Iyengar)

Undisturbed calmness of mind is attained by cultivating friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and indifference toward the wicked. (The yoga sutras of Patanjali)

When the breath wanders the mind also is unsteady. But when the breath is calmed the mind too will be still, and the yogi achieves long life. Therefore, one should learn to control the breath. (Hatha Yoga Pradipika)

Yoga exists in the world because everything is linked (Desikashar)

Do your practice and all is coming (Sri K Patthabi Jois)

Before you've practiced, the theory is useless. After you've practiced, the theory is obvious. (David Williams, Ashtanga teacher)

This calm steadiness of the senses is called yoga. Then one should become watchful, becomes yoga comes and go. (Katha Upanishad)

Yoga is not about touching your toes, it’s about what you learn on the way down. (Judith Lasate)

Without pranayama, asana produces only health. Without asana, pranayama's benefits cannot be sustained and integrated into the body. Without asana and pranayama, meditation is a toothless tiger... (Gregor Maehle)

Other inspirational quotes

Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it
Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself (Chief indian Seatle)

The blind cannot see and the deaf cannot hear. Does this mean that what they cannot see or hear does not exist. (Yogarahasya)

When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills (Chinese proverb)

If one seeks to maintain the clarity of a spiritual life,
it is best to associate with those who possess
a greater or equal sense of peace and harmony than one's self.
If one can not find such a person,
then it is better to travel alone.
There is no real companionship with those who are confused
in the manifestations of the Infinite
other than that of being a teacher to them.
(Gautama the Buddha)

Knowing others is intelligence. Knowing yourself is true wisdom (Lao Tse)

When one experiences truth, the madness of finding fault with others disappears. (Goenka)

God dwells in the heart of all being, Arjuna, thy God dwells in thy heart. And his power of wonder moves all things - puppets in a play of shadows - whirling them onwards on the stream of times. (The Bhagavad Gita)

The mind is everything; what you think, you become. (Buddha)

The bird of wisdom needs two wings to fly. They are awareness and equanimity. (Goenka)

You must be the change that you wish to see in the world (Ghandi)

They must change often, who would be constant in happiness (Confucius)

Change is not something that we should fear.
Rather, it is something that we should welcome.
For without change, nothing in this world would ever grow or blossom,
and no one in this world would ever move forward to become the person they’re meant to be. (anon.)

Peace will not come out of a clash of arms but out of justice lived and done by unarmed nations in the face of odds (Mahatma Ghandi)

Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now. (Goethe)

If not now, when? (The Talmud)

No one is wise by birth, for wisdom results from one own's efforts (Krishnamacharya)

Tears, sorrow, and disappointment are bitter, but wisdom is the comforter in all psychic suffering. Indeed, bitterness and wisdom form a pair of alternatives: where there is bitterness wisdom is lacking, and where wisdom is there can be no bitterness. (Carl Gustav Jung)

Food brings benefit for some hours, clothes for some months but wisdom lasts as long as the mind itself. It is the fondation of a better society. (anonymous Tibetan source)

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?"
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God; your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking to that other people don't feel insecure around you.
(Marianne Williamson)

In this universe, nothing happens without a cause. Once this concept is clear, a person can achieve anything. (Yogarahasya)

Who sees all being in his own self, and his own self in all beings, loses all fear (Isa Upanishad)

Our deepest fears are like dragons guarding our deepest treasure. (Rainier Maria Rilke)

Expect nothing and the little you get will feel like millions (Kumar Dindial)

Perseverance furthers (The I-Ching or Chinese book of changes)

Strong men know not despair Arjuna, for this wins them neither heaven nor earth (The Bagavad Gita)

He who does not seek God is unworthy of being called a man (Krishnamacharya)

Nothing really worth having comes quickly and easily;
If it did, I doubt that we would ever grow. (Eknath Easwaran)

There are ways to learn what's inside you. We have all cried for ourselves a little, that's natural, but don't let it go on for too long. That's a child's way. (Herold Small War, Yuwipi man)

One doesn’t become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The latter procedure, however, is disagreeable, and therefore not popular. (Carl Gustav Jung)

Seeing into darkness is clarity
Knowing how to yield is strength. (Lao Tse)

In a perfect world we can only attain complacency
Only in an imperfect world can we attain enlightement
(Source unknown)

Follow the leader who seeks no followers
Follow the advice of those who offer none.
(Source unknown)

Money is a good servant, but a bad master
(Anon)

Wisdom is not a place, it's a path
(Anon)

Praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and sorrow come and go like the wind. To be happy, rest like a giant tree, in the midst of them all. (The Buddha)

Eleanor Roosevelt wrote:
Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart
To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart
If someone betrays you once, it is his fault; if he betrays you twice, it is your fault.
Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.
Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself.

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift. (Albert Einstein)

A life whish is whole, noble and full of clarity is an imperative for survival. It is not a utopia nor a luxury, but a necessity (Krishnamurti quoted by Satish Kumar)

Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you represents determinism; the way you play is your own will. (Jawaharlal Nehru)

Nowhere has the creator designed any gem other than women. For, this gem gives delight to men, when it is heard of, seen, touched or even remembered; for its sake are done meritorious deeds, and wealth amassed; and from that alone do men derive worldly pleasures and offspring. Such women are indeed the Goddesses of fortune living in mortal abodes. Hence they ought to be honoured always with respect and wealth. Vaharamida, a poet and astrologer from 2000 years ago

It is true that there is light at the end of every tunnel.
But there may not be any light in the end if you blindly believe that you are in a tunnel (Anon)

Better than the one who knows what is right is the one who loves what is right. (Confucius)

In your actions and in your conversation do no idle thing. Speak not idle talk neither gossip...and do not give way to evil behaviour. (Five Nations )

Consort only with the good,
come together with the good.
To learn the teaching of the good
gives wisdom like nothing else can.
(Samyutta Nikaya I, 17 )

Why not ?