See a gallery of 12 quotes on teachers.
- Everyone we meet in life is on a mission to teach us something new. Surprise!
— Joan Chittister in Gospel Days
- Feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we're holding back. They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel we'd rather collapse and back away. They're like messengers that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where we're stuck. This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it's with us wherever we are.
— Pema Chödrön in When Things Fall Apart
- A spiritual notebook filled with ideas and quotations from the holy men and women who have walked before us — or who walk alongside of us — can help remind us of what's important and what we are doing and why.
— Lama Surya Das in Awakening to the Sacred
- Our children, from infancy to adulthood and beyond, can be seen as perpetually challenging live-in teachers, who provide us with ceaseless opportunities to do the inner work of understanding who we are and who they are so that we can best stay in touch with what is truly important and give them what they most need in order to grow and flourish.
— Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn in Everyday Blessings
- The purest and truest spiritual life begins with accepting everything that comes to you as a gift and teaching.... The most difficult times sometimes bring the most important teachings. Each lesson is another step toward learning how to accept what comes to us as material to be transformed into the grace of spiritual life.
— Bradford Keeney in Everyday Soul
- The true work of a mystical teacher is not to teach but to tune, to tune the pupil so that he may become the instrument of God. For the mystical teacher is not the player of the instrument; he is the tuner. When he has tuned it, he gives it into the hands of the Player whose instrument it is to play.
— Hazrat Inayat Khan quoted in The Heart of Sufism edited by H. J. Witteveen
- King Yu of China bowed to anyone who pointed out his faults. He thanked them very deeply, because without their insight he would have had to live with the heavy burden of his limitations.
— Jae Woong Kim quoted in Polishing the Diamond, Enlightening the Mind edited by Jae Woong Kim and Yoon Sang Han
- In every moment the universe is whispering to you. There are messages for you carried on the winds. There is wisdom for you in the morning songs of the birds, outside your window and in the soft murmurs of an ebbing sea. Even ordinary, everyday events in your life carry communications from the realm of spirit.
— Denise Linn in The Secret Language of Signs
- From ancient times to the present, those who follow Tao take care to seek out the best teachers: by learning from the best, they enhance their chances of becoming the best.
— Deng Ming-Dao in Everyday Tao
- We are all medicine for one another. The Sauk say, "Teachers not only teach, they also learn."
— Evan T. Pritchard in No Word for Time
- The spiritual master arrives and bows down to the
beginning student,
Try to live to see this!
— Kabir quoted in Praying Dangerously by Regina Sara Ryan
- Every meeting in our lives happens for a higher purpose; every meeting is a chance for evolution. We should always ask ourselves how we can grow from our associations and friendships. This makes our connections and partnerships far more meaningful and empowering.
— James Wanless in Little Stone
- In all ten directions of the universe,
there is only one truth.
When we see clearly, the great teachings are the same.
What can ever be lost? What can be attained?
If we attain something, it was there from the beginning of time.
If we lose something, it is hiding somewhere near us.
— Ryokan quoted in The New American Spirituality by Elizabeth Lesser
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