• "The great lesson from the true mystics is that the sacred is in the ordinary, that it is found in one's daily life, in one's neighbors, friends, and family."
    — Abraham Maslow
  • "Nothing here below is profane for those who know how to see. On the contrary, everything is sacred."
    — Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in The Divine Milieu
  • "The holiest, most ordinary, and most necessary practice in the spiritual life is that of the presence of God. It is to take delight in and become accustomed to his divine company, speaking humbly and conversing with him all the time, at every moment."
    — Brother Lawrence in The Recollected Heart by Philip Zaleski
  • "The challenge of the saints of the twenty-first century is to begin again to comprehend the sacred in the ten thousand things in our world; to reverence what we have come to view as ordinary and devoid of spirit."
    — Edward Hays in Secular Sanctity
  • "Here is an unspeakable secret: Paradise is all around us and we do not understand."
    — Thomas Merton in Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
  • "Yet mostly we remain unconscious of the fact that even in this simplest fulfilling of our daily needs we are partaking of the holiest mysteries of the sacred within the commonplace of our own kitchen. Great is to be found in little."
    — Alice O. Howell in The Dove in the Stone
  • "In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love."
    — Mother Teresa in Lighting a Candle by Molly Young Brown
  • "Attending to the small things in front of us becomes a way of self-renewal and self-refreshment."
    — Sharon Salzberg in Lovingkindness
  • "Each of us possesses an exquisite, extraordinary gift: the opportunity to give expression to Divinity on earth through our everyday lives. When we choose to honor this priceless gift, we participate in the re-creation of the world."
    — Sarah Ban Breathnach in Simple Abundance
  • "Your daily life is your temple and your religion. Whenever you enter into it take with you your all."
    — Kahil Gibran in If the Buddha Dated by Charlotte Sophia Kasl
  • "A spirituality of everyday life is everything we do, all day long, that builds up the commonwealth of God."
    — Anne Rowthorn in Your Daily Life Is Your Temple
  • "There is no enlightenment outside of daily life."
    — Thich Nhat Hanh in Finding Water by Julie Cameron
  • "We all have the potential to come alive through the ordinary, rather than waiting for something extraordinary to awaken our energy and passion."
    — Edward Espe Brown in Sweeping Changes by Gary Thorpe
  • "Hanging laundry on the line offers you the chance to fly prayer flags disguised as bath towels and underwear."
    — Barbara Taylor Brown in An Altar in the World
  • "For though we may not live a holy life, we live in a world alive with holy moments. We need only take the time to bring these moments into the light."
    — Kent Nerburn in Small Graces
  • "Describe a small, ordinary activity that you've already done today (brushing your teeth, buckling your seat belt, etc.) Imagine that this event appears in your spiritual memoir. Reflect: What does this activity reveal about you? What mystery does it contain? No subject lacks the potential to reveal the spiritual."
    — Elizabeth J. Andrew in Writing the Sacred Journey