Alan Watts Quotes

"But the disciplines—
say, of yoga in Hinduism,
or of the various forms of Buddhist meditation— do not require you to believe anything.
And they have no commandments in them........
They are 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡 techniques for changing consciousness.
-Alan Watts, talk "RELEVANCE OF ORIENTAL PHILOSOPHY"

"In this room there’s a very definite distinction between up and down:
we wouldn’t dream of trying to sit on the ceiling.
We’d all fall off.
But this room is also in interstellar space, where there is no difference between up and down."

-Alan Watts, from a lecture titled "HIDDEN BELIEF SYSTEMS"

"You must understand that in meditation we are concerned only with what is: with reality, nothing else.
The past is a memory, the future an expectation.
Neither past nor future actually exist.
There is simply eternal now."

-Alan Watts, from a lecture titled
"ART OF MEDITATION"
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"If you talk all the time, you will never hear what anybody else has to say, and therefore, all you'll have to talk about is your own conversation.
The same is true for people who think all the time."

-Alan Watts, a lecture titled "Zen bones", at 17:31

"I think of my instincts as myself"
~𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒏 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒔

Today marks 51 years since Alan Watts’ passing on November 16, 1973.
His wisdom continues to inspire and transform countless lives!
Did Alan helped You?

"For if we open our eyes and see clearly, it becomes obvious that there is no other time than this instant."

-𝓐𝓵𝓪𝓷 𝓦𝓪𝓽𝓽𝓼

"The Reason you want to be better is the Reason why you Aren’t."

-𝓐𝓵𝓪𝓷 𝓦𝓪𝓽𝓽𝓼

"If you do eat any living creature, at least you can show your respect by cooking it well.

As Lin Yutang said:

“A fish that has died for you and has not been well cooked has died in vain.”

-Alan Watts, from a lecture titled "PURSUIT OF PLEASURE"

"𝖶𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗄 𝗐𝖾 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝖽𝗂𝗏𝗂𝖽𝖾𝖽 𝖿𝗋𝗈𝗆 𝗅𝗂𝖿𝖾 𝖺𝗇𝖽, 𝗍𝗈 𝖻𝖾 𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗉𝗒, 𝗆𝗎𝗌𝗍 𝗎𝗇𝗂𝗍𝖾 𝗈𝗎𝗋𝗌𝖾𝗅𝗏𝖾𝗌 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝗂𝗍.
𝖡𝗎𝗍 𝗐𝖾 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝖺𝗅𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝗒 𝗎𝗇𝗂𝗍𝖾𝖽, 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖺𝗅𝗅 𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝖽𝗈𝗂𝗇𝗀𝗌 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝗂𝗍𝗌 𝖽𝗈𝗂𝗇𝗀𝗌.
𝖫𝗂𝖿𝖾 𝗅𝗂𝗏𝖾𝗌 𝗎𝗌; 𝗐𝖾 𝖽𝗈 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝗅𝗂𝗏𝖾 𝗅𝗂𝖿𝖾."

~𝖠𝗅𝖺𝗇 𝖶𝖺𝗍𝗍𝗌, 𝖿𝗋𝗈𝗆 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖻𝗈𝗈𝗄 "𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝖬𝖾𝖺𝗇𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗈𝖿 𝖧𝖺𝗉𝗉𝗂𝗇𝖾𝗌𝗌"

"It’s like music. When you play music it simply disappears, there’s nothing left.
And for that very reason it is one of the highest and most spiritual of the arts:
because it is the most transient."

-Alan Watts,
"THE VEIL OF THOUGHTS" 1965, at 00:15:38(2/2)

"The poet says, “The hills are shadows, and they flow from form to form, and nothing stands.”
Because the physical world is diaphanous."(1/2)

An Alan's quote a day keeps anxiety away! 🌟
What’s your favorite Alan Watts quote that lifts your spirit?

And they would say, “Matchbooklet.” And he’d say “No, no, no! ‘Matchbooklet’ is a noise. Is this a noise? What is it?” And so, to answer this, he’d throw it at them. That’s what it is."
-Alan Watts[3]

"We used to have a professor at Northwestern who would produce a matchbooklet in front of his class and would say to them: “What is it?” [2]

"In the words of the famous count, Korzybski: “Whatever you say something is, it isn’t.”[1]

“In the sleep of “ignore-ance,” of narrowed attention which does not see things whole, our gaze is captured by the convenient figure rather than by its ground, or counterfigure."
~𝘼𝙡𝙖𝙣 𝙒𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙨, 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 'Psychotherapy East&West', p.162

"Imagine going through a gate in a wall.
Here is this great barrier.
You walk through it, you turn around, and the wall and the gate have both disappeared.
And you see you were always there."
-Alan Watts, from a lecture titled "𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑱𝑶𝑲𝑬𝑹," at 00:56:25

"Above all, sexual love is the most intense and dramatic of the common ways in which a human being comes into union and conscious relationship with something outside himself."

-Alan Watts, from the book "Nature, Man and Woman," page 10