Eckhart Tolle is a German-born author and public speaker. He has written several books, including “The Power of Now”, which was published in 1997. Here are some Eckhart Tolle Quotes
Eckhart Tolle is the author of “The Power of Now” and other spiritual books that have been translated into over 30 languages. His teachings are based on his belief that people’s pain stems from their own thoughts about the past or worries about the future, rather than what is happening in the present moment.
Tolle argues that people should live fully in each moment to avoid pain or suffering. He also talks about how people can find happiness by releasing resistance to what they cannot change, letting go of any victim mentality, and living with an attitude of acceptance towards life’s uncertainties.
He suffered from depression, which led him to seek out answers on his own. Eckhart Tolle found himself through various eastern philosophies and became an ordained member of the Unity Church.
Top 10 Eckhart Tolle Quotes
“Sometimes surrender means giving up trying to understand and becoming comfortable with not knowing.”
“When you always want the next thing, every human being becomes a means to an end.”
“The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.”
“A huge number of people are going through the process of awakening, some in the early stages, some in later stages, and it’s wonderful to see.”
“When you become comfortable with uncertainty, infinite possibilities open up in your life.”
“Important thing to realize is the world is not here to make me happy. When you don’t demand that the situation, or place, or person should make you happy, then actually the situation, place, or person is quite satisfying.”
“Suffering is necessary until you realize it is unnecessary.”
“If people believe the world is here to satisfy them, whenever they begin to encounter their limitations, they become unhappy.”
“Be aware of your breathing. Notice how this takes attention away from your thinking and creates space.”
“The most important healing – realizing who you are. The healing on the outer level is fine, but it’s not the essence of healing.”
“Look at a tree, a flower, a plant. Let your awareness rest upon it. How still they are, how deeply rooted in Being. Allow nature to teach you stillness.”
“When you see around you the human form suffering or dissolving, you have empathy on the human level. You share the suffering because it has to do with the fleetingness of form. But if that is the only level that operates in you, you haven’t gone beyond suffering.”
“You cannot find yourself by going into the past. You can find yourself by coming into the present.”
“You are here to enable the divine purpose of the Universe to unfold. That is how important you are!”
“Some people are called upon to do great things externally in this world by creating some new structure that reflects their awakening consciousness. Other people are not called to go out into the world and create great big things externally. Their purpose is to let consciousness flow into whatever they do – to do everything in a sacred manner.”
“All you really need to do is accept this moment fully. You are then at ease in the here and now and at ease with yourself.”
“To do everything in a sacred manner means to do everything fully in the state of presence.”
“Challenges are something that can only be tackled in the present moment and require action.”
“When you complain, you make yourself a victim. Leave the situation, change the situation or accept it, all else is madness.”
“Worry means the mind is controlling you. Worry is always pointless. A solution never comes out of worry.”
“There is a fine balance between honoring the past and losing yourself in it. For example, you can acknowledge and learn from mistakes you made, and then move on and refocus on the now. It is called forgiving yourself.”
“If your relationship to the present moment is not right – nothing can ever be right in the future – because when the future comes – it’s the present moment.”
“It is important to realize that a large percentage of what we hear or see on the news focuses on those places where there is violent conflict…It gives us a slightly or very distorted view of what is going on because there are many other parts of the planet where there is no violent conflict, but that is not on the news.”
“The consciousness of the animal begins to change when it interacts with a human who’s gone beyond thinking. It’s not only the animals assisting us; we are also assisting the animals.”
“You can marry the Buddha, and after a few months, you will find on the human form the Buddha, too, has his limitations. There may be things that the mind reacts to and irritates you about the Buddha. “Why is he sitting over there in meditation?”
“The ultimate truth of who you are is not I am this or I am that, but I Am.”
“Ultimately what you do is secondary. But how you do it is primary.”
“The past has no power over the present moment.”
“You are not ‘in the now;’ you are the now. That is your essential identity-the only thing that never changes. Life is always now. Now is consciousness. And consciousness is who you are. That’s the equation.”
“We are destined not to go back to the level of animals that we’ve come from but to return to being by going beyond thinking.”
“Give up waiting as a state of mind. When you catch yourself slipping into waiting…snap out of it. Come into the present moment. Just be and enjoy being.”
“The animals are at a level prior to thinking. They haven’t lost themselves in thought. We rise above thinking and then we meet them again, where we’re both in no thought. There’s a deep connection.”
“Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge.”
“As soon as you honor the present moment, all unhappiness and struggle dissolve, and life begins to flow with joy and ease. When you act out the present-moment awareness, whatever you do becomes imbued with a sense of quality, care, and love – even the most simple action.”
“In today’s rush we all think too much, seek too much, want too much and forget about the joy of just Being.”
“There are many things that are still uncertain and that probably nobody knows, because so many factors determine what form the transformation of consciousness on our planet takes.”
Eckhart tolle quotes on ego
“Humanity is reaching the end of the evolutionary stage of ego. The closer we get to the end, the more dysfunctional humanity becomes.”
“Being at ease with not knowing is crucial for answers to come to you.”
“The egoic madness, or dysfunction, becomes enormously amplified by the science and technology we all have developed.”
“Boredom, anger, sadness, or fear are not ‘yours,’ not personal. They are conditions of the human mind. They come and go. Nothing that comes and goes is you.”
“Accept the present moment and find the perfection that is deeper than any form and untouched by time.”
“We would destroy ourselves and the planet if no change happens, because of the amplification of the egoic state through science and technology.”
“Humanity had to go through egoic madness and then outgrow it.”
“Ego is an immature stage of development for humans, and that’s what it will be recognized as when the consciousness changes on the planet. Children will develop an ego and quickly outgrow it. That’s very different from developing an ego and being stuck with it for the rest of your life.”
“The word enlightenment conjures up the idea of some superhuman accomplishment, and the ego likes to keep it that way, but it is simply your natural state of felt oneness with Being.”
“If we don’t change, if the egoic consciousness continues, I don’t believe that humanity as a species can survive, or at least human civilization can survive, for another hundred years.”
Eckhart Tolle quotes on life
“Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret of life is to “die before you die” — and find that there is no death.”
“It is quite possible even that the planet would no longer be able to sustain human life. Probably, the planet eventually would regenerate and produce some other life form. Consciousness would flow into some other life form and express itself through that, whatever that would be.”
“As far as inner transformation is concerned, there is nothing you can do about it. You cannot transform yourself, and you certainly cannot transform your partner or anybody else. All you can do is create a space for transformation to happen, for grace and love to enter.”
“I believe from what I can see there is a good chance the shift will happen in humanity before it is too late.”
“Stop looking outside for scraps of pleasure or fulfillment, for validation, security, or love – you have a treasure within that is infinitely greater than anything the world can offer.”
“The more suffering you create, the more suffering comes to you.”
“You are not separate from the whole. You are one with the sun, the earth, the air. You don’t have a life. You are life.”
“The power for creating a better future is contained in the present moment: You create a good future by creating a good present.”
“A group needs enemies, because without enemies its identity cannot continue to be defined.”
“The present moment is all you ever have.”
“True intelligence operates silently. Stillness is where creativity and solutions to problems are found.”
“The foundation of greatness is honoring the small things of the present moment, instead of pursuing the idea of greatness.”
“People always form images of who others are, and they can be inflated images. People may not realize that the enormous energy and spiritual power that comes through a teacher, especially in a teaching situation, has nothing to do with that person.”
“If small things have the power to disturb you, then who you think you are is exactly that: small.”
“I sometimes say to people, “I am a window frame – no more. The window frame is not that important. What is important is the light that comes through the window.”
“Whatever you fight, you strengthen, and what you resist, persists.”
“Awareness is the greatest agent for change.”
“When you are not making the present moment into a means to an end, you also are not making every human being you meet – in your business and even at home, in your family – into a means to an end.”
“When you live as a friend of the now, many changes come into your life.”
“To end the misery that has afflicted the human condition for thousands of years, you have to start with yourself and take responsibility for you inner state at any given moment. That means now”
“You can be very much aware that when you are stressed, it always is a sign you have lost the present moment. So, you can choose to re-enter the present moment.”
“Even a stone, and more easily a flower or a bird, could show you the way back to God, to the Source, to yourself. When you look at it or hold it & let it be without imposing a word of mental label on it, a sense of awe, of wonder, arises within you. Its essence silently communicates itself to you and reflects your own essence back to you.”
“Stress is a form of suffering, but it is accepted as normal. And it is normal in our world.”
“Most humans are never fully present in the now, because unconsciously they believe that the next moment must be more important than this one. But then you miss your whole life, which is never not now.”
“Stress is extremely harmful to the body. Even mainstream medicine is recognizing how many diseases stress causes.”
“If you are not taking responsibility for your state of consciousness, you are not taking responsibility for life.”
“Stress is a form of suffering. Look at your body and see what stress does to the body and its functions – what it does to the heart, the circulation, the immune system, the digestive function, the liver.”
“Any action that arises out of stress is of low quality, and it contributes to human suffering. You are making yourself and others suffer.”
“Wisdom comes with the ability to be still. Just look and listen. No more is needed.”
“In fact, people think you have to be stressed to be successful. They think if you are not stressed, something is wrong with you.”
“The whole world accepts that being stressed is the normal way to live.”
“The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but thought about it. Be aware of the thoughts you are thinking. Separate them from the situation, which is always neutral. It is as it is.”
“When great loss happens – deaths close to you or your own approaching death – this is an opportunity for stepping completely out of identification with form and realizing the essence of who you are, or that the essence of anyone who is suffering or dying is beyond death.”
“Most people treat the present moment as if it were an obstacle that they need to overcome. Since the present moment is life itself, it is an insane way to live.”
“Sometimes people need to experience great loss to really be driven deeper.”
“Pain is inevitable as long as you are identified with your mind.”
“When forms begin to crumble there is always an opportunity for great deepening. By deepening I mean the arising of who you are beyond form.”
“You can only lose something that you have, but you cannot lose something that you are.”
“The pollution of the planet is only an outward reflection of an inner psychic pollution: millions of unconscious individuals not taking responsibility for their inner space.”
“The animals certainly like to be close to humans, especially as humans go through the shift in consciousness.”
“Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at the moment.”
“You can be effective in this world without stress.”
“Once you have identified with some form of negativity, you do not want to let it go, and on a deeply unconscious level, you do not want positive change. It would threaten your identity as a depressed, angry or hard-done by person. You will then ignore, deny or sabotage the positive in your life. This is a common phenomenon. It is also insane.”
“It is not necessary to do things in a state of anxiety or anguish. That is not the way to be aligned with life.”
“Your inner purpose is to awaken. It is as simple as that. You share that purpose with every other person on the planet – because it is the purpose of humanity.”
“Work to recognize the primary importance of the present moment.”
“Now is all you ever have. There never is anything else. So, you might as well make the now your friend. Otherwise, you are out of alignment with life itself.”
“Accepting means you allow yourself to feel whatever it is you are feeling at that moment. It is part of the isness of the Now. You can’t argue with what is. Well, you can, but if you do, you suffer.”
“Pleasure is always derived from something outside you, whereas joy arises from within.”
“Honoring the moment is honoring every human being you meet. The only place where you can meet them is in the moment.”
“When you are in the present moment, you break the continuity of your story, of past and future. Then true intelligence arises, and also love.”
“The other person’s presence ultimately is the same as your presence, because it is in presence that there is true meeting.”
“Life is now. There was never a time when your life was not now, nor will there ever be.”
“To offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease, and lightness.”
“True creativity flows only from stillness. When stillness becomes conscious, the spiritual dimension enters your life and you begin to be guided by an intelligence far greater than the human mind.”
“Gratefulness for what is there is one of the most powerful tools for creating what is not yet there. What does gratefulness mean? It means you appreciate what is. You value, you give attention to, you honor whatever is here at this moment.”
“Go within. Use the inner body as a starting point for going deeper and taking your attention away from where it’s usually lodged, in the thinking mind.”
“Many people identify their sense of self with the problems they have, or think they have.”
“You are the Universe expressing itself as a human for a little while.”
“When you lose touch with yourself, you lose yourself in the world.”
“But there’s a shift happening in humanity, a shift in consciousness, happening now because it has to happen now.”
“The moment you realize you are not present, you are present.”
“A great deal of what people say, think, or do is actually motivate by fear, which of course is always linked with having your focus on the future and being out of touch with the Now. As there are no problems in the Now, there is no fear either.”
“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.”
“Pain can only feed on pain. Pain cannot feed on joy. It finds it quite indigestible.”
“The Truth is inseparable from who you are. Yes, you are the Truth. If you look for it elsewhere, you will be deceived every time.”
“All it takes is a simple choice, a simple decision: no matter what happens, I will create no more pain for myself. I will create no more problems.”
“All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.”
“As long as you are unable to access the power of the Now, every emotional pain that you experience leaves behind a residue of pain that lives on in you.”
“Life isn’t as serious as the mind makes it out to be.”
“You are the sky. The clouds are what happens, what comes and goes.”
“Neither failure nor success has the power to change your inner state of Being.”
“Acceptance looks like a passive state, but in reality it brings something entirely new into this world. That peace, a subtle energy vibration, is consciousness.”
“When you wash your hands, when you make a cup of coffee, when you’re waiting for the elevator – instead of indulging in thinking, these are all opportunities for being there as a still, alert presence.”
“I’m grateful for always this moment, the now, no matter what form it takes.”
“Discontent, blaming, complaining, self-pity cannot serve as a foundation for a good future, no matter how much effort you make.”
“It is through gratitude for the present moment that the spiritual dimension of life opens up.”
“When you are present, you can allow the mind to be as it is without getting entangled in it.”
“Thinking is a wonderful tool if it’s applied. Thinking, however, can not become the master. Thinking is a very bad master. If you’re dominated by thinking then your life becomes very restricted.”
“Love is the recognition of oneness in the world of duality.”
