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48 Insightful Quotes By Alan Watts

Famous As: English Writer Who Interpreted and Popularised Japanese, Chinese and Hindu Philosophy for Western Audience
Born On: January 6, 1915
Died On: November 16, 1973
Born In: Chislehurst, Kent, England
Founder / Co Founder: The Alan Watts Electronic University
Died At Age: 58
Alan Watts was a sagacious British philosopher, speaker, and writer. He is best remembered as decipherer and communicator of Eastern philosophy for the Western audience. In 1938, he pursued Zen training. He received his master’s degree in theology from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary. In 1945, he became an Episcopal priest, but left the ministry after 5 years and joined the faculty of ‘American Academy of Asian Studies’ in California. He has expressed his thoughts, opinions, and views on subjects important to Eastern and Western religion in more than 25 articles and books. In 1957, he introduced the then youth culture to ‘The Way of Zen’ that became the first top-selling book on Buddhism. We have rounded some inspiring, and thought-provoking quotes and sayings by Alan Watts, which have been curated from his recorded talks, lectures, writings, books, thoughts, speeches, works, and life. Zoom through the motivating quotes and thoughts by Alan Watts.
Wars based on principle are far more destructive... the attacker will not destroy that which he is after.

Wars based on principle are far more destructive... the attacker will not destroy that which he is after.

Alan Watts
Some believe all that parents, tutors, and kindred believe. They take their principles by inheritance, and defend them as they would their estates, because they are born heirs to them.

Some believe all that parents, tutors, and kindred believe. They take their principles by inheritance, and defend them as they would their estates, because they are born heirs to them.

Alan Watts
Religion is not a department of life; it is something that enters into the whole of it.

Religion is not a department of life; it is something that enters into the whole of it.

Alan Watts
Faith is a state of openness or trust.

Faith is a state of openness or trust.

Alan Watts
If you study the writings of the mystics, you will always find things in them that appear to be paradoxes, as in Zen, particularly.

If you study the writings of the mystics, you will always find things in them that appear to be paradoxes, as in Zen, particularly.

Alan Watts
The style of God venerated in the church, mosque, or synagogue seems completely different from the style of the natural universe.

The style of God venerated in the church, mosque, or synagogue seems completely different from the style of the natural universe.

Alan Watts
The difficulty for most of us in the modern world is that the old-fashioned idea of God has become incredible or implausible.

The difficulty for most of us in the modern world is that the old-fashioned idea of God has become incredible or implausible.

Alan Watts
Buddhism has in it no idea of there being a moral law laid down by somekind of cosmic lawgiver.

Buddhism has in it no idea of there being a moral law laid down by somekind of cosmic lawgiver.

Alan Watts
And although our bodies are bounded with skin, and we can differentiate between outside and inside, they cannot exist except in a certain kind of natural environment.

And although our bodies are bounded with skin, and we can differentiate between outside and inside, they cannot exist except in a certain kind of natural environment.

Alan Watts
But at any rate, the point is that God is what nobody admits to being, and everybody really is.

But at any rate, the point is that God is what nobody admits to being, and everybody really is.

Alan Watts
And the attitude of faith is the very opposite of clinging to belief, of holding on.

And the attitude of faith is the very opposite of clinging to belief, of holding on.

Alan Watts
Technology is destructive only in the hands of people who do not realize that they are one and the same process as the universe.

Technology is destructive only in the hands of people who do not realize that they are one and the same process as the universe.

Alan Watts
The reason we want to go on and on is because we live in an impoverished present.

The reason we want to go on and on is because we live in an impoverished present.

Alan Watts
But to me nothing - the negative, the empty - is exceedingly powerful.

But to me nothing - the negative, the empty - is exceedingly powerful.

Alan Watts
The moralist is the person who tells people that they ought to be unselfish, when they still feel like egos, and his efforts are always and invariably futile.

The moralist is the person who tells people that they ought to be unselfish, when they still feel like egos, and his efforts are always and invariably futile.

Alan Watts
But we try to pretend, you see, that the external world exists altogether independently of us.

But we try to pretend, you see, that the external world exists altogether independently of us.

Alan Watts
The myths underlying our culture and underlying our common sense have not taught us to feel identical with the universe, but only parts of it, only in it, only confronting it - aliens.

The myths underlying our culture and underlying our common sense have not taught us to feel identical with the universe, but only parts of it, only in it, only confronting it - aliens.

Alan Watts
We identify in our exerience a differentiation between what we do and what happens to us.

We identify in our exerience a differentiation between what we do and what happens to us.

Alan Watts
But the attitude of faith is to let go, and become open to truth, whatever it might turn out to be.

But the attitude of faith is to let go, and become open to truth, whatever it might turn out to be.

Alan Watts
Saints need sinners.

Saints need sinners.

Alan Watts
A myth is an image in terms of which we try to make sense of the world.

A myth is an image in terms of which we try to make sense of the world.

Alan Watts
In other words, a person who is fanatic in matters of religion, and clings to certain ideas about the nature of God and the universe, becomes a person who has no faith at all.

In other words, a person who is fanatic in matters of religion, and clings to certain ideas about the nature of God and the universe, becomes a person who has no faith at all.

Alan Watts
So what is discord at one level of your being is harmony at another level.

So what is discord at one level of your being is harmony at another level.

Alan Watts
So the bodhisattva saves all beings, not by preaching sermons to them, but by showing them that they are delivered, they are liberated, by the act of not being able to stop changing.

So the bodhisattva saves all beings, not by preaching sermons to them, but by showing them that they are delivered, they are liberated, by the act of not being able to stop changing.

Alan Watts
Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.

Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.

Alan Watts
Omnipotence is not knowing how everything is done; it's just doing it.

Omnipotence is not knowing how everything is done; it's just doing it.

Alan Watts
In known history, nobody has had such capacity for altering the universe than the people of the United States of America. And nobody has gone about it in such an aggressive way.

In known history, nobody has had such capacity for altering the universe than the people of the United States of America. And nobody has gone about it in such an aggressive way.

Alan Watts
The religious idea of God cannot do full duty for the metaphysical infinity.

The religious idea of God cannot do full duty for the metaphysical infinity.

Alan Watts
What the devil is the point of surviving, going on living, when it's a drag? But you see, that's what people do.

What the devil is the point of surviving, going on living, when it's a drag? But you see, that's what people do.

Alan Watts
You are that vast thing that you see far, far off with great telescopes.

You are that vast thing that you see far, far off with great telescopes.

Alan Watts