Byron Katie Quotes

150 Sourced Quotes

Spare yourself from seeking love, approval, or appreciation-from anyone. And watch what happens in reality, just for fun.

Byron Katie
Arguing with reality is like trying to teach a cat to bark—hopeless.

Byron Katie
I came to see that there was nothing to forgive, that I was the one who caused my own problems.

Byron Katie
We never make a decision. When the time is right, the decision makes itself.

Byron Katie
When you think that someone or something other than yourself needs to change, you're mentally out of your business.

Byron Katie
Fear has only two causes: the thought of losing what you have or the thought of not getting what you want.

Byron Katie
How do I know that I don't need what I want? I don't have it.

Byron Katie
When I argue with reality, I lose—but only 100% of the time.

Byron Katie
There is nothing that isn't true if you believe it; and nothing is true, believe it or not.

Byron Katie
Forgiveness is realizing that what you thought happened, didn't.

Byron Katie
Reality is always kinder than the story we tell about it.

Byron Katie
I'm a lover of what is, not because I'm a spiritual person, but because it hurts when I argue with reality.

Byron Katie
Do you know anyone who hasn't changed his mind? This door was a tree, then it will be firewood for someone, then it will return to air and earth. We're all like that, constantly changing. It's simply honest to report that you've changed your mind when you have. When you're afraid of what people will think if you speak honestly, that's where you become confused.

Byron Katie
I could find only three kinds of business in the world—mine, yours, and God's. Whose business are you in?

Byron Katie
You either believe what you think or you question it. There's no other choice.

Byron Katie
You might believe that it's only for their own good, but how does it feel when you try to manipulate the people you love? Are you teaching them that your love is conditional? Maybe through inquiry we can find another way.

Byron Katie
If I had a prayer, it would be this: God spare me from the desire for love, approval, and appreciation. Amen.

Byron Katie
Peace doesn't require two people; it requires only one. It has to be you. The problem begins and ends there.

Byron Katie
The only time we suffer is when we believe a thought that argues with what is. When the mind is perfectly clear, what is is what we want.

Byron Katie
It makes sense that no one else can cause you pain. That's your job.

Byron Katie
Here's how a child listens: you tell him something, and he puts his own interpretation on what you said. That's what he hears. No one has ever heard you.

Byron Katie
Inquiry appears to be a process of thinking, but actually it's a way to undo thinking. Thoughts lose their power over us when we realize that they simply appear in the mind. They're not personal. Through The Work, instead of escaping or suppressing our
thoughts, we learn to meet them with unconditional love and understanding.

Byron Katie
Stories are the untested, uninvestigated theories that tell us what all these things mean. We don't even realize that they're just theories.

Byron Katie
There is no peace in the world until you find peace within yourself in this moment.

Byron Katie
We don't attach to things; we attach to our stories about them.

Byron Katie
When you stay present with your children, that's where abundance is. And when you stay out of their business, that's where everything you deserve in life is. When you're in presence, there's no story, and you are abundance. And you come to trust that space so often that you just eventually hang out as that, because there is nothing that can move you out of it, not even a perceived child or a perceived anything.

Byron Katie
When you say or do anything to please, get, keep, influence, or control anyone or anything, fear is the cause and pain is the result.

Byron Katie
Once we begin to question our thoughts, our partners-alive, dead or divorced-are always our greatest teachers. There's no mistake about the person you're with; he or she is the perfect teacher for you, whether or not the relationship works out, and once you enter inquiry, you come to see that clearly.

Byron Katie
It's difficult to seek other people's love. It's deadly. In seeking it you lose what is genuine. This is the prison we create for ourselves as we seek what we already have.

Byron Katie
I've heard people say that they cling to their painful thoughts because they're afraid that without them they wouldn't be activists for peace. "If I feel peaceful," they say, "why would I bother taking action at all?"

Byron Katie