G. I. Gurdjieff Quotes

53 Sourced Quotes

A man will renounce any pleasures you like but he will not give up his suffering.

G. I. Gurdjieff
Without struggle, no progress and no result. Every breaking of habit produces a change in the machine.

G. I. Gurdjieff
A man can keep silence in such a ways that no one will even notice it. The whole point is that we say a good deal too much. If we limited ourselves to what is actually necessary, this alone would be keeping the silence. And it is the same with everything else, with food, with pleasures, with sleep; with everything there is a limit to what is necessary. After this "sin" begins. This is something that must be grasped, a "sin" is something which is not necessary.

G. I. Gurdjieff
The sole means now for the saving of the beings of the planet Earth would be to implant again into their presences a new organ … of such properties that every one of these unfortunates during the process of existence should constantly sense and be cognizant of the inevitability of his own death as well as the death of everyone upon whom his eyes or attention rests. Only such a sensation and such a cognizance can now destroy the egoism completely crystallized in them.

G. I. Gurdjieff
Every one of those unfortunates during the process of existence should constantly sense and be cognizant of the inevitability of his own death as well as of the death of everyone upon whom his eyes or attention rests. Only such a sensation and such a cognizance can now destroy the egoism completely crystallized in them that has swallowed up the whole of their Essence, and also that tendency to hate others which flows from it.

G. I. Gurdjieff
The being of two people can differ from one another more than the being of a mineral and of an animal. This is exactly what people do not understand. And they do not understand that knowledge depends on being. Not only do they not understand this latter but they definitely do not wish to understand it.

G. I. Gurdjieff
It is very difficult to explain what takes place in me when I see or hear anything majestic which allows no doubt that it proceeds from the actualization of Our Maker Creator. Each time, my tears flow of themselves. I weep, that is to say, it weeps in me, not from grief, no, but as if from tenderness.

G. I. Gurdjieff
I ask you to believe nothing that you cannot verify for yourself.

G. I. Gurdjieff
I find it necessary on the first page of this book, quite ready for publication, to give the following advice:

Firstly: at least as you have already become mechanized to read all your contemporary books and newspapers.
Secondly: as if you were reading aloud to another person.
And only thirdly: try and fathom the gist of my writings.

G. I. Gurdjieff
It is impossible to recognize a wrong way without knowing the right way. This means that it is no use troubling oneself how to recognize a wrong way. One must think of how to find the right way.

G. I. Gurdjieff
Sincerity is the key which will open the door through which you will see your separate parts, and you will see something quite new. You must go on trying to be sincere. Each day you put on a mask, and you must take it off little by little.

G. I. Gurdjieff
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING ARE QUITE DIFFERENT. Only understanding can lead to being, whereas knowledge is but a passing presence in it.

G. I. Gurdjieff
Any prayer may be heard by the Higher Powers and a corresponding answer obtained only if it is uttered thrice:

Firstly—for the welfare or the peace of the souls of one’s parents.
Secondly—for the welfare of one’s neighbor.
And only thirdly—for oneself personally.

G. I. Gurdjieff
Man has the possibility of existence after death. But possibility is one thing and the realization of the possibility is quite a different thing.

G. I. Gurdjieff
Love of consciousness evokes the same in response
Love of feeling evokes the opposite
Love of body depends only on type and polarity.

G. I. Gurdjieff
Man has no permanent and unchangeable I. Every thought, every mood, every desire, every sensation, says "I".

G. I. Gurdjieff
Without self knowledge, without understanding the working and functions of his machine, man cannot be free, he cannot govern himself and he will always remain a slave.

G. I. Gurdjieff
When we speak of prayer or of the results of prayer we always imply only one kind of prayer — petition, or we think that petition can be united with all other kinds of prayers.… Most prayers have nothing in common with petitions. I speak of ancient prayers; many of them are much older than Christianity. These prayers are, so to speak, recapitulations; by repeating them aloud or to himself a man endeavors to experience what is in them, their whole content, with his mind and his feeling.

G. I. Gurdjieff
Here there are neither Russians nor English, Jews nor Christians, but only those who pursue one aim — to be able to be.

G. I. Gurdjieff
From looking at your neighbor and realizing his true significance, and that he will die, pity and compassion will arise in you for him and finally you will love him.

G. I. Gurdjieff
In speaking of evolution it is necessary to understand from the outset that no mechanical evolution is possible. The evolution of man is the evolution of his consciousness.

G. I. Gurdjieff
Blessed is he who has a soul, blessed is he who has none, but woe and grief to him who has it in embryo.

G. I. Gurdjieff
There do exist enquiring minds, which long for the truth of the heart, seek it, strive to solve the problems set by life, try to penetrate to the essence of things and phenomena and to penetrate into themselves. If a man reasons and thinks soundly, no matter which path he follows in solving these problems, he must inevitably arrive back at himself, and begin with the solution of the problem of what he is himself and what his place is in the world around him. For without this knowledge, he will have no focal point in his search. Socrates' words, Know thyself remain for all those who seek true knowledge and being.

G. I. Gurdjieff
All religions speak about death during this life on earth. Death must come before rebirth. But what must die? False confidence in one's own knowledge, self-love and egoism. Our egoism must be broken. We must realize that we are very complicated machines, and so this process of breaking is bound to be a long and difficult task. Before real growth becomes possible, our personality must die.

G. I. Gurdjieff
Man has no individual I. But there are, instead, hundreds and thousands of separate small "I"s, very often entirely unknown to one another, never coming into contact, or, on the contrary, hostile to each other, mutually exclusive and incompatible. Each minute, each moment, man is saying or thinking, "I". And each time his I is different. Just now it was a thought, now it is a desire, now a sensation, now another thought, and so on, endlessly. Man is a plurality. Man's name is legion.

G. I. Gurdjieff