20 Insightful Quotes By J. Krishnamurti

Here are 20 insightful quotes by Jiddu Krishnamurti, the philosopher known for his teachings on self-awareness, freedom, and the nature of the mind:

1. “It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
2. “The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence.”
3. “In oneself lies the whole world, and if you know how to look and learn, the door is there, and the key is in your hand.”
4. “You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing, and dance, and write poems, and suffer, and understand, for all that is life.”
5. “The moment you have in your heart this extraordinary thing called love and feel the depth, the delight, the ecstasy of it, you will discover that for you the world is transformed.”
6. “Freedom is not the absence of commitments, but the ability to choose—and commit myself to—what is best for me.”
7. “Do not seek after what you yearn for; seek the source of the yearning itself.”
8. “Real learning comes about when the competitive spirit has ceased.”
9. “To understand the immeasurable, the mind must be extraordinarily quiet, still.”
10. “The more you know yourself, the more clarity there is. Self-knowledge has no end—you don’t come to an achievement; you don’t come to a conclusion. It is an endless river.”
11. “Truth is a pathless land.”
12. “We all want to be famous people, and the moment we want to be something we are no longer free.”
13. “When you call yourself an Indian, a Muslim, a Christian, or a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind.”
14. “To live in the past or future is easy. To live in the present is like threading a needle.”
15. “If we can really understand the problem, the answer will come out of it, because the answer is not separate from the problem.”
16. “Only the free mind knows what love is.”
17. “A mind that is full of conclusions is a dead mind. A living mind is a free mind, learning, never concluding.”
18. “Happiness is strange; it comes when you are not seeking it. When you are not making an effort to be happy, then unexpectedly, mysteriously, happiness is there, born of purity, of a loveliness of being.”
19. “The primary cause of disorder in ourselves is the seeking of reality promised by another.”
20. “One is never afraid of the unknown; one is afraid of the known coming to an end.”

Krishnamurti’s teachings encourage introspection, self-awareness, and a deep questioning of societal norms and inner beliefs. These quotes reflect his core ideas on freedom, love, and the mind’s nature.