Many / One

A database of 11,000+ illuminated guiding quotations in 40 categories from 600+ inspired books by our most brilliant and influential authors.
Compiled by JoAnn Kite

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1		"'In Homer, the whole world is a woof of organic umbilical cords,' writes the modern Greek poet and scholar George Seferis. He is describing a unifying experience of life whose expression is found everywhere in the belief systems of the world's traditional societies."

2		"Human nature – across all lands and all time – displays a striking consonance. Our similarities as human beings are far more deeply rooted than our differences, especially when we consider the most profound themes that people of all eras and all localities have pondered: our relation to the planet we share; to the earth we walk upon and its fruits that sustain us; to the limitless cosmos that we observe in the great dome of sky above us; to the mysteries that confound us as a species; to the fears and exaltations that unite us."

3		"Aboriginal tradition…is a system of knowledge that regards man and nature as one corporate whole, sacred and eternal. In Confucian terms, its goal is 'to unite hearts and establish order.'"

4		"The earth is mother of all." Ugandan proverb

5		"This earthen womb knows unerringly the worth of each of her children." Nikos Kazantzakis (1883-1957), 'Report to Greco'

6		"All is fundamentally one." Masanobu Fukuoka, Japanese microbiologist

7		"The old adage, We are the microcosm of the macrocosm, suggests that everything which exists in the universe also exists in the human body. This supports the fact of the interrelationship of all things."

8		"The whole of nature is contained within each of us." Kichizaemon Raku XV, contemporary craftsman

9		"In all that they did, our Indian ancestors acknowledged the goodness of the Creator and of all creation, including themselves." George Tinker, Osage-Lutheran scholar, 'Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation', speech given to the World Council of Churches in Seoul, Korea in 1991

10		"The earth is not a dead body, but is inhabited by a spirit that is its life and soul. All created things, minerals included, draw their strength from the earth spirit. This spirit is life." Basilius Valentinus, Alchemist

11		"In the 'Li Chi', the (Chinese) Book of Ritual, we are given the definition of the human as the 'heart and mind of heaven and earth.'"

12		"Mountains and rivers and the great earth: Everything reveals the Body of Buddha." Sayings of the Masters

13		"I have found that the eye which sees the whole circle expresses our soul simply and perfectly." Nikos Kazantzakis

14		"The wise is one only." Heraclitus

15		"Look to each other, respect one another from the vantage point of a shared Earth – Earth as partner, not object; as Master Teacher, as the ideal One."

16		"When a child is born into the world he is related to every other human being that lives. He finds himself in a constellation of belonging." The National Aboriginal Conference, Canberra

17		"Each object is imbued with invisible fibers of light that reach out into the universe and are connected and related to all things and all times." Alex Jacobs, Iroquois (Native American) artist

18		"Everything on earth, every creature and plant wants to live without pain, so do them no harm. Treat all people in creation with respect; all is sacred." Linda Hogan, 'Mean Spirit'

19		"The whole sees, the whole perceives, the whole hears." Xenophanes (ca. 580 bce), Greek philosopher

20		"Keep peace with all your sisters and brothers. Humans whose minds are healthy desire such peace and justice." Linda Hogan, 'Mean Spirit'

21		"The thoughts of the earth are my thoughts….The voice of the earth is my voice." Song of the Earth Spirit, Navajo (Native American) origin legend

22		"Heaven is my father and earth is my mother, and even such a small being as I finds an intimate place in their midst. Therefore, that which fills the universe I regard as my nature. All people are my brothers and sisters, and all things are my companions." Chang Tsai (1020-1077), Confucian master

23		"The visible world was made to correspond to the world invisible and there is nothing in this world but is a symbol of something in that world." Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali, eleventh century visionary

24		"The Universe is basically good and throughout it great forces are at work striving to bring about a greater unity of all living things." Kenneth D. Kaunda (b. 1924), former president of the Republic of Zambia

25		"The One Force, the All-Powerful Source of existence and the prime mover of the activities and motions of beings…is inside each being." Amadou Hampate Ba, 'Aspects de la civilisation africaine'