1 We cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain. -Alan Watts
Life is all about balance. Pain and pleasure are two sides of the same coin. If you want more of any one of the two, you will have to have more of the other.
2 Life exists only at this very moment, and in this moment it is infinite and eternal. -Alan Watts
It is the present that matters. The future exists only in your imagination and the past only in your memories. Life exists in the present and that is where your focus must lie.
3 The more we struggle for life (as pleasure), the more we are actually killing what we love. -Alan Watts
Life is best lived when you go with the flow. The more you struggle for pleasure, the more you will kill what your heart wants. Let life bring you what you deserve in it’s own time instead of trying to chase something you do not deserve and killing your dreams
4 But the attitude of faith is to let go, and become open to truth, whatever it might turn out to be. -Alan Watts
To be more faithful is to be more accepting of the truth. One needs to understand that what has happened cannot be changed. You need to be more open to the truth regardless of what it turns out to be.
5 The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. -Alan Watts
Life doesn’t really have to be something great. Being alive is good enough because that’s all that life is about. If you have unreal expectations from life you’ll always be disappointed by it
6 No one is more dangerously insane than one who is sane all the time: he is like a steel bridge without flexibility. -Alan Watts
It’s always good to be insane and crazy once in a while. People who rely on reason and logic all the time will always be afraid to try something new. They don’t bend for anyone or anything and refuse to adapt or change.
7 One learns a great deal from being sick. -Alan Watts
Sickness teaches us a lot about the value of life. When we are sick and in pain, we realise how important our health is. We learn that sometimes, we will need others to help and there’s nothing wrong with that.
8 It’s better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing, than a long life spent in a miserable way. -Alan Watts
It isn’t the length of your life that matters. What is important is that you spend it doing what you love. Even if you live for a short while, if you’ve enjoyed that life, it’s worth it.
9 I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is. -Alan Watts
The past and future exist only in your mind. They are manifestations of your consciousness. The present is the only thing that exists outside you and that’s all you should care about. So live in the present.
10 If you say that getting the money is the most important thing, you’ll spend your life completely wasting your time. -Alan Watts
If you’re going to make money your only aim in life, you’re going to live a miserable life. You’ll be doing things you don’t like in order to go on living the same life and be stuck in a loop.
11 A scholar tries to learn something everyday; a student of Buddhism tries to unlearn something daily. -Alan Watts
Buddhism is a way of life that aims to change our perception. It tries to help one unlearn all the unnecessary things that we have been taught from childhood and make us understand the true essence of life.
12 We think in terms of languages and images which we did not invent, but which were given to us by our society. -Alan Watts
We are not truly independent in our thoughts. We think in terms of the language, ideas and notions that society has already inculcated in us.
12 Thought Provoking Alan Watts Quotes To Open Your Mind
1. We cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain. -Alan Watts
2. Life exists only at this very moment, and in this moment it is infinite and eternal. -Alan Watts
3. The more we struggle for life (as pleasure), the more we are actually killing what we love. -Alan Watts
4. But the attitude of faith is to let go, and become open to truth, whatever it might turn out to be. -Alan Watts
5. The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. -Alan Watts
6. No one is more dangerously insane than one who is sane all the time: he is like a steel bridge without flexibility. -Alan Watts
7. One learns a great deal from being sick. -Alan Watts
8. It’s better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing, than a long life spent in a miserable way. -Alan Watts
9. I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is. -Alan Watts
10. If you say that getting the money is the most important thing, you’ll spend your life completely wasting your time. -Alan Watts
11. A scholar tries to learn something everyday; a student of Buddhism tries to unlearn something daily. -Alan Watts
12. We think in terms of languages and images which we did not invent, but which were given to us by our society. -Alan Watts