Quotes by Carlos Castaneda

“The self-confidence of the warrior is not the self-confidence of the average man. The average man seeks certainty in the eyes of the onlooker and calls that self-confidence. The warrior seeks impeccability in his own eyes and calls that humbleness. The average man is hooked to his fellow men, while the warrior is hooked only to infinity.”

“The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same.”

“Look at every path closely and deliberately, then ask ourselves this crucial question: Does this path have a heart? If it does, then the path is good. If it doesnt, it is of no use.”

““Nothing in this world is a gift. Whatever must be learned must be learned the hard way.””

““The internal dialogue is what grounds people in the daily world. The world is such and such or so and so, only because we talk to ourselves about its being such and such and so and so. The passageway into the world of shamans opens up after the warrior has learned to shut off his internal dialogue.””

““To be a warrior is not a simple matter of wishing to be one. It is rather an endless struggle that will go on to the very last moment of our lives. Nobody is born a warrior, in exactly the same way that nobody is born an average man. We make ourselves into one or the other.””

“A man of knowledge lives by acting, not by thinking about acting.”

““Only as a warrior can one withstand the path of knowledge. A warrior cannot complain or regret anything. His life is an endless challenge, and challenges cannot possibly be good or bad. Challenges are simply challenges.””

““A warrior never worries about his fear.””

““We hardly ever realize that we can cut anything out of our lives, anytime, in the blink of an eye.””

“All paths are the same, leading nowhere. Therefore, pick a path with heart!”

““When a warrior learns to stop the internal dialogue, everything becomes possible; the most far-fetched schemes become attainable.””

“The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man takes everything either as a blessing or a curse”

““A warrior takes responsibility for his acts, for the most trivial of acts. An average man acts out his thoughts, and never takes responsibility for what he does.””

““A warrior seeks to act rather than talk.””

““A warrior acts as if he knows what he is doing, when in effect he knows nothing.””

“its better to get something worthwhile done using deception than to fail to get something worthwhile done using truth.”

“The only thing that is real is the being in you that is going to die.”

““The hardest thing in the world is to assume the mood of a warrior. It is of no use to be sad and complain and feel justified in doing so, believing that someone is always doing something it us. Nobody is doing anything to anybody, much less to a warrior.””

“To achieve the mood of a warrior is not a simple matter. It is a revolution. To regard the lion and the water rats and our fellow men as equals is a magnificent act of a warriors spirit. It takes power to do that.”