44 Eckhart Tolle Quotes That Changed My Life
Last Updated on July 7, 2022
Eckhart Tolle is a spiritual teacher who has said many words of wisdom which has changed my life. Well, if you don’t know who Eckhart Tolle is, then let me brief him to you.
Eckhart Tolle is a well-known spiritual teacher and a most renowned author of The Power Of Now. In his early days, he was just a common German teacher, but on the day of the night of 1977, something happened to him which transformed him.
After a long duration of experiencing depression, he asked himself, ‘Who is the ‘I’ that cannot live with the self? What is the self?‘ after thinking about this question, he felt different the next morning. What he experienced that night was spiritual transformation.
Tolle’s teachings revolve around one thing, and that is ‘we are not our thoughts but the awareness of it‘.
With that said, let’s go through some of the Eckhart Tolle quotes that will change your life as they have changed mine.
Life Changing Eckhart Tolle Quotes
1. “The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.” – Eckhart Tolle
2. “Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life.” – Eckhart Tolle
3. “When you complain, you make yourself a victim. Leave the situation, change the situation or accept it, all else is madness.” – Eckhart Tolle
“All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time and denial of the present. Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry – all forms of fear – are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence.” – Eckhart Tolle
5. “When you become comfortable with uncertainty, infinite possibilities open up in your life.” – Eckhart Tolle
6. “Stop looking outside for scraps of pleasure or fulfilment, for validation, security, or love – you have a treasure within that is infinitely greater than anything the world can offer.” – Eckhart Tolle
7. “Don’t wait to be successful at some future point. Have a successful relationship with the present moment and be fully present in whatever you are doing. That is success.” – Eckhart Tolle
8. “The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, person and family history, belief systems, and often nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identifications. None of these is you.” – Eckhart Tolle
9. “What a liberation to realize that the ‘voice in my head’ is not who I am. ‘Who am I, then?’ The one who sees that.” – Eckhart Tolle
10. “…there are two ways of being unhappy: One is not getting what you want, and the other is getting what you want.” – Eckhart Tolle
11. “People don’t realize that now is all there ever is; there is no past or future except as memory or anticipation in your mind.” – Eckhart Tolle
12. “When you drop your expectations that a person, a situation, a place, or an object should fulfill you, it’s easier to be present in this moment because you’re no longer looking to the next one. Most people want to get what they want, whereas the secret is to want what you get at this moment.” – Eckhart Tolle
13. “The power is in you. The answer is in you. And you are the answer to all your searches: you are the goal. You are the answer. It’s never outside.” – Eckhart Tolle
14. “You can only lose something that you have, but you cannot lose something that you are.” – Eckhart Tolle
Enlightening Eckhart Tolle Quotes
15. “Whatever you fight, you strengthen, and what you resist, persists.” – Eckhart Tolle
16. “Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret of life is to ‘die before you die’ — and find that there is no death.” – Eckhart Tolle
17. “If uncertainty is unacceptable to you, it turns into fear. If it is perfectly acceptable, it turns into increased aliveness, alertness, and creativity.” – Eckhart Tolle
18. “If uncertainty is unacceptable to you, it turns into fear. If it is perfectly acceptable, it turns into increased aliveness, alertness, and creativity.” – Eckhart Tolle
19. “Be the silent watcher of your thoughts and behaviour. You are beneath the thinker. You are the stillness beneath the mental noise. You are the love and joy beneath the pain.” – Eckhart Tolle
20. “That is the real spiritual awakening when something emerges from within you that is deeper than who you thought you were. So, the person is still there, but one could almost say that something more powerful shines through the person.” – Eckhart Tolle
21. “Thoughts are fine when you don’t confuse them with who you are, and then thoughts are not a problem. Thinking is a wonderful tool to create things in this world. It only becomes problematic and a source of suffering when you confuse thinking with who you are.” – Eckhart Tolle
22. “Is there a difference between happiness and inner peace? Yes. Happiness depends on conditions being perceived as positive; inner peace does not.” – Eckhart Tolle
23. “Pleasure is always derived from something outside you, whereas joy arises from within.” – Eckhart Tolle
24. “You are the Universe expressing itself as a human for a little while.” – Eckhart Tolle
25. “Sometimes surrender means giving up trying to understand and becoming comfortable with not knowing.” – Eckhart Tolle
26. “If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place. Primary reality is within; secondary reality without.” – Eckhart Tolle
27. “Nothing that you plan is going to work out. Everything is going to be totally different than the way you expected. And things will constantly challenge you. Wherever you look the world is not as solid it seems to be.” – Eckhart Tolle
28. “Love is a state of Being. Your love is not outside; it is deep within you. You can never lose it, and it cannot leave you. It is not dependent on some other body, some external form.” – Eckhart Tolle
29. “As far as inner transformation is concerned, there is nothing you can do about it. You cannot transform yourself, and you certainly cannot transform your partner or anybody else. All you can do is create a space for transformation to happen, for grace and love to enter.” – Eckhart Tolle
30. “Be aware of your breathing. Notice how this takes attention away from your thinking and creates space.” – Eckhart Tolle
31. “This, too, will pass.” – Eckhart Tolle
32. “Awareness is the greatest agent for change.” – Eckhart Tolle
33. “Narrow your life down to this moment. Your life situation may be full of problems – most life situations are – but find out if you have a problem at this moment. Do you have a problem now?” – Eckhart Tolle
34. “Give up defining yourself – to yourself or to others. You won’t die. You will come to life. And don’t be concerned with how others define you. When they define you, they are limiting themselves, so it’s their problem. Whenever you interact with people, don’t be there primarily as a function or a role, but as the field of conscious Presence. You can only lose something that you have, but you cannot lose something that you are.” – Eckhart Tolle
35. “You can have religion with spirituality. You can also have religion without spirituality.” – Eckhart Tolle
36. “Boredom, anger, sadness, or fear are not ‘yours,’ not personal. They are conditions of the human mind. They come and go. Nothing that comes and goes is you.” – Eckhart Tolle
37. “Only the truth of who you are, if realized, will set you free.” – Eckhart Tolle
38. “Acceptance means: For now, this is what this situation, this moment, requires me to do, and so I do it willingly.” – Eckhart Tolle
39. “The moment you become aware of the ego in you, it is strictly speaking no longer the ego, but just an old, conditioned mind-pattern. Ego implies unawareness. Awareness and ego cannot coexist.” – Eckhart Tolle
40. “Here is a new spiritual practise for you: don’t take your thoughts too seriously.” – Eckhart Tolle
41. “Watch any plant or animal and let it teach you acceptance of what is, surrender to the Now. Let it teach you Being. Let it teach you integrity — which means to be one, to be yourself, to be real. Let it teach you how to live and how to die, and how not to make living and dying into a problem.” – Eckhart Tolle
42. “Life wants to support you. But first, you need to be open to life.” – Eckhart Tolle
43. “Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have.” – Eckhart Tolle
44. “Life is the dancer and you are the dance.” – Eckhart Tolle
The Philosophy Of Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart’s philosophy revolves around the concept of alertness and being in the present moment. According to him, mere belief in God is not everything and one should realise him. But how one can realise that state of deep peace? The answer is the alignment towards ‘now’.
He believes in the acceptance of life in its raw form without a doubt or complaint. The quotes which I have shared with you above resonate with the same philosophy. When a person accepts his life and goes with its flow, he/she stops complaining. They perceive everything thereafter as an opportunity to grow.
For him, the thoughts are not that important as they are projections of your unconsciousness. One must not take their thoughts seriously.
If I put Eckhart’s philosophy in a nutshell, then it would be ‘Live the present moment as it all that exists.’
Liked These Eckhart Tolle quotes?
These Eckhart Tolle quotes have changed my life and have guided me to cherish the present moments. Human beings are so much consumed with the past and future that they have forgotten about their existence in now.
I hope these Eckhart Tolle quotes inspire you and show you a proper direction on how you should hold the steering of your lifeboat (yourself).
Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment down below and do not forget to share this article with your friends.
