Long before yoga ever reached the suburbs, the practice of meditation had been seriously undertaken by people all over the world. From the Founding Fathers to Hollywood Boulevard, those who have sought inner peace through meditation have not only enjoyed it, but have also had plenty to say about it. Some of the following names will be easily recognized by the masses. Others will be known only to the hardiest of meditation devotees. All were impacted by their search for some inner guiding light. Here are some of the most notable quotes having to do with meditation.

Meditation is listening to the Divine within. – Edgar Cayce

 

Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what hold you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom. – Buddha

 

The spirit is something to be enjoyed. It is not a harsh discipline. And I think people should take some time everyday for some kind of moving meditation, like Qigong or Tai Chi. – Shirley Maclaine

 

Reading makes a full man, meditation a profound man, discourse a clear man. – Benjamin Franklin

 

Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless – like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. – Bruce Lee

 

Success and failure are both difficult to endure. Along with success come drugs, divorce, fornication, bullying, travel, meditation, medication, depression, neurosis and suicide. With failure comes failure. – Joseph Heller

 

Meditation is acceptance. It is the acceptance of life within us, without us and all around us. Acceptance of life is the beginning of human satisfaction. Transformation of life is the culmination of divine satisfaction. – Sri Chinmoy

 

If I always appear prepared, it is because before entering an undertaking, I have meditated long and have foreseen what might occur. It is not genius where reveals to me suddenly and secretly what I should do in circumstances unexpected by others; it is thought and preparation. – Napoleon Bonaparte

 

The affairs of the world will go on forever. Do not delay the practice of meditation. – Milarepa

Meditation… dissolves the mind. It erases itself. Throws the ego out on its big brittle ass. – Tom Robbins

If a person’s basic state of mind is serene and calm, then it is possible for this inner peace to overwhelm a painful physical experience. – The Dalai Lama

 

What I like so very much about this meditation is that you can take what you’ve learned and go about your business… I can use those classroom techniques anywhere, which is ideal for me as a filmmaker. – David Lynch

 

Meditation is not a way of making your mind quiet. It’s a way of entering into the quiet that’s already there – buried under the 50,000 thoughts the average person thinks every day. – Deepak Chopra

 

How nice – to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive. – Kurt Vonnegut

 

Meditation here may think down hours to moments. Here the heart may give a useful lesson to the head and learning wiser grow without his books. – William Cowper

 

For me, first, it’s finding quiet in my life – and I do that through yoga and meditation. – Mariel Hemingway

 

When thoughts arise, then do all things arise. When thoughts vanish, then do all things vanish. – Huang Po

 

My sole literary ambition is to write one good novel, then retire to my hut in the desert, assume the lotus position, compose my mind and senses, and sink into meditation, contemplating my novel. – Edward Abbey

 

Prayer is when you talk to God; meditation is when you listen to God. – Diana Robinson

 

The man whose whole activity is diverted to inner meditation becomes insensible to all his surroundings. – Emile Durkheim

 

We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and private: and therefore starved for meditation and true friendship. – C.S. Lewis

 

The more I read, the more I meditate; and the more I acquire, the more I am enabled to affirm that I know nothing. – Voltaire

 

Everything is based on mind, is led by mind, is fashioned by mind. If you speak and act with a pure mind, happiness will follow you, as a shadow clings to a form. – Buddha

 

If you can become a mirror you have become a meditator. Meditation is nothing but skill in mirroring. And now, no word moves inside you so there is no distraction. – Osho

 

I believe that painting should come through the avenues of meditation rather than the canals of action. – Mark Tobey

 

Whenever anyone has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the offense cannot reach it. – Rene Descartes

 

It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart. – Mohatmas Gandhi

 

Meditation and water are wedded for ever. – Herman Melville

 

One hour’s meditation on the work of the Creator is better than seventy years of prayer. – Mohammed

 

The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large. – Confucius

 

Divinely bent to meditation; And in no worldly suits would he be mov’d, To draw him from his holy exercise. - William Shakespeare

 

Writing is an escape from a world that crowds me. I like being alone in a room. It’s almost a form of meditation- an investigation of my own life. – Neil Simon

 

We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection. – The Dalai Lama

 Finding a calm place inside myself through meditation kind of helped me to get over a lot of mental illness… It’s just been a really great thing in my life. – Roseanne Barr

 Pleased rather with some soft ideal scene, The work of Fancy, or some happy tone Of meditation, slipping in between The beauty coming and the beauty gone. – William Wordsworth

 

I still practice transcendental meditation and I think it’s great. Marharishi only ever did good for us, and although I have not been with him physically, I never left him. – George Harrison

So transcendental meditation brings about transcendental consciousness, which is self-referral consciousness, the source of all intelligence. – Maharishi Mahesh

 

Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. – Psalms 5:1