Meister Eckhart Quotes
Meister Eckhart was a German Dominican theologian, philosopher, and mystic. Trained in scholastic theology and twice the regent master at Paris, he is best known for his vernacular sermons, which articulate a radical mysticism centered on the ground of the soul and the birth of God within it. The quotes below are attributed to Meister Eckhart, organized by topic.
Browse Meister Eckhart by topic
Meister Eckhart on God
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“The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me.”
Sermon IV : True Hearing -
Attributed to Meister Eckhart:
“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.”
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Attributed to Meister Eckhart:
“God is at home; we are in the far country.”
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“Truth is something so noble that if God could turn aside from it, I could keep the truth and let God go.”
Meister Eckhart: A Modern Translation (1941) by Raymond Bernard Blakney, p. 240 -
“The most powerful prayer , one wellnigh omnipotent, and the worthiest work of all is the outcome of a quiet mind . The quieter it is the more powerful , the worthier , the deeper, the more telling and more perfect the prayer is. To the quiet mind all things are possible. What is a quiet mind? A quiet mind is one which nothing weighs on, nothing worries, which, free from ties and from all self -seeking, is wholly merged into the will of God and dead to its own.”
As translated in A Dazzling Darkness: An Anthology of Western Mysticism (1985) by Patrick Grant -
“God wants nothing of you but the gift of a peaceful heart .”
As translated in The Enlightened Mind: An Anthology of Sacred Prose (1991) edited by Stephen Mitchell , p. 115 -
“Unmovable disinterest brings man into likeness of God . ... To be full of things is to be empty of God; to be empty of things is to be full of God.”
As quoted in Men Who Have Walked with God (1992) by Sheldon Cheney, p. 198 -
“We are all meant to be mothers of God , for God is always needing to be born .”
As quoted in Christianity (1995) by Joe Jenkins, p. 27 -
“The Father and the Son have one Will, and that Will is the Holy Ghost, Who gives Himself to the soul so that the Divine Nature permeates the powers of the soul so that it can only do God-like works.”
Meister Eckhart’s Sermons(1909) | Sermon V : The Self-Communication of God -
“A person should never be satisfied with a thought God, for when the thought perishes, the God also perishes.”
Deutsche Predigten und Traktate (1963), p. 60 -
“The more God is in all things, the more He is outside them. The more He is within, the more without.”
Quoted by Aldous Huxley , in The Perennial Philosophy (1945) -
“Now rejoice, all ye powers of my soul, that you are so united with God that no one may separate you from Him. I cannot fully praise nor love Him therefore must I die, and cast myself into the divine void, till I rise from non-existence to existence.”
Meister Eckhart’s Sermons(1909) | Sermon V : The Self-Communication of God -
“We shall find God in everything alike, and find God always alike in everything.”
Quoted in Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists (2007) by James Geary, p. 232
Meister Eckhart on Justice
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“God can dispense with us just as little as we can dispense with him.”
Sermon 49
Meister Eckhart on Knowledge
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“As translated in A Dazzling Darkness: An Anthology of Western Mysticism (1985) by Patrick Grant”
The most powerful prayer , one wellnigh omnipotent, and the worthiest work of all is the outcome of a quiet mind . The quieter it is the more powerful , the worthier , the deeper, the more telling and more perfect the prayer is. To the quiet mind all things are possible. What is a quiet mind? A quiet mind is one which nothing weighs on, nothing worries, which, free from ties and from all self -see
Meister Eckhart on Love
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“As God can only be seen by His own light, so He can only be loved by His own love.”
Meister Eckhart’s Sermons(1909) | Sermon VII : Outward and Inward Morality -
“Through the higher love the whole life of man is to be elevated from temporal selfishness to the spring of all love, to God: man will again be master over nature by abiding in God and lifting her up to God.”
Meister Eckhart’s Sermons(1909) | Sermon VII : Outward and Inward Morality
Meister Eckhart on Mind
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Attributed to Meister Eckhart:
“What we plant in the soil of contemplation, we shall reap in the harvest of action.”
Meister Eckhart on Nature
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“All that the Eternal Father teaches and reveals is His being, His nature, and His Godhead , which He manifests to us in His Son, and teaches us that we are also His Son.”
Meister Eckhart’s Sermons(1909) | Sermon IV : True Hearing
Meister Eckhart on Time
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“The moral task of man is a process of spiritualization. All creatures are go-betweens, and we are placed in time that by diligence in spiritual business we may grow liker and nearer to God. The aim of man is beyond the temporal — in the serene region of the everlasting Present.”
Meister Eckhart’s Sermons(1909) | Sermon VII : Outward and Inward Morality
Meister Eckhart on Truth
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Attributed to Meister Eckhart:
“Truly, it is in darkness that one finds the light.”
Meister Eckhart on Virtue
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Attributed to Meister Eckhart:
“Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.”
Things actually not said by Meister Eckhart
A number of widely-shared lines are circulated as Meister Eckhart but are in fact from someone else. Did Meister Eckhart say these? No. Each entry below pairs the line with the person who actually wrote it.
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Did Meister Eckhart say this? No.
“Variant: If "thank you" is the only prayer you can utter in your lifetime, that would be enough.”
Very commonly attributed to Eckhart on the internet and some publications, the source of the first formulation however is: A Bucket of Surprises (2002) by J. John and Mark Stibbe. (Disputed.)
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Did Meister Eckhart say this? No.
“However a quote very similar to this one can actually be found in his works. In Sermon XXVII ( Walshe translation/in Quint Sermon XXXIV ) we can read:”
If a man had no more to do with God than to be thankful, that would suffice. Middle High German: Haete der mensche niht me ze tuonne mit gote, dan daz er dankbaere ist, ez waere genuoc. (Disputed.)
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Did Meister Eckhart say this? No.
“And suddenly you know: It's time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.”
Widely circulated on the internet, but no actual text to tie it back to Eckhart, as of yet. (Disputed.)
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Did Meister Eckhart say this? No.
“The knower and the known are one.”
Widely circulated on the Internet, but no actual text to tie it back to Eckhart. (Disputed.)
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Did Meister Eckhart say this? No.
“The knower and the known are one. Simple people imagine that they should see God as if he stood there and they here. This is not so. God and I, we are one in knowledge.”
Circulated on the Internet, this is an amended version of a quote from Eckhart's sermon iusti vivent in aeternum : There are simple people who imagine they are going to see God as if He were standing here and they there. This is not true. God and I are one. Middle High German: “Sumlîche einveltige liute wænent, sie süln got sehen, als er dâ stande und sie hie. Des enist niht. Got und ich wir sîn ein.” (Disputed.)