115 Of Eckhart Tolle’s Most Influential & Inspiring Quotes To Find Purpose & Meaning

"The Past Has No Power Over The Present Moment." - Eckhart Tolle

Eckhart Tolle is a renowned spiritual teacher, author, and public speaker who has gained worldwide recognition for his teachings on mindfulness and self-realization.

Born in Germany in 1948, Tolle's life took a dramatic turn in his late twenties when he experienced a profound spiritual awakening that transformed his life and set him on a path of self-discovery.

Over the past few decades, he has shared his insights with millions of people through his books, audio programs, and public speaking engagements, helping people from all walks of life find peace and joy in the present moment.

One of the hallmarks of Tolle's teachings is his emphasis on mindfulness and the power of presence.

He encourages people to be fully present in the moment and to live in the "now" rather than dwelling on the past or worrying about the future.

He also believes that this kind of mindfulness is the key to living a life of peace, happiness, and fulfillment.

Another central theme in Tolle's teachings is the idea of self-realization.

He pushes people to look within themselves to find the answers to life's biggest questions, and to recognize that their true nature is not their physical body or their thoughts and emotions, but rather an infinite and eternal consciousness.

By connecting with this deeper part of themselves, Tolle believes that people can find a sense of purpose and meaning in their lives, and can live in a state of joy, peace, and fulfillment.

Tolle's teachings have been widely embraced by people from all walks of life, and his books, including "The Power of Now" and "A New Earth," have sold millions of copies worldwide.

He has also given countless public speeches and workshops, sharing his insights with audiences across the globe.

In these talks, he often uses simple, straightforward language to help people understand complex spiritual concepts, making his teachings accessible to everyone.

One of the things that makes Tolle's teachings so powerful is his use of quotes and phrases that are both inspiring and memorable.

These quotes capture the essence of his teachings and have become a source of inspiration and guidance for many people.

Some of the most famous Eckhart Tolle's quotes include "The past has no power over the present moment," "Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness," and "Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have."

Tolle’s famous quotes have and continue to be a source of inspiration and guidance for people all over the world, reminding us of the importance of being present, finding inner peace, and living a life of purpose and meaning.

33 Inspirational Quotes

1. “Life wants to support you. But first you need to be open to life.”

2. “The past has no power over the present moment.”

3. “I’m grateful for always this moment, the now, no matter what form it takes.”

4. “Being must be felt. It can’t be thought.”

5. “You are the sky. The clouds are what happens, what comes and goes.”

6. “For what you do to others, you do to yourself.”

7. “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.”

8. “You cannot be both unhappy and fully present in the Now.”

9. “The secret of life is to “die before you die” — and find that there is no death.”

10. “You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.”

11. “Is there a difference between happiness and inner peace? Yes. Happiness depends on conditions being perceived as positive; inner peace does not.”

12. “What a caterpillar calls the end of the world we call a butterfly.”

13. “Some people get attached to their practice. They get good at it, but even becoming a good meditator can become a hindrance.”

14. “Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it.”

15. “Doing is never enough if you neglect Being.”

16. “Always work with the present moment, not against it. Make it your friend and ally, not your enemy. This will miraculously transform your whole life.”

17. “Become conscious of being conscious.”

18. “Much suffering, much unhappiness arises when you take each thought that comes into your head for the truth.”

19. "Always say 'yes' to the present moment. What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to what already is? What could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now? Surrender to what is. Say 'yes' to life — and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you."

20. "Instead of asking 'what do I want from life?' A more powerful question is, 'what does life want from me?'"

21. "How is always more important than 'what.' See if you can give much more attention to the doing than to the result that you want to achieve through it."

22. "If I cannot live with myself, there must be two of me."

23. "If there were nothing but thought in you, you wouldn't even know you are thinking. You would be like a dreamer who doesn't know he is dreaming. When you know you are dreaming, you are awake within the dream."

24. "Why does the mind habitually deny or resist the Now? Because it cannot function and remain in control without time, which is past and future, so it perceives the timeless Now as threatening. Time and mind are in fact inseparable."

25. "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."

26. "Thinking and consciousness are not synonymous. Thinking is only a small aspect of consciousness. Thought cannot exist without consciousness, but consciousness does not need thought."

27. "To end the misery that has afflicted the human condition for thousands of years, you have to start with yourself and take responsibility for your inner state at any given moment. That means now."

28. "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."

29. "Forget about your life situation and pay attention to your life. Your life situation exists in time. Your life is now. Your life situation is mind-stuff. Your life is real."

30. "Space has no 'existence.' 'To exist' literally means 'to stand out.' You cannot understand space because it doesn't stand out. Although in itself it has no existence, it enables everything else to exist. Silence has no existence either, nor does the Unmanifested."

31. "Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life."

32. "The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive. To put it more accurately, it is not so much that you use your mind wrongly — you usually don't use it at all. It uses you. This is the disease. You believe that you are your mind. This is the delusion. The instrument has taken you over."

33. "Not all thinking and all emotion are of the ego. They turn into ego only when you identify with them and they take you over completely, that is to say, when they become 'I.'"

31 Quotes In Power Positivity

34. "Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge."

35. "All you really need to do is accept this moment fully. You are then at ease in the here and now and at ease with yourself."

36. "Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at the moment."

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37. "It is through gratitude for the present moment that the spiritual dimension of life opens up."

38. "People look to time in expectation that it will eventually make them happy, but you cannot find true happiness by looking toward the future."

39. "Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on."

40. "To love is to recognize yourself in another."

41. "Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance."

42. "Any action is often better than no action, especially if you have been stuck in an unhappy situation for a long time. If it is a mistake, at least you learn something, in which case it’s no longer a mistake. If you remain stuck, you learn nothing."

43. "The power for creating a better future is contained in the present moment: You create a good future by creating a good present."

44. "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."

45. "The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it."

46. "Anything that you resent and strongly react to in another is also in you."

47. "Life isn’t as serious as the mind makes it out to be."

48. "Life is the dancer and you are the dance."

49. "Some people awaken spiritually without ever coming into contact with any meditation technique or any spiritual teaching. They may awaken simply because they can’t stand the suffering anymore."

50. "Discontent, blaming, complaining, self-pity cannot serve as a foundation for a good future, no matter how much effort you make."

51. "Be the silent watcher of your thoughts and behavior. You are beneath the thinker. You are the stillness beneath the mental noise. You are the love and joy beneath the pain."

52. "Time isn’t precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time—past and future—the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is."

53. “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.”

54. “Authentic human interactions become impossible when you lose yourself in a role.”

55. “Whatever you fight, you strengthen, and what you resist, persists.”

56. “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.”

57. "Where there is anger, there is always pain underneath."

58. “I have lived with several Zen masters — all of them cats.”

59. “Always say ‘yes’ to the present moment… Surrender to what is. Say ‘yes’ to life – and see how life starts suddenly to start working for you rather than against you.”

60. "For many people who are so lost in their minds, so much involved in their thought processes, the only moments they have when they are not trapped in that is when they are relating to their animal, their pet."

61. “Acceptance looks like a passive state, but in reality it brings something entirely new into this world. That peace, a subtle energy vibration, is consciousness.”

62. “To complain is always nonacceptance of what is. It invariably carries an unconscious negative charge. When you complain, you make yourself into a victim. When you speak out, you are in your power. So change the situation by taking action or by speaking out if necessary or possible; leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness.”

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63. “Prejudice of any kind implies that you are identified with the thinking mind. It means you don’t see the other human being anymore, but only your own concept of that human being. To reduce the aliveness of another human being to a concept is already a form of violence.”

64. “If small things have the power to disturb you, then who you think you are is exactly that: small.”

13 Motivational Quotes

65. "Instead of asking “what do I want from life?,” a more powerful question is, “what does life want from me?”."

66. "If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place. Primary reality is within; secondary reality without."

67. “A genuine relationship is one that is not dominated by the ego with its image-making and self-seeking. In a genuine relationship, there is an outward flow of open, alert attention toward the other person in which there is no wanting whatsoever.”.

68. "It is not uncommon for people to spend their whole life waiting to start living.".

69. "Whatever you think the world is withholding from you, you are withholding from the world.".

70. “The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but thought about it. Be aware of the thoughts you are thinking. Separate them from the situation, which is always neutral. It is as it is.”.

71. "The past gives you an identity and the future holds the promise of salvation, of fulfillment in whatever form. Both are illusions.".

72. "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."

73. “All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time and denial of the present.”

74. "Being spiritual has nothing to do with what you believe and everything to do with your state of consciousness.".

75. “Let me say it again: the present moment is all you ever have.”.

76. “The moment you realize you are not present, you are present. Whenever you are able to observe your mind, you are no longer trapped in it. Another factor has come in, something that is not of the mind: the witnessing presence.”.

77. “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.”.

6 Eckhart Tolle's Quotes On Jesus

78. "I believe that Jesus realized his oneness with God and he showed, what he attempted to do was show the way to all of us, how to realize our own onenes with God also, so he's a precursor."

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79. "I believe that Jesus realized his oneness with God and he showed, what he attempted to do was show the way to all of us, how to realize our own onenes with God also, so he's a precursor."

80. "Was Jesus the son of God? Yes. But so are you. You just haven't realized it yet."

81. "Some of the first human beings in whom the new consciousness emerged fully became the great teachers of humanity, such as Buddha, Lao Tzu, or Jesus, although their teachings were greatly "misunderstood, especially when they turned into organized religion. They were the first manifestations of the flowering of human consciousness."

82. "The difference between you, if you consider yourself not enlightened, and an enlightened master is not that the enlightened master has more knowledge. University professors have knowledge, and many enlightened masters have very little knowledge. Jesus probably had less knowledge than any university professor alive today in terms of raw information. Even a relatively uneducated person has more information than Jesus or Buddha ever had about things, such as political things and so on."

83. "Throughout history humans have inflicted countless violent, cruel, and hurtful acts on each other, and continue to do so. Are they all to be condemned; are they all guilty? Or are those acts simply expressions of unconsciousness, an evolutionary stage that we are now growing out of? Jesus’ words, “Forgive them for they do not know what they do,” also apply to yourself."

32 More Quotes

84. "Nothing ever happened in the past that can prevent you from being present now; and if the past cannot prevent you from being present now, what power does it have?"

85. "The ego says, 'I shouldn't have to suffer,' and that thought makes you suffer so much more. It is a distortion of the truth, which is always paradoxical. The truth is that you need to say yes to suffering before you can transcend it."

86. "... there are two ways of being unhappy. Not getting what you want is one. Getting what you want is the other."

87. "How do you let go of attachment to things? Don't even try. It's impossible. Attachment to things drops away by itself when you no longer seek to find yourself in them."

88. "Rather than being your thoughts and emotions, be the awareness behind them."

89. "You can only lose something that you have, but you cannot lose something that you are."

90. "If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place."

91. "The ultimate truth of who you are is not I am this or I am that, but I Am."

92. "All problems are illusions of the mind."

93. "You are not the voice in your mind, but the one who is aware of it."

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94. "When you let go of the belief that you should or need to know who you are, what happens to confusion? Suddenly it is gone. When you fully accept that you don't know, you actually enter a state of peace and clarity that is closer to who you truly are than thought could ever be. Defining yourself through thought is limiting yourself."

95. "Living up to an image that you have of yourself or that other people have of you is inauthentic living."

96. "To know another human being in their essence, you don't really need to know anything about them — their past, their history, their story."

97. "To end the misery that has afflicted the human condition for thousands of years, you have to start with yourself and take responsibility for your inner state at any given moment. That means now."

98. "Life will give you whatever experience is the most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness."

99. "Don't Seek Happiness. If you seek it, you won't find it, because seeking is the antithesis of happiness."

100. "So the single most vital step on your journey toward enlightenment is this: learn to disidentify from your mind."

101. "Being spiritual has nothing to do with what you believe and everything to do with your state of consciousness."

102. "A significant portion of the earth's population will soon recognize, if they haven't already done so, that humanity is now faced with a stark choice: Evolve or die."

103. "If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place. Primary reality is within; secondary reality without."

104. "Faith is the substance of whatever it is that we hope for. The important thing is that we teach that faith is connected to good works and responsibility."

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105. "Words reduce reality to something the human mind can grasp, which isn't very much."

106. "It is not uncommon for people to spend their whole life waiting to start living."

107. "Not to be able to stop thinking is a dreadful affliction, but we don't realize this because almost everyone is suffering from it, so it is considered normal. This incessant mental noise prevents you from finding that realm of inner stillness that is inseparable from Being."

108. "Pleasure is always derived from something outside you, whereas joy arises from within."

109. "Thinking is only a small aspect of consciousness. Thought cannot exist without consciousness, but consciousness does not need thought."

110. "Whenever an answer, a solution, or a creative idea is needed, stop thinking for a moment by focusing attention on your inner energy field. … When you resume thinking, it will be fresh and creative."

111. "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."

112. "All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness."

113. "Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose."

114. "In today's rush we all think too much, seek too much, want too much and forget about the joy of just being."

115. "Be true to life by being true to your inner purpose. As you become present and thereby total in what you do, your actions become charged with spiritual power."

How Can Quotes Help You?

Quotes can have a profound impact on your life and help you in several ways:

1. Inspiration and motivation: Quotes can provide a burst of inspiration and motivation to help you stay focused and achieve your goals.
2. New perspective: Quotes can offer a new perspective on life and help you shift your thinking in a positive direction.
3. Emotional support: Quotes can provide emotional support and comfort during difficult times. They can offer a sense of hope and positivity when you need it most.
4. Personal growth: Quotes can provide wisdom and insights into the human experience, helping you to grow and develop as a person.
5. Reflection: Quotes can encourage reflection and introspection, helping you to become more self-aware and intentional in your life.
6. Mental stimulation: Quotes can challenge and stimulate your mind, encouraging you to think more deeply about important topics and ideas.

How Can Quotes From Eckhart Tolle's Quotes Help You?

Eckhart Tolle's quotes can be very helpful in guiding you toward a more conscious and fulfilling life.

They can help you understand the importance of mindfulness and being present in the moment, as well as the power of inner peace and stillness.

Many of Eckhart Tolle's quotes encourage you to let go of worries and negative thoughts, and to focus on your inner energy and purpose.

They can inspire you to live a more meaningful and authentic life, and to find joy and love within yourself.

Additionally, Tolle's insights on the nature of reality, the mind, and the role of consciousness can provide a deeper understanding of these concepts and help you develop a more enlightened perspective on life.

Next Steps

Now that you’ve read the Eckhart Tolle's quotes and understand their value, this is how you can implement them into your life in order to create real change:

• Choose quotes that resonate with you and align with your values and goals
• Write the quotes down and display them in a prominent place where you can see them regularly
• Reflect on the meaning and relevance of the quotes to your life
• Incorporate the messages of the quotes into your daily thoughts, actions, and decisions
• Use a coffee mug, water bottle, or tote bag with a positive message to start your day on a positive note and spread positivity to others.
• Use the quotes as a source of motivation and encouragement when facing challenges
• Regularly evaluate and adjust the quotes you use to ensure they continue to inspire and motivate you
• Share your favorite quotes with others to spread positivity and inspire others as well
• Wear a wristband or bracelet with a positive quote or mantra as a daily reminder of your goals and aspirations.
• Use a manifestation journal or planner with positive quotes to write down your thoughts and reflect on your day with a positive outlook

Frequently Asked Questions

Who Is Eckhart Tolle?

Eckhart Tolle is a spiritual teacher and author, best known for his books "The Power of Now" and "A New Earth."

Born in Germany in 1948, he experienced a profound spiritual awakening in his late twenties that led him to become a teacher and write about the transformative power of mindfulness and presence.

Tolle's teachings focus on the idea that true happiness and fulfillment come from being present in the moment and letting go of negative thoughts and emotions.

What Are Some Of The Famous Eckhart Tolle's Quotes?

Some of the famous Eckhart Tolle's quotes include:

• "The past has no power over the present moment."
• "The future is always present as a possibility, not as a fact."
• "Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have."
• "You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop."
• "Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is, rather than as you think it should be."

What Is The Philosophy Behind Eckhart Tolle's Teachings?

The philosophy behind Eckhart Tolle's teachings is centered around the idea of mindfulness and being present in the moment.

He believes that the root of human suffering is our attachment to negative thoughts and emotions, as well as our constant focus on the past or future.

Tolle teaches that the key to finding peace and happiness is to let go of these attachments and focus on the present moment, which is the only moment that truly exists.

He emphasizes the importance of mindfulness practices, such as meditation and self-reflection, in order to cultivate a greater sense of presence and awareness.