Peter De Vries

Be kind to all creatures; this is the true religion.

Only a spiritual being has awareness.

I’m essentially agnostic. I don’t have a problem with God. I have a problem with religion. I’ve chosen to live my life without the certainties of religious faith. I think they’re dangerous. Music is something that gives my life value and spiritual solace.

Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet.

To study Buddhism is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be awakened by all things.

I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.

I feel the presence of a higher power. I believe that what you give is what you get. It’s universal law. I believe in the power of prayer and of words. I’ve learned that when you predict that negative things will happen, they do.

We’ve had the goddam Ages of Faith, we’ve had the goddam Age of Reason. This is the Age of Publicity.

Let us be grateful to Adam, our benefactor. He cut us out of the blessing of idleness and won for us the curse of labor.

It’s not about approving or liking, but just being able to allow the world to be the way it is without resenting, hating, or judging it.

Atheism is rather in the lip than in the heart of man.

When you get there, there isn’t any there there.

Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.

I believe God is managing affairs and that He doesn’t need any advice from me. With God in charge, I believe everything will work out for the best in the end. So what is there to worry about.

The fact that more people have been slaughtered in the name of religion than any other single reason. That, that my friends, that is true perversion!