Retreat Quotes

“In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion."

[The Minotaur]”
― Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays

“Staying silent is like a slow growing cancer to the soul and a trait of a true coward. There is nothing intelligent about not standing up for yourself. You may not win every battle. However, everyone will at least know what you stood for—YOU.”
― Shannon L. Alder

“Some details in life may look insignificant but appear to be vital leitmotifs in a person's life. They may have the value of "Rosebuds" of Citizen Kane or "Madeleine cookies" of Marcel Proust or "Strawberry fields" of the Beatles. People regularly walk down the memory lane of their early youth. The paper boats of their childhood are recurrently floating on the waves of their mind and bring back the mood and the spirit of the early days. They enable us to retreat from the trivial, daily worries and can generate delightful bliss and true joy in a sometimes frantic and chaotic life. ("Paper boats forever" )”
― Erik Pevernagie

“He who advances without seeking fame,
Who retreats without escaping blame,
He whose one aim is to protect his people and serve his lord,
The man is a jewel of the Realm”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

“If we want to understand its imprint, we must put silence in context. This allows us to retreat, reflect, rejuvenate, and gain redeeming strength. We escape then triviality and find depth and meaning. ("A gap of silence")”
― Erik Pevernagie

“If we want to let loose and let reality sink in, silence can be a welcoming partner. It becomes a refuge, a sanctuary for peace and clarity. It helps us reset and provides a canvas on which new thoughts and perspectives can emerge. ("When only silence remains")”
― Erik Pevernagie

“The darkness makes everything disappear but it makes nothing go away.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“The choice to avoid risk is the choice to avoid living, and to avoid living is one of the greatest risk of all.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Go deeply into the urge to be silent and not the mental interference of how, where and when. If you follow silence to its source you can be taken by it in a moment.”
― Jean Klein, Who Am I?: The Sacred Quest

“Surrendering is intentionally laying down the power I possess. And have I considered that the power I lay down is often more powerful than that which I’m laying it down in front of? Therefore, I would be wise to recognize that surrender is less the absence of power and more the presence of fear.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“When all else fails, go away completely, however long feels necessary.”
― Shellen Lubin

“There’s nothing wrong with coming back, the Sun does it every day. - On the Reluctance of Going Back”
― Lamine Pearlheart, Awakening

“A man that coveted a retreat in this world might as agreeably spend his time... in Dorchester as in any town I know in England.”
― Daniel Defoe, From London to Land's End

“Too often surrender is an option that exists only because we created it. And if that‘s so, is it really an option?”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“As we know, bears hibernate in caves. They appear almost lifeless. This is an analog to the practices of ancient shamans, and to Sufis who practice the forty-day halvet (retreat), in which the Shaman would enter a cave, have an experience of dying, explore the spiritual realms, and then is reborn as the Initiate or Master (just as the bear is reborn each spring as it “wakes up” and leaves its cave).”
― Laurence Galian, The Sun at Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries of the Ahlul Bayt Sufis

“Eagles remind us of the power of solitude and reflection, as they retreat to high places to rest and renew their strength”
― Dr. Lucas D. Shallua

“There is no retreat like repentance.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“My tidy and well-appointed box might be ‘my’ world, but it will never be ‘the’ world.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Although it often appears to be the case, retreating to God is not an impulse bred of cowardice. Rather, it is a decision born of the understanding that God fights battles a whole lot better than I do.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“No use trying to cat fight with a skunk.”
― D. Michael Quinn, Chosen Path: A Memoir

“The reason so many people hesitate to go on retreat is that they are afraid of having light shed on their soul and being obligated to correct something in themselves. It is a sad thing. So they have a life of superficiality, a life of distraction, a life of noise, to avoid coming face to face with themselves. The voice of God begins to speak the minute we are alone with our conscience. And there are souls who do not want to hear that voice because it is going to tell them something they might be doing wrong . . . They prefer to live in a state of distraction, in the constant commotion of the world.”
― Marcel Lefebvre

“He thought walking away was a good thing to do. A mature, manly thing to do. To disengage and give her time to calm down. He kept getting these things wrong.”
― Liane Moriarty, Nine Perfect Strangers

“It’s just good manners. You don’t take your fight to a party. It’s no one else’s business.”
― Liane Moriarty, Nine Perfect Strangers

“She couldn’t shake the feeling that if she didn’t record this moment on her phone then it wasn’t really happening, it didn’t count, it wasn’t real life.”
― Liane Moriarty, Nine Perfect Strangers

“but then one day Jessica went out to lunch with her and didn’t offer to pay the bill, and now they weren’t talking. Jessica’s heart clenched as she thought about it. She always paid the bill. Always. It was the one time she didn’t and supposedly that was unforgivable.”
― Liane Moriarty, Nine Perfect Strangers

“The requests often had a passive-aggressive edge: “Ten thousand dollars is probably small change to you but it would mean a huge amount to us.”
― Liane Moriarty, Nine Perfect Strangers

“I think it’s a very brave thing to do. To start a new life in a new country.”
― Liane Moriarty, Nine Perfect Strangers

“And then I got married and had kids and I got totally swallowed up by this ‘Mum’ persona. We were only meant to have two, but my husband wanted a son, so we kept trying, and I ended up with four girls—and then out of the blue, my husband said he wasn’t attracted to me anymore and he left.”
― Liane Moriarty, Nine Perfect Strangers

“You’ll meet someone else. You don’t need a man to complete you. Your body does not define you. You need to fall in love with you.”
― Liane Moriarty, Nine Perfect Strangers

“Sometimes your life changes so slowly and imperceptibly that you don’t notice it at all until one day you wake up and think: How did I get here? But other times life changes in an instant, with a lightning stroke of good or bad luck, with glorious or tragic consequences.”
― Liane Moriarty, Nine Perfect Strangers