David Whyte
Anglo-Irish poet and contemplative teacher, one of the most distinctive voices on work, relationship, and the soul in contemporary contemplative literature. Born in Yorkshire in 1955 to an Irish mother and English father, he holds degrees in marine zoology and worked as a naturalist in the Galápagos before turning to poetry. His work — collected in books like The Heart Aroused, Crossing the Unknown Sea, The Three Marriages, and the much-loved poem collection Where Many Rivers Meet — brings the contemplative gaze to the modern workplace and the modern relationship in language at once classical and intimate. Poems like 'Sweet Darkness,' 'Self-Portrait,' and 'Everything Is Waiting for You' have become touchstones for readers across the contemporary spiritual landscape.
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Quotes by David Whyte
107 quotes“Anyone or anything that does not bring you alive is too small for you.”
“Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet confinement of your aloneness to learn anything or anyone that does not bring you alive is too small for you.”
“You must learn one thing. The world was made to be free in.”
“Give up all the other worlds except the one to which you belong.”
“To be human is to become visible while carrying what is hidden as a gift to others.”
“Start close in. Don't take the second step or the third.”
“Time alone is essential to creativity.”
“In the deepest part of your life, what you most want will be granted.”
“Vulnerability is not a weakness. It is the door through which we enter the great life.”
“What you can plan is too small for you to live.”
“There is a faith in listening.”
“Friendship is a mirror to presence and a testament to forgiveness.”
“Pilgrim is one who walks the path with intent.”
“Beauty is the harvest of presence.”
“To be courageous is not necessarily to go anywhere or do anything except to make conscious those things we already feel deeply.”
“Despair is a cry of the soul that has been forgotten.”
“Heartbreak is unpreventable. It is also the doorway to a life you have not yet lived.”
“The end is in the beginning, and yet you go on.”
“A successful event producer is someone who can hold the vision while staying present to what's actually happening.”
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