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“To begin again is the most ordinary thing. It is also the most courageous.”
“What you cannot say to another, say to yourself first.”
“Vulnerability is the underlying texture of every honest moment.”
“The map is not the territory. The walking is.”
“In every meeting with the world, you are also meeting yourself.”
“To rest is not to do nothing. To rest is to become someone again.”
“Belong to the place. The place will then belong to you.”
“Marriage to your work is also a marriage to yourself.”
“In every moment of inattention, the soul slips away.”
“Work without love is work without soul.”
“The unwritten book is your invitation. Pick up the pen.”
“In every conversation, there is the chance to remember the other.”
“You will never be done with the work. The work will never be done with you.”
“To let yourself be seen is the great practice.”
“In the silence, the world's invitation is heard.”
“Begin again. Begin again. Begin again.”
“What we love rises through us, transformed.”
“In the long apprenticeship of life, every moment is teaching.”
“The threshold of every door is a beginning.”
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