
John O'Donohue
Irish poet, philosopher, and former Catholic priest, one of the most beloved spiritual writers of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Born in 1956 in County Clare, on the limestone Burren of Ireland's western coast, he wrote his doctoral thesis on Hegel and spent two decades as a parish priest before leaving the priesthood to write full-time. His 1997 book Anam Cara — Gaelic for 'soul friend' — introduced English-speaking readers to the Celtic spiritual imagination and became one of the most quoted contemporary spiritual texts. His subsequent books, especially To Bless the Space Between Us (his collected blessings, published the year of his sudden death in 2008), made him a household name in the global contemplative community. His blessings — 'For a New Beginning,' 'For Solitude,' 'Beannacht' — are read at weddings, funerals, and ordinary mornings around the world.
quotes in library
Quotes by John O'Donohue
107 quotes“Solitude is the place where we discover we are eternally one.”
“Time is the joy of being.”
“To be alive is to be in dialogue with the world.”
“In your darkness, the dawn is preparing.”
“This is the time to be slow, lie low to the wall until the bitter weather passes.”
“May you arise each day with a voice of blessing whispering in your heart.”
“There is a kindness that dwells deep down in things; it presides everywhere, often in the places we least expect.”
“In the silence of the soul, the divine speaks.”
“Whatever quality you nourish in yourself, the same quality blossoms in your life.”
“The body is your only home in the universe.”
“Senses are doorways to the divine.”
“The eyes of the heart see what the visible eye misses.”
“Do not be afraid of the dark, for in the dark, the seed grows.”
“Each of us is created with a unique voice. Speak yours.”
“There is a place inside you that has never been wounded.”
“The soul is the dream of the body.”
“Light cannot exist without darkness, and darkness cannot exist without light.”
“To be human is to be on a journey toward greater authenticity.”
“In the deepest sense, time is the rhythm of the soul.”
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