We seldom realize, for example that our most private thoughts and emotions are not actually our own. For we think in terms of languages and images which we did not invent, but which were given to us by our society.

Alan W. Watts
About This Quote

Our thoughts and feelings are not ours. We think and feel in words that we did not create, but were given to us by our society. We do not understand the language that we speak. Our thoughts and emotions are like a foreign language, and we do not know the rules by which we must follow order and syntax. This is why we sometimes feel lost and confused.

Some Similar Quotes
  1. When someone loves you, the way they talk about you is different. You feel safe and comfortable. - Jess C. Scott

  2. The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends. - Friedrich Nietzsche

  3. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection - Sharon Salzberg

  4. In youth, it was a way I had, To do my best to please. And change, with every passing lad To suit his theories. But now I know the things I know And do the things I do, And if you do not like me... - Dorothy Parker

  5. You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and... - Sharon Salzberg

More Quotes By Alan W. Watts
  1. The world is filled with love-play, from animal lust to sublime compassion.

  2. This is the real secret of life -- to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.

  3. The art of living... is neither careless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past on the other. It consists in being sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind open and wholly receptive.

  4. If you say that getting the money is the most important thing, you'll spend your life completely wasting your time. You'll be doing things you don't like doing in order to go on living, that is to go on doing thing you don't like doing,...

  5. Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.

Related Topics