Quotes from Journey to Ixtlan

“We hardly ever realize that we can cut anything out of our lives, anytime, in the blink of an eye.”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from Journey to Ixtlan

“For me the world is weird because it is stupendous, awesome, mysterious, unfathomable; my interest has been to convince you that you must assume responsibility for being here, in this marvelous world, in this marvelous desert, in this marvelous time. I want to convince you that you must learn to make every act count, since you are going to be here for only a short while, in fact, too short for witnessing all the marvels of it.”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from Journey to Ixtlan

“Nobody knows who I am or what I do. Not even I.

Don Juan Matus
”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from Journey to Ixtlan

“You say you need help. Help for what? You have everything needed for the extravagant journey that is your life.”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from Journey to Ixtlan

“Life in itself is sufficient, self-explanatory and complete.”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from Journey to Ixtlan

“For an instant I think I saw. I saw the loneliness of man as a gigantic wave which had been frozen in front of me, held back by the invisible wall of a metaphor.”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from Journey to Ixtlan

“I have no routines or personal history. One day I found out that they were no longer necessary for me and, like drinking, I dropped them. One must have the desire to drop them and then one must proceed harmoniously to chop them off, little by little. If you have no personal history, no explanations are needed; nobody is angry or disillusioned with your acts. And above all no one pins you down with their thoughts. It is best to erase all personal history because that makes us free from the encumbering thoughts of other people. I have, little by little, created a fog around me and my life. And now nobody knows for sure who I am or what I do. Not even I. How can I know who I am, when I am all this?”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from Journey to Ixtlan

“To worry is to become accessible, unwittingly accessible. And once you worry you cling to anything out of desperation; and once you cling you are bound to get exhausted or to exhaust whoever or whatever you are clinging to.”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from Journey to Ixtlan

“We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from Journey to Ixtlan

“To seek the perfection of the warrior's spirit is the only task worthy of our temporariness, our manhood.”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from Journey to Ixtlan

“A warrior must focus his attention on the link between himself and his death . . .. He must let each of his acts be his last battle on earth. Only under those conditions will his acts have their rightful power.”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from Journey to Ixtlan

“A hunter knows he will lure game into his traps over and over again, so he doesn't worry. To worry is to become accessible, unwittingly accessible. And once you worry you cling to anything out of desperation; and once you cling you are bound to get exhausted or to exhaust whoever or whatever you are clinging to.”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from Journey to Ixtlan

“You take yourself too seriously, " he said slowly. "You are too damn important in
your own mind. That must be changed! You are so goddamn important that you feel
justified to be annoyed with everything. You're so damn important that you can afford to
leave if things don't go your way. I suppose you think that shows you have character.
That's nonsense! You're weak, and conceited!" - Dom Juan”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from Journey to Ixtlan

“Охотник знает, что он заманит дичь в свои ловушки еще и еще, поэтому он не тревожится. Тревожиться, значит становиться доступным, безрассудно доступным. И как только ты начинаешь тревожиться, ты в отчаянии цепляешься за что-нибудь. А как только ты за что-нибудь уцепился, то ты уже обязан устать или утопить того или то, за что ты цепляешься.”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from Journey to Ixtlan

“You take yourself too seriously, " he said slowly. "You are too damn important in your own mind. That must be changed! You are so goddamn important that you feel justified to be annoyed with everything. You're so damn important that you can afford to leave if things don't go your way. I suppose you think that shows you have character. That's nonsense! You're weak, and conceited!" - Dom Juan”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from Journey to Ixtlan

“..there was no need to injure the shrubs, since we had already injured the quail.”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from Journey to Ixtlan

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.