P. D. Ouspensky
Russian esotericist, philosopher, and chief literary heir of G. I. Gurdjieff — the man whose 1949 In Search of the Miraculous became the canonical written record of Gurdjieff's oral teaching of the Fourth Way, and whose own books Tertium Organum (1912), A New Model of the Universe (1931), and The Psychology of Man's Possible Evolution (1950) developed an independent line of esoteric philosophy alongside the Work. Born 1878 in Moscow, Ouspensky encountered Gurdjieff in 1915, worked closely with him until their split in 1924, then taught his own groups in London for the rest of his life. He died in 1947, two years before In Search of the Miraculous was published. Through that book — and through his pupils, who include Maurice Nicoll, Rodney Collin, and Lord Pentland — Ouspensky became one of the principal channels through which Fourth Way teaching reached the English-speaking world.
quotes in library
Quotes by P. D. Ouspensky
115 quotes“This is the strange psychology of awakening.”
“You must become more humble as you wake up, not more proud.”
“Pride is a sign that you have fallen back asleep.”
“Do not believe what you imagine yourself to know.”
“Test it. Verify it. Live it.”
“What survives this testing is real knowledge.”
“What does not survive is opinion, and opinion is dangerous.”
“Above all, be sincere with yourself.”
“Self-deception is the chief obstacle to the Work.”
“Most people deceive themselves about almost everything.”
“To stop deceiving yourself even a little is a great achievement.”
“It is the beginning of real seeing.”
“Knowledge cannot belong to all, cannot even belong to many.”
“Knowledge can belong only to those who can pay for it, who deserve it.”
“And who can use it.”
“Pay for knowledge with effort, attention, and sincerity.”
“Try the impossible.”
“All real change appears impossible at first.”
“Only by trying the impossible do we change at all.”
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