John O'Donohue
John O'Donohue
John O'Donohuewas an Irish poet, author, priest, and Hegelian philosopher. He was a native Irish speaker, and as an author is best known for popularising Celtic spirituality...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth1 January 1956
CountryIreland
reflection light shining
The secret and the sacred are sisters. When the secret is not respected, the sacred vanishes. Consequently, reflection should not shine too severe or aggressive a light on the world of the soul.
finding-love needs anam-cara
We do not need to go out and find love; rather, we need to be still and let love discover us.
friendship lying compassion
One of the tasks of true friendship is to listen compassionately and creatively to the hidden silences. Often secrets are not revealed in words, they lie concealed in the silence between the words or in the depth of what is unsayable between two people.
friendship fall real-friends
Every friendship travels at sometime through the black valley of despair. This tests every aspect of your affection. You lose the attraction and the magic. Your sense of each other darkens and your presence is sore. If you can come through this time, it can purify with your love, and falsity and need will fall away. It will bring you onto new ground where affection can grow again.
faces subtle autobiography
The human face is the subtle yet visual autobiography of each person,
lonely pain loneliness
There is the solitude of suffering, when you go through darkness that is lonely, intense, and terrible. Words become powerless to express your pain; what others hear from your words is so distant and different from what you are actually suffering.
eagles views wings
As high over the mountains the eagle spreads its wings, may your perspective be larger than the view from the foothills. When the way is flat and dull in times of gray endurance, may your imagination continue to evoke horizons.
integrity artist creative
Each of us is an artist of our days; the greater our integrity and awareness, the more original and creative our time will become.
wonder reverence balanced
Functionalism is lethal when it is not balanced by a sense of reverence. Without reverence, there is no sense of presence or wonder.
duty absolutes
The duty of priviledge is absolute intregity
waiting silence news
It is strange to be here. The mystery never leaves you alone. Behind your image, below your words, above your thoughts, the silence of another world waits. A world lives within you. No one else can bring you news of this inner world.
faces depth entirety
...to gaze into the face of another is to gaze into the depth and entirety of his life.
integrity privilege duty
We are privileged, and the duty of privilege is absolute integrity.
balance care your-soul
You lose the balance of your sould if you not learn to take care of yourself.