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“And nobody can do for him what he must do for himself.”
“To remember oneself means the same thing as to be aware of oneself — 'I am.'”
“Sometimes it appears spontaneously, but very rarely.”
“It must be brought to a permanent state by means of intentional effort.”
“To be conscious is to be aware that one is.”
“Most people are aware of what they think, what they feel, what they do — but not aware of themselves as the one thinking, feeling, doing.”
“Real consciousness is to be aware of oneself behind all activity.”
“This is the consciousness that the Work aims at.”
“Without effort, no real change is possible.”
“And the effort must be the right kind of effort.”
“Wrong effort makes the situation worse.”
“This is why a school is necessary.”
“And a teacher who has been through the work.”
“You cannot judge yourself. You see yourself only from the outside.”
“Or rather, only from inside the false personality.”
“True self-observation requires a teacher to point out what you cannot see.”
“This is the role of the school.”
“Time is not the moving line we usually take it for.”
“Man cannot be saved or changed by any external force.”
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