A man will renounce any pleasures you like but he will not give up his suffering.
– George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff
Every ceremony or rite has a value if it is performed without alteration. A ceremony is a book in which a great deal is written. Anyone who understands can read it. One rite often contains more than a hundred books.
– George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff
If you want to lose your faith, make friends with a priest.
– George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff
In properly organized groups no faith is required; what is required is simply a little trust and even that only for a little while, for the sooner a man begins to verify all he hears the better it is for him.
– George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff
It is the greatest mistake to think that man is always one and the same. A man is never the same for long. He is continually changing. He seldom remains the same even for half an hour.
– George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff
Religion is doing; a man does not merely think his religion or feel it, he lives his religion as much as he is able, otherwise it is not religion but fantasy or philosophy.
– George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff
Without self knowledge, without understanding the working and functions of his machine, man cannot be free, he cannot govern himself and he will always remain a slave.
– George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff
A man can only attain knowledge with the help of those who possess it. This must be understood from the very beginning. One must learn from him who knows.