CHOICE / VOLITION

Related States & Conditions | Syntonic | Dystonic

The power of conscious choice
is your profit earning capital.
Pay attention!
Watch over that moment of power.
Rumi
1207-1273, Afghani-Turkish Sufi Mystic, Poet
"The Reins of Free Will," Mathnawi III, 3299
The Pocket Rumi Reader , Kabir Helminski, ed., 2001

A man with a half volition goes backwards and forwards, and makes no way on the smoothest road; a man with a whole volition advances on the roughest, and will reach his purpose, if there be even a little worthiness in it.
Thomas Carlyle
1795-1881, Scottish Historian, Biographer, Critic, Essayist

The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice.
George Eliot
1819-1880, English Writer, Poet

When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice.
William James
1842-1910, American Psychologist, Philosopher

Take care to do what you like or you will be forced to like what you do.
George Bernard Shaw
1856-1950, Irish Writer, Dramatist, Literary Critic, 1925 Nobel Laureate

The future is of our own making – and (for me) the most striking characteristic of the century is just that development.
Joseph Conrad
1857-1924, Polish/British Writer, Explorer
Letter to H. G. Wells, 1903

Destiny is not a matter of chance, but of choice, not something to wish for, but to attain.
William Jennings Bryan
1860-1925, American Lawyer

I think that our power of conscious origination is where free will comes in … We are continually choosing between the good and the less good, whether aware of it or not.
Alfred North Whitehead
1861-1947, English Mathematician, Philosopher
Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead

Free choice is one of the highest of all the mental processes.
Maria Montessori
1870-1952, Italian Physician, Educator

On this narrow planet, we have only the choice between two unknown worlds. One of them tempts us – ah! what a dream, to live in that! – the other stifles us at the first breath.
Colette
1873-1954, French Writer

You are the person who has to decide.
Whether you'll do it or toss it aside;
You are the person who makes up your mind.
Whether you'll lead or will linger behind.
Whether you'll try for the goal that's afar.
Or just be contented to stay where you are.
Edgar Guest
1881-1959, English/American Journalist, Poet

We must pick out what is good for us where we can find it.
Pablo Picasso
1881-1973, Spanish Painter, Sculptor, Graphic Artist

We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.
Khalil Gibran
1883-1931, Lebanese Poet, Mystic, Painter
Sand and Foam , 1926

One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes … in the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.
Eleanor Roosevelt
1884-1962, American First Lady, Stateswoman, Humanitarian

We have free will, but our free will lies in our choice of thoughts.
Emmet Fox
1886-1951, Irish/American Metaphysician, Unity Cleric, Writer

He is free … who knows how to keep in his own hands the power to decide, at each step, the course of his life, and who lives in a society which does not block the exercise of that power.
Salvador de Madariaga
1886-1978, Spanish Writer, Diplomat, Teacher

We cannot lead a choiceless life. Every day, every moment, every second, there is a choice. If it were not so, we would not be individuals.
Ernest Holmes
1887-1960, American Metaphysician, Founder of Religious Science

Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work.
H. L. Hunt
1889-1974, American Entrepreneur

The history of free men is never really written by chance but by choice – their choice.
Dwight Eisenhower
1890-1969, American Militarist, 34th US President

Whenever I'm caught between two evils, I take the one I've never tried.
Mae West
1892-1980, American Actress, Scriptwriter
Klondike Annie , 1936

Every intersection in the road of life is an opportunity to make a decision.
Duke Ellington
1899-1974, African American Jazz Composer, Musician

We have to believe in free will. We've got no choice.
Isaac Bashevis Singer
1904-1991, Polish/American Writer, 1979 Nobel Laureate
in The Times , 1982

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.
Dr. Seuss
1904-1991, American Children's Writer, Illustrator
Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Choice of attention – to pay attention to this and ignore that – is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer. In both cases, a man is responsible for his choice and must accept the consequences, whatever they may be.
W. H. Auden
1907-1973, British/American Poet, Essayist, Critic, Dramatist
A Certain World

Trials are but lessons that you failed to learn presented once again, so where you made a faulty choice before you can now make a better one, and thus escape all pain that what you chose before has brought to you.
Helen Schucman
1910-1981, American Psychologist, Channel
A Course in Miracles , 1975

I think there is a choice possible to us at any moment, as long as we live. But there is no sacrifice. There is a choice, and the rest falls away. Second choice does not exist. Beware of those who talk about sacrifice.
Muriel Rukeyser
1913-1980, American Poet, Political Activist
The Life of Poetry

It is the ability to choose which makes us human.
Madeleine L'Engle
1918-, American Writer
Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art , 1980

Mankind's greatest gift, also its greatest curse, is that we have free choice. We can make our choices built from love or from fear.
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
1926-, Swiss/American Psychiatrist, Thanatologist

The choice may have been mistaken, the choosing was not.
Stephen Sondheim
1930-, American Composer
Move On

We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.
Carlos Castaneda
1931-1998, Brazilian/American Anthropologist, Writer

You can decide within yourself how circumstances will affect you. Between what happens to you, or the stimulus, and your response to it, is your freedom or power to choose that response.
Stephen Covey
1932-, American Management Educator, Writer
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People , 1989

Highly proactive people recognize their "response-ability" – the ability to choose their response. They do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. Their behavior is a product of their own conscious choice, based on values, rather than a product of their conditions, based on feeling.
Ibid.

Until a person can say deeply and honestly, "I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday," that person cannot say, "I choose otherwise."
Ibid.

Your life is the sum result of all the choices you make, both consciously and unconsciously. If you can control the process of choosing, you can take control of all aspects of your life. You can find the freedom that comes from being in charge of yourself.
Robert Bennett
1933-, African-American Educator, Archaeologist, Writer, Cleric

Creative choice is your birthright. Please own it.
John Bradshaw
1933-, American Counselor, Writer

As adults, our choices are almost unlimited, but that does not mean they are not painful. Frequently our choices lie between the lesser of two evils, but it is still within our power to make these choices.
M. Scott Peck
1936-, American Psychiatrist, Writer
The Road Less Travelled , 1978

The entirety of one's adult life is a series of personal choices, decisions. If we can accept this totally, then we become free people. To the extent that we do not accept this we will forever feel ourselves victims.
Ibid.

All men and women are born, live, suffer and die; what distinguishes us one from another is our dreams, whether they be dreams about worldly or unworldly things, and what we do to make them come about … We do not choose to be born. We do not choose our parents. We do not choose our historical epoch, the country of our birth, or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing. We do not, most of us, choose to die; nor do we choose the time and conditions of our death. But within this realm of choicelessness, we do choose how we live.
Joseph Epstein
1937-, American Writer, Essayist, Critic

Choice is the essence of what I believe it is to be human.
Liv Ullman
1938-, Norwegian Actress, Writer

I don't have to be what you want me to be. I'm free to be who I want to be.
Muhammad Ali
1942-, African-American Boxer

Life is raw material. We are artisans. We can sculpt our existence into something beautiful, or debase it into ugliness. It's in our hands.
Cathy Better
1952-, American Writer, Poet

If you choose not to decide – you still have made a choice.
Neil Peart
1952-, Canadian Rock Musician, Lyricist

The only reason you suffer is because you choose to suffer. If you look at your life you will find many excuses to suffer, but a good reason to suffer you will not find. The same is true for happiness. The only reason you are happy is because you choose to be happy. Happiness is a choice, and so is suffering.
Miguel Ruiz
1952-, Mexican Physician, Toltec Nagual
The Four Agreements , 1997

It is our choices … that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
J. K. Rowling
1966-, British Writer
Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets

The bottom line is that I am responsible for my own wellbeing, my own happiness. The choices and decisions I make regarding my life directly influence the quality of my days.
- Kathleen Andrus

If you assume that there's no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, there are opportunities to change things, there's a chance for you to contribute to making a better world. That's your choice.
Noam Chomsky
American Linguist, Educator, Social Critic
The Chronicles of Dissent

I discovered I always have choices and sometimes it's only a choice of attitude.
- Judith M. Knowlton

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Wisdom for The Soul: Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing, © 2004