Quotes by M. Scott Peck

“If an act is not one of work or courage, then it is not an act of love. There are no exceptions.”

“Love is the will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth... Love is as love does. Love is an act of will -- namely, both an intention and an action...”

“As the theologian Alan Jones has said:One of our problems is that very few of us have developed any distinctive personal life. Everything about us seems secondhand, even our emotions. In many cases...”

“The only true end of love is spiritual growth or human evolution.”

“Most people want peace without the aloneness of [spiritual] power. And they want the self-confidence of adulthood without having to grow up.”

“Abandon the urge to simplify everything, to look for formulas and easy answers, and to begin to think multidimensionally, to glory in the mystery and paradoxes of life, not to be dismayed by the mu...”

“The problem of unmet expectations in marriage is primarily a problem of stereotyping. Each and every human being on this planet is a unique person. Since marriage is inevitably a relationship betwe...”

“Life is difficult.”

“Most of us operate from a narrower frame of reference than that of which we are capable, failing to transcend the influence of our particular culture, our particular set of parents and our particul...”

“The proper management of one's feelings clearly lies along a complex (and therefore not simple or easy) balanced middle path, requiring constant judgment and continuing adjustment. Here the owner t...”

“You must have something in order to give it up.”

“It is their attachment to us rather than their independence from us that we value in our pets.”

“We cannot be a source for strength unless we nurture our own strength.”

“I feel compelled to make another 'nonapology.' Many readers are likely to be concerned about my use of masculine pronouns in relation to God. I think I both understand and appreciate this concern. ...”

“What happens when one has striven long and hard to develop a working view of the world, a seemingly useful, workable map, and then is confronted with new information suggesting that the view is wro...”

“As I grow through love, so grows my joy, ever more present, ever more constant.”

“When we love someone our love becomes demonstrable or real only through our exertion - through the fact that for that someone (or for ourself) we take an extra step or walk an extra mile. Love is n...”

“The person with a secular mentality feels himself to be the center of the universe. Yet he is likely to suffer from a sense of meaninglessness and insignificance because he knows hes but one human ...”

“Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.”

“To function successfully in our complex world it is necessary for us to possess the capacity not only to express our anger but also not to express it. Moreover, we must possess the capacity to expr...”