Best 90 quotes in «celibacy quotes» category

I left the convent and that was because I wasn't a very good nun. I could see that I wasn't going to make it. It's very difficult to be a nun, or to live a religious life. It's very difficult to live a life of total celibacy or a life without any possessions or material responsibilities at all, or in total obedience to somebody else, and remain a mature whole human being, and I knew that I wasn't going to be one of those.

I never cheated on my wife. I took seriously those vows of celibacy.

I think that one of the qualifications of artists should be a vow of celibacy. They should be confined to ruining only their own lives.

I took a vow of political celibacy.

It would not have suprised Emilio Sandoz that his sex life was discussed with such candor and affectionate concern by his friends.  The single craziest thing about being a priest, he'd found, was that celibacy was simultaneously the most private and most public aspect of his life.

In the name of celibacy, sex has been repressed for centuries and you have become just full of sexuality. Rather than transcending it you are boiling within.

I'm single right now and I've chosen to be single because I don't have the time to get to know anybody. So it's okay not to have sex, it's okay to get to know people. I'm celibate, celibacy's fine.

I would like to sit still for a while but I'm restless you know and sitting still is only an ideal like celibacy and complete cleanliness.

There is a line between sexualityand promiscuity, and the line is closer to celibacy than not.

To me, the most obscene word in our language is celibacy.

The church may hold whatever it holds with regard to clerical celibacy.

There is much to be said for post-menopausal celibacy. Sex is rough on loners because you have to have somebody else around, but now I don't. No more diets to stay slim and desirable: I've had sex and I've had food, and I'd rather eat.

A chastity device won't put out the flames of burning flesh. The Ultimate Guide to Chastity Removing the Iron Panties

When I was nine, I wrote a vow of celibacy on a piece of paper and ate it.

At night in bed, they talked. He, of the bees. She of the birds. Never of the birds and bees.

Yes, hypothetically, western Catholicism could revise the theme of celibacy. ... But for the moment, I am in favor of maintaining celibacy, with the pros and the cons it has, because we have ten centuries of more good experiences than bad ones.

A Christian marriage isn’t about whether you’re in love. Christian marriage is giving you the practice of fidelity over a lifetime in which you can look back upon the marriage and call it love. It is a hard discipline over many years. (Duke Magazine Article, "Faith Fires Back," 2002)

AIDS would have claimed fewer lives if we had publicly recommended what I wish to call ‘The Presumption of Sickness,’ i.e., the principle that whomever we are about to sleep with is HIV-positive until proven HIV-negative.

All that comes to an end is a vishaya [subject of pleasure]. That which does not come to an end, is the Soul (our Real Self).

at no time in my life have I been a person to hold myself polluted by the touch or approach of any creature that wore a human shape: on the contrary, from my very earliest youth it has been my pride to converse familiarly, more Socratico, with all human beings, man, woman, and child, that chance might fling my way; a practice …. which becomes a man who would be a philosopher.

But it is strange and I think quite wrong that conservative Protestantism, which used to repudiate the tradition of celibacy, is now assuming that celibacy is the right way of life for a large number of men as a matter of course simply because they aren't 'heterosexual' - that is, because they lack the commitment-phobic lust that prompts other men towards all attractive women regardless of marriage covenants. Similarly, Roman Catholic authority, which used to teach that a special grace was required for a life of celibacy, now teaches that celibacy is the right way of life for such men as a matter of course, as though they were incapable of giving and receiving the love and friendship that many women seek from marriage far more than anything else

Christians throughout history have affirmed that lifelong celibacy is a spiritual gift and calling, not a path that should be forced upon someone.

For the one who indulges in illicit sex, the sexuality will make him wander in worldly life. There is no liberation for those who indulge in illicit sex. There is liberation for those who engage in sexual pleasures that are rightfully theirs!

Celibacy is the most extreme of sexual perversions, after all.

Celibacy is the Tesla family secret, passed down through the generations.” “Celibacy, passed down through the generations?”Victor asked dryly. I flushed. “Its efficacy is not disproved by its imperfect application,” I muttered.

Don’t deny to the body what is naturally its right, not even under religious pretext

Elders of the Creedish church made celibacy sound as easy as choosing not to play basketball. Just say no.

From where have kashay (anger-pride-deceit-greed) come into existence? From vishay (sensual pleasure). It is not the fault of vishay, but it is the fault of ignorance of the Self. The root cause is ignorance of the Self.

If one abstains in just sex, he will end up being ‘God’. If one becomes immersed in sex, he will go straight to hell.

Hunger is a solution to alleviate suffering. All the vishayas (senses of pleasures) are a solution to alleviate suffering. But they have become passions for people. Stay within the limit there; do not become passionate about them. Discover normality in them.

Greed and sexuality cannot be friends. When one is truly free of sexuality, he becomes greedy. He will care only for wealth; he will become greedy for that. Then, he shall become a snake in next life and will keep protecting it. The person involved in sexuality is not very greedy.

How often do we hear from the local diocesan people—the bishop, the communications director, the victim assistance coordinator, and others—that this abuse is not restricted to clergy, but, rather, it is a societal problem? It does occur outside in the public realm. When was the last time you heard of a sex offender not being held accountable for his actions once caught? The Church treated the abuse as a sin only and nothing more. Out in society, sex offenders are not moved to another community quietly. “But protest that priests are 'no worse' than other groups or than men in general is a dire indictment of the profession. It is surprising that this attitude is championed by the Church authorities. Although the extent of the problem will continue to be debated, sexual abuse by Catholic priests is a fact. The reason why priests, publicly dedicated to celibate service, abuse is a question that cries out for explanation. Sexual activity of any adult with a minor is a criminal offense. By virtue of the requirement of celibacy, sexual activity with anyone is proscribed for priests. These factors have been constant and well-known by all Church authorities” (Sipe 227−228).

If one wants to go to moksha, he will indeed have to become (completely) free from sex [nirvishayi].

It is often said, inside the Church and out of it, that there is something grotesque about lectures on the sexual life when delivered by those who have shunned it. Given the way that the Church forbids women to preach, this point is usually made about men. But given how much this Church allows the fanatical Mother Teresa to preach, it might be added that the call to go forth and multiply, and to take no thought for the morrow, sounds grotesque when uttered by an elderly virgin whose chief claim to reverence is that she ministers to the inevitable losers in this very lottery.

If there is a greatest destroyer of the Self (the Soul), it is sexuality.

I'm not an advocate of promiscuity; but then I'm also not an advocate of being virginal. It's not like I put virginity or celibacy on a pedestal, and as long as I don't get your promiscuity rubbed into my face— I don't care about it! What I do care about is the ability to recognize the sanctity of a union of two souls— you just can't say your soul isn't being united with others' when you have sex with them. So I think you'd better own up to what you're doing— no matter how frequently or infrequently or with how many different people you do it. I mean, make good choices! You are, after all, entwining your soul with another's.

It's cooler to be strong.

it may be worth while to note again how often finely developed skulls are discovered in the graveyards of old monasteries, and how likely seems Galtons conjecture, that progress was arrested in the Middle Ages, because the celibacy of the clergy brought about the extinction of the best strains of blood.

Listening to Beethoven also is sensuality, but when you have said 'sex' you have said all. A man who can give up sex can give up Beethoven.

Living in low-income neighborhoods, I've seen sexual health campaigns aimed at slut-shaming us into celibacy. They talk about things like self-esteem and value and all the usual abstinence arguments. They assume that our bodies are a gift that we should bestow selectively on others, rather than the one thing that can never be anything but our own. Even if we do share it, it is ours irrevocably. These are the bodies that hold the brains we're supposed to shut off all day at work, the same bodies that aren't important enough to heal. These are the bodies that come with the genitalia that we should be so protective of? I really don't understand the logic. You can't tell us that our brains and labor and emotions are worth next to nothing and then expect us to get all full of intrinsic worth when it comes to our genitals. Either we're cheap or we're not. Make up your fucking mind.

Masturbation is not the happiest form of sexuality, but the most advisable for him who wants to be alone and think. I detect the aroma of this pleasant vice in most philosophers, and a happily married logicians is almost a contradiction in terms. So many sages have regarded Woman as temptress because fornication often leads to marriage, which usually leads to children, which always leads to a respectable job and pretending to believe the idiocies your neighbors believe. The hypocrisy of the sages has been to conceal their timid onanism and call it celibacy.

One cannot do without a husband. As much need does one have to relieve herself, that much need one has for a husband. One can bear her husband going out of town for couple of days, but one cannot bear not going to relieve herself. One would look for whatever the need is. One will even search for a kitchen. How meaningless beliefs one has had in such a world?

One is God himself, [but] for how long does that authority of God last? As long as he speaks the truth, practices non-violence, does not steal, practices celibacy and remains non-acquisitive – till then power of God will remain.

If anything, other than our own ‘Real Self’, remains in our memory, it is all vishaya [subjects of pleasures that take one away from the Self]

I've been following the noble profession of hermiting here for nigh on fifty-seven years, practising piety, sobriety, celibacy and the pursuit of true wisdom in the tradition of my father and grandfather and great-grandfather before me.

Meeting a woman is not harmful, but it is harmful for the eyes to be attracted to her. So do pratikraman (do apology) at that time and resolve this case.

Merit Karma (punya) has made one wander in the worldly life. Merit Karma brings together sensual pleasures (of 5 senses), from which arises deceit. Temptation to indulge in pleasure is the reason that gives rise to deceit. And deceit gives rise to the worldly life. Deceit and revengeful enmity is the reason this worldly life remains in existence.

One begins to be free of the disease (of the sex), from the moment he or she opposes sex.

One who does not allow discord [with the wife] to happen even for a minute is considered a [true] husband. Look after this relationship in the same way that you would not allow the relationship with a friend to spoil. If you do not look after your relationship with your friend, then the friendship will break.

Relation with another man or a woman, other than one’s own husband or a wife, is a direct cause for a life in hell.