Top 50 Thomas Lloyd Qualls Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Prometheus stole fire from the gods. We are each the heirs of that divine spark. Used wisely, the spark fuels one’s journey and lights the way. Treated carelessly, the spark consumes its owner and everything in its path.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

2. “Things are often not what they seem. And then, sometimes they are. The trick is to learn what is real.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

3. “Life isn’t really linear. Although it’s generally perceived that way. The stories we tell are woven like snakes around a divining rod. A center of time containing all that’s ever been told and heard. Remembered and forgotten. Lost and found. Our pasts, presents and futures are unwound, stretched flat, cut into pieces and held up with human arms.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

4. “At one time or another we are all called to leave the safety of our homes, the certainty of what we know, the illusions of who we are. Not everyone will heed this call, of course. And those who do will risk losing themselves completely. But if we choose to ignore the invitation, we risk never knowing who we might have become. We risk dying without knowing what it is to live.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

5. “Holding onto misery only brings more misery into focus. All possibilities exist. But the mind has only room for one thing at a time.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

6. “The universe is abundant and supports each of us. In order to see this, though, we must open all of our senses.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

7. “In the beginning was the word. And the word was split into infinity. All words, then, are part of the whole. Just as we are each part of the whole. There are individual words, as we are individual beings. Each word carries with it the memory of the whole logos. Just as we each carry the memory of the whole universe.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

8. “Believing you are good is like believing in the half moon.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

9. “Everything must break open in order to live. The seed must break open in order for the tree to grow. The egg must break open in order for life to emerge. The Earth must be turned and the cloud must burst. You were never meant to stay in your shell.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

10. “But I don’t think fighting monsters is all that courageous. I think the ultimate act of courage is standing still in the face of a monster. Courage is looking closely enough into its jaws to see it for what it is: an illusion. The monster isn’t real. It’s your fear of the monster that is real. And just about anything in life can look like a monster if the light is just right.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

11. “The simplest things are overlooked. And yet, it is the simplest things that are the most essential.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

12. “The reflection on the surface of the water is often mistaken for the mysteries that lie beneath. Likewise, the reflection of the moon is mistaken for its own light. In the quest for wisdom, each person must emerge from the illusions of the world and begin the journey towards the sacred mountain.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

13. “Alchemy, the masters teach, is the process of linking the spiritual to the material. The alchemist is the bridge between the worlds. It is a process of working inside a mirror, knowing always that in the end, the part will reflect the whole. As inside, so outside.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

14. “To work in the dark, you must be able to hold your own light, and still be intimate with the darkness.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

15. “The desert still has a memory of water. And that memory is a living thing. It is infused into the sand. It is part of its essence.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

16. “You move into the darkness, wrapping it around you like a heavy cloak. You dive into it naked like a midnight swim, slip beneath its covers and invite it to envelope you, as a dream. You lose yourself in the richness of its mysteries. You start to become the darkness. It starts to become you.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

17. “The sun has but half a meaning without the shadow it casts into the ocean of the world.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

18. “Without bridges, there are no connections. Without bridges, there are only chasms. Without bridges, there are only longings. We cannot wait for the land to flatten and the stream to narrow before we seek to cross.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

19. “The bright side of the moon could not exist without the half wrapped in shadow. A half-life is not substantial, not sustainable. You cannot cut out half your heart and live.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

20. “Sometimes a journey is not about the traveler. It is not about a destination. It is about the bringing together of worlds. It is about lighting a path.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

21. “Stop and listen. The story is everywhere.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

22. “To paint one must forget everything else. Where you live, who you know, what you eat, when to sleep. The landscape of the canvas becomes your only reality. The planet you inhabit is a single plane of infinite dimensions, stretched like a guitar string, and standing before you like a concubine waiting for your command.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

23. “All journeys meet crossroads. Where the river ends, the ocean begins. We must have the courage to embark on these journeys, to choose our paths, and to let go of the boat once we are across the river.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

24. “Water knows no boundary. Though we may draw it on a map, say this is where the water starts and where it ends, it is not true. Water knows the way into the Great Mystery. It is not afraid of going underground. Water is not afraid of dams or dry creeks, bridges or brick walls. It is patient. Water understands time. It will find a way.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

25. “The mountain affords perspective.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

26. “In the end there is only light and dark. And the two are not so far apart.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

27. “There is weakness in resistance, strength in letting go.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

28. “There is a sacred marriage between water and earth... Their relationship binds everything we know and trust. Earth holds space for water. Water nurtures earth’s dreams. Their collective desires make life possible. Without their marriage, this world could not be. And we could not be of this world.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

29. “The echo is a gift, passed on to us by our ancestors many ages ago, to remind us of ourselves. To confirm our existence. To remedy our loneliness. Though we must be still in order to hear it.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

30. “His mission is not to wait until the world ends, but to find a way to the other side before it does. To prop open the door before it can be locked. To tie a suture before the fatal wound is made. To let in the moonlight before the sun is allowed to rise.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

31. “Life is random. Life is complicated. Life is often unforgiving. And we must each live it anyway. And I don’t mean live it as if it’s a chore, something to be endured, survived. I mean, dig in, get muddy, howl at the moon, take pictures of sunsets, play in the rain, make love, savor your food, smile as much as you can. And cry when you’re sad. Live it despite the fact it pisses you off. Live it and pay as much attention as you can muster.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

32. “A word is a bridge. It is a wave of light and sound that spans the perceived distance between one thing and another.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

33. “If this is a dream, I hope I remember it.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

34. “Every answer can be followed by another question.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

35. “Each cloud we burst, each moon we drum, each sun we dance is an essential part of the wheel. Though they are not the whole circle of our being. The whole is incalculable.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

36. “You might think of a thought as an invisible, innocuous little thing. Something that barely exists. But a thought is something hard to conceal. Hold a thought and it melts all over your hands. Touch something else and now you’ve left traces of it. Hide it under your shirt and it bleeds through.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

37. “The ears are the eyes of the dark, as the stars are the eyes of the night sky.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

38. “We think our world into being.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

39. “To be human is to be whole, but to fail to see this wholeness.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

40. “The sky did not create the water and does not know its course.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

41. “Life must be taken a step at a time. All else is madness.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

42. “The painter knew that color was not something you controlled but something you set free. He believed that color knew its way home.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

43. “You dream of a new world to come, a new world to be birthed, a new dream to be dreamt. In the dream, a flower grows, a lotus from which the creator and the creation will unfold. From which light will begin to shine upon this vast dark sea, unveiling all the magic sleeping within. From this flower, infinite worlds and universes will be born. Each will contain a seed of light. And these seeds will light the heavens for all to guide their journeys by.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

44. “Whatever some people might say, it seems to me that a world in which I can fly, bend space and time, and meet with people who have been dead for years, deserves more consideration than it gets. If I weigh the waking world on one side of the scale and the dream world on the other, which one is more substantial? Doesn’t a world of endless possibilities seem more likely to contain the whole of our lives than the fraction of the world that we call real?”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

45. “His journey is not a reflection of the moon. It is the moon itself. He is not separate from this quest. It is his dharma, his path, his voice. It is not a bead on a mala, not a veil to remove. It is the cooperation of elements, the marriage of spirit and flesh. It is the shadow of faith, the reflection of being. It is the full metaphor. It is all there is.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

46. “A dream is not to be taken lightly. A dream is a powerful ally, coming to your aid. A magic tale, written in invisible ink. A golden thread, tying together the worlds.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

47. “It’s true we all build imaginary prisons for ourselves. Believe that we are trapped behind the invisible bars of the lives we have somehow carelessly constructed for ourselves, despite our youthful promises to ourselves. We see adults who are stagnant and miserable as we grow up. They graffiti the walls behind them with their mistakes and we swear secret oaths that we will heed those warnings. We’re much too clever, we know all the shortcuts and the back alleys.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

48. “I like being out here. I like that people are, for the most part, at their best. They are open and alive. Conversation is not small or dull. We seem to be able to skip the pleasantries of how’s your day and get right into the meat of things. Maybe all travel opens us up like this.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

49. “The moon casts a different face everyday. Yet the moon is always the moon. It is always whole. Always reflective.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls

50. “You are tired of always needing answers. Always answering questions. Always asking questions that demand answers. Pretending all the questions have to be answered. Pretending there are actually answers. And even getting paid to convince others they’re true. That there is such a thing as right answers.”

— Thomas Lloyd Qualls