# Tranquility

Tranquility (also spelled tranquillity) is the quality or state of being tranquil; calmness; serenity n. The word tranquillity appears in numerous texts ranging from the religious writings of Buddhism, where the term passaddhi refers to tranquillity of the body, thoughts and consciousness on the path to enlightenment, to an assortment of policy and planning guidance documents, where interpretation of the word is typically linked to engagement with the natural environment.
Arranged alphabetically by author or source: A · B · C · D · E · F · G · H · I · J · K · L · M · N · O · P · Q · R · S · T · U · V · W · X · Y · Z · Anonymous · See also · External links

## A

* We fluctuate long between love and hatred before we can arrive at tranquillity.
** Peter Abelard, in Christian Books, 22 August 2013), p. 2053
* It is in your power to withdraw yourself whenever you desire. Perfect tranquility within consists in the good ordering of the mind, the realm of your own.
** Marcus Aurelius, in Treasures of love & inspiration Galahad Books, 1993, p. 278

## B

* We must try to keep the mind in tranquility. For just as the eye which constantly shifts its gaze, now turning to the right or to the left, now incessantly peering up and down, cannot see distinctly what lies before it, but the sight must be fixed firmly on the object in view if one would make his vision of it clear, so too man's mind when distracted by his countless worldly cares cannot focus itself distinctly on the truth.
** Basil of Caesarea, Letters, translated by R. Deferrari (1926), vol. 1, p. 9
* That perfect tranquillity of life, which is nowhere to be found but in retreat, a faithful friend and a good library.
** Aphra Behn, in The Wonders of Solitude, 21 December 2011, p. 53
* To a woman, the consciousness of being well-dressed gives a sense of tranquility which religion fails to bestow
** Helen Olcott Bell, in The Curmudgeon Woman, 2000, p. 31
* Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquility
** Bible, in The Holy Bible, According to the Authorized Version (A.D. 1611): Ezekiel ..., 1876), p. 291
* Passaddhi, calm or tranquillity, is the fifth factor of enlightenment.
** Buddhism, in Collected Wheel Publications Volume 1, p. 18
* Tranquility (passaddhi-sambojjhanga) is tranquil mental concomitants with physical and mental tranquility while developing the Foundations of Mindfulness.
** Buddhism, in Encyclopaedia of Buddhism, Volume 3, Part 3, 1973, p. 448

## C

* The happiness and peace attained by those satisfied by the nectar of spiritual tranquility is not attained by greedy persons restlessly moving here and there.
** Chanakya, in The true aspect of Chanakya ( Birth: 350 BC. Death:275 BC) (30 November 2007)
* Peace is liberty in tranquillity.
** Marcus Tullius Cicero, in Living by the Fruit of the Spirit, p. 39
* The pursuit, even of the best things, ought to be calm and tranquil.
** Marcus Tullius Cicero, in Living Like Benjamin: Making Dreams Come True, (1 November 2007), p. 143
* We think a happy life consists in tranquility of mind.
** Marcus Tullius Cicero, in Quotes about Happiness, p. 11
* I long for the countryside. That's where I get my calm and tranquillity - from being able to come and find a spot of green.
** Emilia Clarke, in Year of the Dragon (May 2012)
* As social beings we live with our eyes upon our reflection, but have no assurance of the tranquillity of the waters in which we see it.
** Charles Horton Cooley, in Structure and Agency in Everyday Life: An Introduction to Social Psychology, (1 January 2003), p. 53

## D

* Appreciation, gratitude, affection - these are the qualities Parisians bestow on their parks. Beauty, serenity, tranquility, majesty - these are the rewards they reap in return.
** Landt Dennis, in The names of Pittsburgh: how the city, neighborhoods, streets, parks and more got their names (10 August 2009), p. 77

## E

* We must believe that 'emotion recollected in tranquility' is an inexact formula. For it is neither emotion, nor recollection, nor without distortion of meaning, tranquility. It is a concentration, and a new thing resulting from the concentration of a very great number of experiences which to the practical and active person would not seem to be experiences at all; it is a concentration which does not happen consciously or of deliberation. These experiences are not 'recollected' and they finally unite in an atmosphere which is tranquil only in that it is a passive attending upon the event.
** T.S. Eliot, in Reading Prose: An Introduction to Critical Study, (1952), p. 505
* Tranquil areas were defined as places sufficiently far from the visual or noise intrusion of development or traffic to be considered unspoilt by urban influences.
** in Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Transport Committee. The use of airspace: fifth report of session 2008-09, report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence, p. 187
** Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and the former Countryside Commission’s report, after the first method of mapping tranquillity was developed by Simon Rendel of ASH Consulting for a Department of Transport study in 1991 and prepared led a set of Tranquil Area maps of England.
* The happiness which belongs to man, is that state in which he enjoys as many of the good things, and suffers as few of the evils incident to human nature as possible; passing his days in a smooth course of permanent tranquility. A wise man, though deprived of sight or hearing, may experience happiness in the enjoyment of the good things which yet remain; and when suffering torture, or laboring under some painful disease, can mitigate the anguish by patience, and can enjoy, in his afflictions, the consciousness of his own constancy.
** Epicurus, as quoted in Ancient and Modern Celebrated Freethinkers (Half-Hours with the Freethinkers) by Charles Bradlaugh, A. Collins, and J. Watts (1877)
* There are two kinds of pleasure: one consisting in a state of rest, in which both body and mind are undisturbed by any kind of pain; the other arising from an agreeable agitation of the senses, producing a correspondent emotion in the soul. It is upon the former of these that the enjoyment of life chiefly depends. Happiness may therefore be said to consist in bodily ease, and mental tranquility.
** Epicurus, as quoted in Ancient and Modern Celebrated Freethinkers (Half-Hours with the Freethinkers) by Charles Bradlaugh, A. Collins, and J. Watts (1877)
* When pleasure is asserted to be the end of living, we are not then to understand that violent kind of delight or joy which arises from the gratification of the senses and passions, but merely that placid state of mind, which results from the absence of every cause of pain or uneasiness. Those pleasures, which arise from agitation, are not to be pursued as in themselves the end of living, but as means of arriving at that stable tranquility, in which true happiness consists.
** Epicurus, as quoted in Ancient and Modern Celebrated Freethinkers (Half-Hours with the Freethinkers) by Charles Bradlaugh, A. Collins, and J. Watts (1877)
* A prudent man, in order to secure his tranquility, will consult his natural disposition in the choice of his plan of life. If, for example, he be persuaded that he should be happier in a state of marriage than in celibacy, he ought to marry; but if he be convinced that matrimony would be an impediment to his happiness, he ought to remain single.
** Epicurus, as quoted in Ancient and Modern Celebrated Freethinkers (Half-Hours with the Freethinkers) by Charles Bradlaugh, A. Collins, and J. Watts (1877)
* It is vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it.
** Jane Eyre, in Jane Eyre: An Autobiography, Volume 1 (1848), p. 167

## F

* I simply can't build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery and death … I think. peace and tranquillity will return again.
** Anne Frank, in Selling the Holocaust: From Auschwitz to Schindler, (2000), p. 35

## G

* All sorrows are destroyed upon attainment of tranquility. The intellect of such a tranquil person soon becomes completely steady.
** Bhagavad Gita, in “Song of God (1996)”, p. 38
* A disciplined person, enjoying sense objects with senses that are under control and free from likes and dislikes, attains tranquility.
** Bhagavad Gita, in Song of God. (1996), p. 38
* One gradually attains tranquillity of mind by keeping the mind fully absorbed in the Self by means of a well-trained intellect, and thinking of nothing else.
** Bhagavad Gita, in “Song of God (1996)”, p. 100
* Talent develops in tranquility, character in the full current of human life.
** Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in Quote Unquote (A Handbook of Quotations), p. 74

## H

* Marriage in Islam offers tranquility to the soul and peace to the mind, so that man and woman may live together in an atmosphere of love, mercy, harmony, cooperation, mutual advice and tolerance, and lay the foundation for raising a Muslim family in a nurturing, sound environment. The Holy Qur’an has described, in the most moving and eloquent terms, this eternal, natural relationship between man and woman, which is filled with tranquility, security, love, understanding and compassion.
** Dr. Muhammad ‘Ali Al-Hashimi, in Chapter4 :The Muslim and His Wife from “The Ideal Muslim: The True Islâmic Personality of the Muslim as Defined in the Qur’ân and Sunnah”
* There is no such thing as perpetual tranquillity of mind while we live here; because life itself is but motion, and can never be without desire, nor without fear, no more than without sense.
** Thomas Hobbes, in Leviathan (1 January 2010), p. 30
* Being well-dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquility which psychoanalysis is powerless to bestow.”
** Sebastian Horsley, in "The agony and the ecstasy," theguardian.com, (25 May 2002)]
* Quiet is peace. Tranquility. Quiet is turning down the volume knob on life. Silence is pushing the off button. Shutting it down. All of it.
** Khaled Hosseini, in Silence, Feminism, Power: Reflections at the Edges of Sound from Kite runner, 25-Jan-2013, p. 230

## I

* When everything is calm, start thinking about your problems! When the storm begins, you will not find time! Tranquillity is a fertile soil where you can plant and reap the solutions!
** Mehmet Murat ildan, in Mehmut Murat Ildan Quotations (1 May 2014)

## J

* I have protracted my work till most of those whom I wished to please have sunk into the grave, and success and miscarriage are empty sounds: I therefore dismiss it with frigid tranquility, having little to fear or hope from censure or from praise.
** Samuel Johnson, in The principles of English composition, (1831), p. 4

## K

* Tennis is a perfect combination of violent action taking place in an atmosphere of total tranquillity.
** Billie Jean King, in The Mammoth Book of Comic Quotes, p. 593
* Indeed, we are privileged to have been afforded the opportunity to study Nature and to follow our own thoughts and inspirations in a time of relative tranquillity and in a land with a generous and forward-looking government.
** Thomas Kincade, in "[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/arts/design/thomas-kinkade-artist-to-mass-market-dies-at-54.html?_r=0 Thomas Kinkade, Artist to Mass Market, Dies at 54," at nytimes.com, (7 April 2012)
* People who put my paintings on their walls are putting their values on their walls: faith, family, home, a simpler way of living, the beauty of nature, quiet, tranquillity, peace, joy, hope. They beckon you into this world that provides an alternative to your nightly news broadcast.
** Thomas Kincade, in “Thomas Kinkade, Artist to Mass Market, Dies at 54 (7 April 2012)”

## L

* Only the development of compassion and understanding for others can bring us the tranquility and happiness we all seek.
** 14th Dalai Lama, in Be Happy Now: Simple Steps for Enjoying Life, (27 March 2012), p. 96
* Sensual pleasures have the fleeting brilliance of a comet; a happy marriage has the tranquillity of a lovely sunset.
** Ann Landers, in Quotes about Marriage, p. 25

## M

* The beauty of the morning and the radiance of noon are good, but it would be a very silly person who drew the curtains and turned on the light in order to shut out the tranquility of the evening.
** William Somerset Maugham, in The Summing Up, (31 August 2010), p. 73
* Like ships that have gone down at sea, when heaven was all tranquillity.
** Thomas Moore, in The Corsair: A Gazette of Literature, Art, Dramatic Criticism, Fashion and Novelty, Volume 1, (1839), p. 114

## N

* Because of what you have done the heavens have become a part of man's world. And as you talk to us from the Sea of Tranquility, it inspires us to redouble our efforts to bring peace and Tranquility to Earth.
** Richard M. Nixon, in Foothold in the Heavens: The Seventies, (2010) p. 314

## O

* Since tranquillity is such a vital asset to protect, research has been carried out by Northumbria} and Newcastle Universities and developed a systematic way to measure it.
** Andrew Oliver, in Saving Tranquil Places
* We know more than ever before, that tranquillity is under threat from the constant pressure for development.
** Andrew Oliver, in "Saving Tranquil Places"

## Q

* And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that you may dwell in tranquility with them, and He has put love and mercy between your “hearts”: verily in that are Signs for those who reflect.
** Quran (30:21), in Chapter 4 :The Muslim and His Wife from “The Ideal Muslim: The True Islâmic Personality of the Muslim as Defined in the Qur’ân and Sunnah”

## R

* That which is false troubles the heart, but truth brings joyous tranquillity.
** Rumi, in Living Like Benjamin: Making Dreams Come True, (1 November 2007), p. 143

## S

* Periods of tranquillity are seldom prolific of creative achievement. Mankind has to be stirred up.
** George Santayana, in 10 Quotes: Inspire and Motivate, (1 August 2004), p. 28
* When even one virtue becomes our nature, the mind becomes clean and tranquil. Then there is no need to practice meditation; we will automatically be meditating always.
** Swami Satchidananda, in Integral Yoga: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, (1 December 1984), p. 178
* To the citizens of Israel, I say: we have passed difficult years, faced the most painful experiences and overcame them. The future lies before us. We are required to take difficult and controversial steps, but we must not miss the opportunity to try to achieve what we have wished for, for so many years: security, tranquillity and peace.
** Ariel Sharon, in "Noahide News:Sharon, Abbas announce end to four years of fighting" at samliquidation.com, (8 February 2005)
* Seek happiness in tranquility and avoid ambition even if it be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries.
** Mary Shelley, in Gothic Reflections: Narrative Force in Nineteenth-century Fiction', 2003, p. 96
* Since the mind according to Buddhism, is in a constant state of flux, it is necessary, as the first stage in meditational process, to overcome the “impurity” of mental agitation in order to attain tranquility of mind such that all stimuli, both internal and external, are extruded from consciousness. Only after achieving such a state, by means of tranqulity-meditation (samatha-bhavana), a state which permits one-point concentration, can one proceed to the second stage, that of insight meditation (vipasana-bhavana)
** Melford E. Spiro, Buddhism and Society: A Great Tradition and Its Burmese Vicissitudes (1 January 1982), p. 48
* After four years at the United Nations I sometimes yearn for the peace and tranquility of a political convention.
** Adlai E. Stevenson, in ,,Cleveland Bar Association Journal, Volume 35 (1963), p. 254

## W

* Many words are not wanting to show that the particular view of each court occasioned the dangers which affected the public tranquillity; yet the whole is charged to my account. Nor is this sufficient.
** Robert Walpole, in The treasury of British eloquence, compiled by R. Cochrane (1877), p. 111
* Nothing short of self-respect and that justice which is essential to a national character ought to involve us in war; for sure I am, if this country is preserved in tranquillity twenty years longer, it may bid defiance, in a just cause, to any power.
** George Washington, in George Washington: Foundation of Presidential Leadership and Character, (1 January 2001), p. 27
* A peace establishment ought always to have two objects in view; the one, present security of posts and of stores, and the public tranquillity; the other, to be prepared, if the latter is impracticable, to resist with efficacy the sudden attempts of a foreign or domestic enemy.
** George Washington, in The Writings of George Washington (1855), p. 25
* Historically, China is not a nation of sportsmen. We traditionally put more emphasis on being close to nature than pushing endlessly to excel. A philosophy that values tranquil contemplation of the landscape cannot easily be adapted to the Olympic, slogan of 'higher, stronger, faster.'
** Ai Weiwei, in "Gold is not the real measure of a nation" at theguardian.com, (25 August 2008)
* The very secret of life for me, I believed, was to maintain in the midst of rushing events an inner tranquility.
** Margaret Bourke-White, in Written by Herself: Autobiographies of American women, (1992)

## Anonymous

* Acceptance of others, their looks, their behaviors, their beliefs, bring you an inner peace and tranquility -- instead of anger and resentment.
** Anonymous, in Quotes by Unknown Source, p. 54

## See also

* Calmness
* Equanimity
* Bliss