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“Be still, and know that I am God.”
Stillness is paired with trust, shifting attention away from frantic control and toward a larger frame of confidence and perspective.
Source note: Psalm 46:10 in the King James Version; the verse places stillness and trust inside a psalm about turmoil and refuge.
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“If a man's thoughts are not dissipated, if his mind is not perplexed, if he has ceased to think of good or evil, then there is no fear for him while he is watchful.”
The verse connects watchfulness with freedom from mental scattering and fear, describing a mind that is not constantly pulled apart by confused or reactive thought.
Source note: Dhammapada 39, Max Müller translation; its religious vocabulary belongs to the text’s discipline of watchful thought and should not be reduced to a clinical claim about anxiety.
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“Take therefore no thought for the morrow.”
Voice: Reported speaker · Jesus
The teaching redirects attention from imagined future trouble toward responsibilities that actually belong to today.
Source note: Matthew 6:34 in the King James Version; the opening sentence is quoted here.
Source identified
“The excellence of the mind is in abysmal stillness.”
The water analogy extends inward: excellence of mind is associated with depth and stillness rather than constant display, rivalry, or restless reaction.
Source note: Tao Teh King, chapter 8, James Legge translation; the line is one element in a broader comparison between highest excellence and water.
Source identified
“Purity and stillness give the correct law to all under heaven.”
The line gives stillness a governing role: clarity and quiet are treated as conditions from which more ordered action can emerge.
Source note: Tao Teh King, chapter 45, James Legge translation; the sentence follows the claim that being still overcomes heat.
Source identified
“It is in thy power whenever thou shalt choose to retire into thyself.”
A person can create an inward pause even when external conditions are noisy, using reflection to restore order before returning to action.
Source note: Meditations, Book IV, in George Long’s translation; this is the central clause of the retreat passage.