Top 120 Retreat Quotes

My countrymen: we have reached a turning point in our history. The choice is yours. Shall we venture into this brave new world, bright with possibilities, or retreat to the safety of our familiar but sterile past? I am for crossing the frontier.

I’m a big believer in small, dark, cozy bedrooms. I would describe myself as introspective – I feel things first, and then I think them through – and I need the enveloping comfort of a little squirrel’s nest when I have to retreat from the world to recharge.

The Sanctuary at Two Rivers offers a much needed escape or retreat from the fast paced, modern lifestyle we have all become accustomed to, with its exquisite beauty, serenity, and raw nature. Costa Rica was the perfect place for developing such an important project.

I take things that are worn out through overuse, that have become cliches – like the shed, a traditional place of rest and retreat – and I give them a more incandescent future.

The British retreat is over and now the advance will begin.

The theist and the scientist are rival interpreters of nature, the one retreats as the other advances.

Most people go to ashrams or retreats to destress and rejuvenate themselves. But I come back to my roots, the place where I spent half my life. And when I return, I spend time in the farms, eating a stalk of sugarcane, driving a tractor, and chilling with childhood friends.

We all face crossroads in our lives where we can retreat into ourselves, or we can hit the dance floor.

Much has been written on the subject of self-care, and what truly counts as such; one woman’s double gin and tonic is another woman’s culturally appropriated yoga retreat.

Let the winds of evidence blow you about as though you are a leaf, with no direction of your own. Beware lest you fight a rearguard retreat against the evidence, grudgingly conceding each foot of ground only when forced, feeling cheated. Surrender to the truth as quickly as you can.

These days when you say ‘videogame’, people think of immersive games that take over your life and require three thumbs to control. My goal is to create games that almost retreat into the background. I’m interested in bringing them back to their role as a social facilitator, the way party games help people to interact.

It makes no difference if I burn my bridges behind me – I never retreat.

I still go to a Christian priory for retreats.

The idea that putting Americans ‘first’ requires a withdrawal from the world is simply wrongheaded because a retreat would achieve exactly the opposite for our citizens.

I am in earnest – I will not equivocate – I will not excuse – I will not retreat a single inch – and I will be heard!

I never stopped studying Buddhism. In the past few years, in between movies, I do a retreat.

I’ve been saying it at all our Senate Democratic retreats we need to speak to the heart, not in a manipulative way, not in a way that brings forth everybody’s fears and resentments, but truly to speak to the heart so that people know that we’re actually on their side.

I just look at music as a retreat from organizing. It’s like a tug-of-war with me. Music can be effective, but it’s not any good if there isn’t a grass-roots movement going on to support it.

I take rejection as someone blowing a bugle in my ear to wake me up and get going, rather than retreat.

I don’t know how many people there are with a million dollars who are inclined to give it to a writers’ retreat.

More and more I think of privatisation as being not just about the takeover of resources and power by corporate interests, but as the retreat of citizens to private life and private space, screened from solidarity with strangers and increasingly afraid or even unable to imagine acting in public.

I would like a UK fully engaged in Europe, but I can’t decide in place of the British. I see that for the moment they want to be more in retreat.

Honestly, I think I was in kindergarten. I remember seeing a play and realizing that was what I wanted to do. I remember always wanting to retreat to my room or somewhere private to play pretend by myself.

The federal government must retreat from its hyperactive involvement in areas traditionally under states’ authority and refuse future temptations to regulate and legislate on every issue that happens to come to mind.

We are looking for happiness and running after it in such a way that creates anger, fear and discrimination. So when you attend a retreat, you have a chance to look at the deep roots of this pollution of the collective energy that is unwholesome.

In 1995, I had been chosen to make a short presentation about the state of the TV business at a company retreat in Santa Barbara. At the time, I felt we were not real competitors in network television. The studio wasn’t prolific; we didn’t have much of a brand.

I like, very much, nature. Since I’m always together with people, I like to retreat.

All writers are obviously neurotic… For various reasons, writers retreat into an imaginary world because they find ordinary life rather difficult or boring or both.

In the Soviet army it takes more courage to retreat than advance.

I always had a hard time communicating my emotions. I’d retreat into my bedroom and listen to music. And when you’re a teenager, you’re dealing with all these hormones. It’s like, ‘What are these?’

The wild Indian power of escaping observation, even where there is little or no cover to hide in, was probably slowly acquired in hard hunting and fighting lessons while trying to approach game, take enemies by surprise, or get safely away when compelled to retreat.

At times when I am myself sitting at a retreat, and at the end I get into my car to drive away, I watch my hand move forward to turn on the radio. When I can be mindful, I notice the fact that I actually don’t want in that moment to listen to the news or hear some music.

I have been beset night and day at Alton. And now, if I leave here and go elsewhere, violence may overtake me in my retreat, and I have no more claim upon the protection of any other community than I have upon this.

I can understand how some people might resent me for having the audacity to continue playing music, but it’d take a lot more than that to stop me from doing it. I started Foo Fighters because I didn’t want to retreat.

Every one of us has a small but critical part to play in the battle against coronavirus. From washing our hands to wearing a face covering on public transport and in shops, every time we take one of these actions, we push the virus further into retreat.

Peace is purchased from strength. It’s not purchased from weakness or unilateral retreats.

Cows are my passion. What I have ever sighed for has been to retreat to a Swiss farm, and live entirely surrounded by cows – and china.

There is only one way left to escape the alienation of present day society: to retreat ahead of it.

I think it’s a little simplistic to explain a work through the psychology of its author. In other words, that Haneke has emotional problems, so I don’t have to take his films seriously. By using this argument, the viewer retreats from the challenges of the film.

You know, you don’t retreat in the defense of freedom. You don’t retreat in the defense of moral government and limited government. You don’t retreat because people are going to defend bad things.

Creativity, for a lot of young people, is a coping mechanism. It’s the only place they feel comfortable. It’s the only time they feel like they’re being heard or can make a difference, is if they can go into a room and do a drawing or go to a garage and play a song or retreat to this world.

The heroes of the present will retreat to the imitation they are anyhow.

By withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, the U.S. cedes power and influence to our rivals. If we retreat on our promises and cede leadership on climate issues, we lose credibility. Further, we lose the ability to hold other countries accountable for a broader range of issues.

I like to take writing retreats within a day’s drive of home. Less travel time means more time for writing, which is the name of the game here.

The most important aspect of a home is that it’s a retreat, a place where you can laugh and cry.

In politics, it seems, retreat is honorable if dictated by military considerations and shameful if even suggested for ethical reasons.

In politics… never retreat, never retract… never admit a mistake.

All my work, really, is based on my brothers and sisters. I had so many adventures with them and a big part of the work is to recreate those. It’s easy for me to be around a lot of people, because I can retreat. I can watch everything.

Search for the truth. I tell you things and I always ask you to verify what I say. I told you yesterday that there was an attack and a retreat at Saddam’s airport.

No retreat. No retreat. They must conquer or die who’ve no retreat.

In social settings, under the guise of joking, being collegial, flirting, or having a good time, I undoubtedly caused some women to question themselves, retreat, feel alone, and worry they can’t be their authentic selves.

I had become shy of life’s bustle in my solitary retreat and was apprehensive at the thought of facing the world.

Eastern Muslim countries, such as Indonesia and Malaysia, are relative success stories, as they are not afflicted by the Arab heritage of retreat and humiliation at the hands of the French, Spanish, British, Turks, and Persians.

It begins with the kind of story the writers want to tell. We never sit around in those retreats and say, ‘We really need to make a change. Let’s change this character.’ Or throw a dart at the wall and see what hits. It all begins with story.

Follow me if I advance! Kill me if I retreat! Revenge me if I die!

All basic scientists who look to the NCI for funding should know that I will tolerate no retreat on the study of model systems and the pursuit of fundamental biological principles.

You have an expansionist Islam and you have an expansionist China. Right? They are motivated. They’re arrogant. They’re on the march. And they think the Judeo-Christian West is on the retreat.

Making a new season for ‘Legion’ is not something you just switch into. It’s not something you do between dropping the kids off in the morning and having dinner at night. That’s a retreat into the woods for six weeks with some mushrooms, and trying to come back with the answers.

David Cameron’s approach has left Britain weakened and weary because to retreat from the world is as foolish as it is futile.

On a visit to Cologne in March 1945, after a heavy bombing, I met hundreds and hundreds of deserters who were squatting in the rubble, many in the deep cellars left from Roman times. They had been hiding there after the retreat from France.

The journey that ‘In Praise of Slowness’ has made since publication shows how far this message resonates. The book has been translated into more than 30 languages. It appears on reading lists from business schools to yoga retreats. Rabbis, priests and imams have quoted from it in their sermons.

The temptations are great to simply retreat to the domain of private life and give up on our public problems.

I don’t feel the need for religion. But I went on a yoga retreat last year and I do believe slightly in the karma thing and just being good and true unto yourself. And I slightly believe that you can attract good and bad to you.

We as a people, as a state, and as a community, have too much promise, too much potential, and too much at stake to go any other way than forward. We are too strong in our hearts, too innovative in our minds, and too firm in our beliefs to retreat from our goals.

Too often, the idea seemed to be that the cost of being part of Europe was being less like Britain. So after years of fighting to defend Europe against attacks from the Eurosceptic right, it would be fatal to retreat into the same arguments and begin the battle anew.

Music makes illness retreat.

The political solutions to the refugee crisis may be complex, but that does not mean we should abandon our humanity. We should not close our hearts, retreat behind walls, real or imagined, or ignore the pressing moral imperative to provide assistance and sanctuary for some of the world’s most desperate people.

Never retreat. Never explain. Get it done and let them howl.

A mistress should be like a little country retreat near the town, not to dwell in constantly, but only for a night and away.

I had 13 weeks off and I would pack up the family and drive to some mountain retreat where we could be together and fish all day. I loved it. I needed it.

I love Hallmark movies because they make movies that you don’t see anymore… and at a time when there is so much evil in the world, it’s kind of nice to be able to retreat to something like a Hallmark Movies and Mysteries.

I think a lot of Hollywood is in retreat right now trying to figure out how to make money and make the safest bets.

I look at decisions like – it’s like an Indiana Jones movie. The guy comes to a rope ladder, and he’s being chased. There’s uncertainty on the other side, but he knows when he gets to the other side, he’s going to take his machete and cut the rope ladder behind him. He has no retreat.

I will not retreat; I will find the strength to reach my goal.

I went to a cleansing retreat in the desert where I didn’t eat for eight days and experienced hunger-driven hallucinations.

I’ve never been in a Sweat Lodge. I, myself, personally don’t even like sitting in a sauna, so I’ve never been to a spiritual retreat so I don’t understand the whole process.

My command, less than ten thousand, had found the battle on the Plank road in retreat, little less than a panic. In a few hours we changed defeat to victory, the broken divisions of the Third Corps rallying in their rear.

The north coast of Brittany is eaten into bays from which the sea retreats to considerable distances, and is fringed with reefs and islands. It is a favourite resort of Parisians throughout its stretch, from Dinard to Plestin.

It’s no coincidence that the word ‘holiday’ suggests a holy day, or that the longest book in the Torah concerns the Sabbath. If you wish to advance in any sphere, the best way is to take a retreat.

Anyone who has had their heart broken learns to keep a little safety area. Even now in my relationship, I have something I can call my own in case something goes wrong. You need a place to retreat to.

I retreat to my cave in a very male fashion.

I never retreat from films, as it were, I simply indulge in other interests, that’s all.

It is madness to attempt to hold. In the first place the troops cannot do it and in the second place if they do not retreat they will be destroyed. I repeat that this order be rescinded or that you find someone else.

Typically a weekend retreat for the heart, soul and palate, brunch is the perfect way to unwind and reconnect.

Will we fight or will we retreat? That is the question that is posed to us. Some of my friends on the other side of the aisle often refer to Iraq as a distraction.

Part of the happiness of life consists not in fighting battles, but in avoiding them. A masterly retreat is in itself a victory.

President-elect Donald Trump has a host of national security challenges to deal with as he assumes office, from the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan to the grinding Syrian civil war to the flexing of Russian muscles under President Vladimir Putin to how to deal with ISIS as the terrorist army retreats in Iraq.

I want to create a life that is just healthy and peaceful – an enclave, really, of retreat. It’s not helpful for the big picture. It’s totally selfish to run away like that.

Anytime a movie or television show retreats into certain American pasts, I’m both annoyed and relieved.

I have hundreds of poems memorized. Mostly by others, but also my own. I use the poems when I lead retreats for management groups on topics like creating teams, or coming up with a more entrepreneurial system, or creating more excitement.

I meditate an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. Once a year I go away for a long retreat. And overall, I just feel more comfortable in my own skin and less anxious, less sad, less fearful.

For anyone who can only handle about 12-minutes-per-day of anything news related before needing to retreat into isolation, allow me to recommend spending those 12 minutes listening to the opening monologue of ‘The Rush Limbaugh Show.’

‘Original Sin’ is one of those ideas that has been circulating for several years at the Marvel retreats we have a couple times a year. We have all these ideas floating around for a bit before we figure out how to align them.

Peace comes through strength, not through retreat.

The Iraqi forces are conducting the Mother of all Retreats.

Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.

I think about death a lot, I really do, because I can’t believe I won’t exist. It’s the ego isn’t it? I feel that I should retreat into a better form of Zen Buddhism than this kind of ego-dominated thing. But I don’t know, I mean, I want to come back as a tree but I suspect that it’s just not going to happen, is it?

My earliest experiences in meditation were in a context of intensive retreats.

Liberal Democrats in government will not follow the last Labour government by sounding the retreat on the protection of civil liberties in the United Kingdom. It continues to be essential that our civil liberties are safeguarded, and that the state is not given the powers to snoop on its citizens at will.

I think I first got into acting through church. I would go to these church retreats, and they would tell us to make a skit or make a video and present it to the rest of the group. And I started doing that. And I fell in love with it.

Reform is not a period of retreat.

Books, I found, had the power to make time stand still, retreat or fly into the future.

That perfect tranquillity of life, which is nowhere to be found but in retreat, a faithful friend and a good library.

I sense very little appetite for green efforts to persuade people to accept a frozen or declining standard of living for the sake of the environment. Recessions remind us that economic retreat or stagnation is painful, whatever the goal.

The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace, whose only thought is to protect his country and do good service for his sovereign, is the jewel of the kingdom.

In wrestling, there is no retreat. No way to slow things down. In wrestling, you advance and advance, and being tired is just a lie to make the other guy think he can relax. It’s so hard – harder than anything I’ve ever done.

In 1987, when I was 19, I was studying musical theater at Boston’s Emerson College. My sister, Tricia Leigh, told me about a summer acting retreat in Italy. Mom paid, so off we went.

Christians take Scriptures out of context to try to justify or to vindicate retreat and cowardice.

A lot of missions for NASA or experiments on accelerators happen through a whole process of scientific retreats, long-range planning, forming collaborations to do studies – all this kind of stuff. It’s very democratic.

I’d been focused on trying to start civil disobedience since 2010. I’d tried many things and they hadn’t worked. So I went on a retreat and prayed, with some psychedelic medicines. It was really intense and I prayed for what I called the codes for social change and within a month my prayer was answered.

You have to know when to strike and when to retreat.

My life is the land, the dogs, the car, the motorcycle, the pond, the canoe, going to pick up mail. It’s just a rural retreat that I enjoy.

Once you thrust yourself out there in the public domain, it’s really hard to retreat, to say no or reclaim that certain part of your life as private.

I, Philip Kearny, an old soldier, enter my solemn protest against this order for retreat.

An early remedy for malaria called for tossing the sufferer, Br’er Rabbit-style, into a prickly bush; in his hasty retreat, went the thinking, he might leave the fever behind. Orally-administered cobwebs were also deemed effective.

When I look in the mirror, I see the ageing process at full pelt, the hairline in retreat, the bags under the eyes growing and darkening, that kind of thing. I suppose it would be easier if I weren’t an actor, but I am fairly philosophical about it.

Without any formal orders to retreat, what was left of the several organizations yielded to a general impulse to abandon the field. Officers and men became controlled by the one thought of getting as far as possible from the enemy.

It was announced as a French victory by the French Minister of War. I did not see any sign of victory but only the retreat of the French forces engaged in the battle.

The thing that comes most frequently to me on yoga retreats is excruciating pain in my hips.

Straightforward fiction functions only as more Bubble Wrap, nostalgia, retreat.