Detachment is the act of “not being emotionally attached or in close relation with others, especially emotionally or romantically.” It is one of the most powerful skills you can learn in life. It’s a way of living with many benefits, such as increased productivity, better happiness, and efficient decision-making.
To a certain extent, all humans are detached from other people. This detachment is closely related to self-preservation and survival. Attachment makes us vulnerable to attack when we are unable to defend ourselves because of limited resources.
Some people who struggle with detachment sometimes find themselves in dangerous situations where they may put their life on the line without hesitation for the safety of another human being.
Being mindful of your feelings, thoughts and emotions can also help reduce “detachment”–the feeling that one’s work doesn’t matter–in your work life. This detachment is harmful because it makes us less likely to invest in our work and do our best.
Check out these thoughts on detachment to motivate you to put your total effort into your work and life.
41 Most Inspiring Quotes On Detachment
“To be consistently effective, you must put a certain distance between yourself and what happens to you on the golf course. This is not indifference, it’s detachment.” ― Sam Snead
“Only in the stillness of detachment can the soul yield up her secrets.” ― Elsa Barker
“It was my letting go that gave me a better hold.” ― Chris Matakas
“Detachment is not giving up the things in this world, but accepting the fact and to be continuously aware that nothing is permanent.” ― Aditya Ajmera
“Sometimes you have to completely detach yourself.” ― Anonymous
“Detachment is a plant of slow growth; if you pluck the tender plant to look for the pods, you will be disappointed.” ― Sri Sathya Sai Baba
“Let us be humble and keep ourselves down: – Obedience! Humility! Detachment!” ― Philip Neri
“If you truly want to be respected by people you love, you must prove to them that you can survive without them.” ― Michael Bassey Johnson
“The detached observer’s view is one window on the world.” ― Kenneth L. Pike
“Attachement is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be attained only by someone who is detached.” ― Simone Well
“True detachment isn’t separation from life but the absolute freedom within your mind to explore living.” ― Ron. W. Rathbun
“Great calm, generous detachment, selfless love, disinterested effort: these are what make for success in life. If you can find peace in yourself and can spread comfort around you, you will be happier than an empress.” ― Rabindranath Tagore
“Humour is a form of self-detachment.” ― Claude Roy
“Detachment doesn’t mean you don’t let the experience penetrate you. On the contrary, you let it penetrate you fully. That’s how you are able to leave it.” ― Mitch Albom
“Always remember that you were once alone, and the crowd you see in your life today are just as unecessary as when you were alone.” ― Michael Bassey Johnson
“Our detachments move us toward freedom and death.” ― Mason Cooley
“Detachment, sometimes it’s necessary in order to restore your sanity. Your peace of mind.” ― Anonymous
“Sometimes you have to detach, to find yourself.” ― Anonymous
“Your heart must become a sea of love. Your mind must become a river of detachment.” ― Sri Chinmoy
“Those who conquer their minds are beings of detachment.” ― Anonymous
“There is no detachment where there is no pain. And there is no pain endured without hatred or lying unless detachment is present too.” ― Simone Weil
“Detachment is not that you should own nothing. But that nothing should own you.” ― Ali ibn abi Talib
“Detachment is an art of enjoying something while always being open to the possibility of losing it someday.” ― John B. Bejo
“Consciousness is compassion infused detached.” ― Amy Larson
“Everything is temporary; Emotions, thoughts, people and scenery. Do not become attached, just flow with it.” ― Anonymous
“Detachment consists in refraining from letting our possessions possess us.” ― Abdu’l-Bahá
“Detachment produces a peculiar state of mind. Maybe that’s the worst sentence of all, to be deprived of feeling what a human being ought to be entitled to feel.” ― James Dickey
“The essence of the Way is detachment.” ― Bodhidharma
“Your numbness is something perhaps you cannot help. It is what the world has done to you. But your coldness. That is what you do to the world.” ― Lorrie Moore
“Detachment does not mean non-involvement. You can be deeply involved but not entangled.” ― Jaggi Vasudev
“Detachment is the ultimate pleasure.” ― Saraha
“To spare oneself from grief at all cost can be achieved only at the price of total detachment.” ― Erich Fromm
“One detects creative power by its capacity to conquer one’s detachment.” ― Marianne Moore
“We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. We are here to observe, to learn, to grow, to love, and then we return home.” ― Australian Aboriginal Proverb
“There is nothing harder to come by than detachment and solitude; and nothing more important.” ― Marya Mannes
“He who would be serene and pure needs but one thing, detachment.” ― Meister Eckhart
“Detachment means to not be owned by what we own.” ― Mahatma Prabhu
“When you become detached mentally from yourself and concentrate on helping other people with their difficulties, you will be able to cope with your own more effectively. Somehow, the act of self-giving is a personal power-releasing factor.” ― Norman Vincent Peale
“Detached action is unselfish work.” ― Bhagavad Gita
“Detachment doesn’t mean I’m trying less hard. It just means that fears and emotions that used to torment and paralyze me longer have the same power over me.” ― Kelly Cultrone
“Compassion without detachment is attachment to the bodily platform.” ― Radhanath Swami
