The Book of the Law (Liber AL vel Legis) quotes
The lines readers remember from The Book of the Law (Liber AL vel Legis), by Aleister Crowley.
30 quotes · About the book
Standout lines
This is the creation of the world, that the pain of division is as nothing, and the joy of dissolution all.
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30.
This is the creation of the world, that the pain of division is as nothing, and the joy of dissolution all.
31. For these fools of men and their woes care not thou at all! They feel little; what is, is balanced by weak joys; but ye are my chosen ones.
There is no bond that can unite the divided but love: all else is a curse.
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41. The word of Sin is Restriction. O man! refuse not thy wife, if she will! O lover, if thou wilt, depart!
There is no bond that can unite the divided but love: all else is a curse.
Accursed! Accursed be it to the aeons! Hell.
For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect.
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44.
For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect.
45. The Perfect and the Perfect are one Perfect and not two; nay, are none!
All words are sacred and all prophets true; save only that they understand a little; solve the first half of the equation, leave the second unattacked.
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56. Expect him not from the East, nor from the West; for from no expected house cometh that child. Aum!
All words are sacred and all prophets true; save only that they understand a little; solve the first half of the equation, leave the second unattacked.
But thou hast all in the clear light, and some, though not all, in the dark.
I am the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star.
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6.
I am the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star.
I am Life, and the giver of Life, yet therefore is the knowledge of me the knowledge of death.
Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass & are done; but there is that which remains.
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9.
Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass & are done; but there is that which remains.
10. O prophet! thou hast ill will to learn this writing.
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The Book of the Law (Liber AL vel Legis)
Let my servants be few & secret: they shall rule the many & the known.
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10.
Let my servants be few & secret: they shall rule the many & the known.
11. These are fools that men adore; both their Gods & their men are fools.
Come forth, o children, under the stars, & take your fill of love!
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12.
Come forth, o children, under the stars, & take your fill of love!
13. I am above you and in you. My ecstasy is in yours. My joy is to see your joy.
I am above you and in you. My ecstasy is in yours.
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13.
I am above you and in you. My ecstasy is in yours.
My joy is to see your joy.
My joy is to see your joy.
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13. I am above you and in you. My ecstasy is in yours.
My joy is to see your joy.
14. Above, the gemmèd azure is The naked splendour of Nuit; She bends in ecstasy to kiss The secret ardours of Hadit. The winged globe, the starry blue, Are mine, O Ankh-af-na-khonsu!
For he is ever a sun, and she a moon.
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16.
For he is ever a sun, and she a moon.
But to him is the winged secret flame, and to her the stooping starlight.
Bind nothing! Let there be no difference made among you between any one thing & any other thing; for thereby there cometh hurt.
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22. Now, therefore, I am known to ye by my name Nuit, and to him by a secret name which I will give him when at last he knoweth me. Since I am Infinite Space, and the Infinite Stars thereof, do ye also thus.
Bind nothing! Let there be no difference made among you between any one thing & any other thing; for thereby there cometh hurt.
23. But whoso availeth in this, let him be the chief of all!
This is the creation of the world, that the pain of division is as nothing, and the joy of dissolution all.
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30.
This is the creation of the world, that the pain of division is as nothing, and the joy of dissolution all.
31. For these fools of men and their woes care not thou at all! They feel little; what is, is balanced by weak joys; but ye are my chosen ones.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
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40. Who calls us Thelemites will do no wrong, if he look but close into the word. For there are therein Three Grades, the Hermit, and the Lover, and the man of Earth.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
41. The word of Sin is Restriction. O man! refuse not thy wife, if she will! O lover, if thou wilt, depart! There is no bond that can unite the divided but love: all else is a curse. Accursed! Accursed be it to the aeons!
There is no bond that can unite the divided but love: all else is a curse.
Show the passage
41. The word of Sin is Restriction. O man! refuse not thy wife, if she will! O lover, if thou wilt, depart!
There is no bond that can unite the divided but love: all else is a curse.
Accursed! Accursed be it to the aeons! Hell.
For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect.
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44.
For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect.
45. The Perfect and the Perfect are one Perfect and not two; nay, are none!
The gross must pass through fire; let the fine be tried in intellect, and the lofty chosen ones in the highest.
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50. There is a word to say about the Hierophantic task. Behold! there are three ordeals in one, and it may be given in three ways.
The gross must pass through fire; let the fine be tried in intellect, and the lofty chosen ones in the highest.
Thus ye have star & star, system & system; let not one know well the other!
All words are sacred and all prophets true; save only that they understand a little; solve the first half of the equation, leave the second unattacked.
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56. Expect him not from the East, nor from the West; for from no expected house cometh that child. Aum!
All words are sacred and all prophets true; save only that they understand a little; solve the first half of the equation, leave the second unattacked.
But thou hast all in the clear light, and some, though not all, in the dark.
There is the dove, and there is the serpent. Choose ye well!
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57. Invoke me under my stars! Love is the law, love under will. Nor let the fools mistake love; for there are love and love.
There is the dove, and there is the serpent. Choose ye well!
He, my prophet, hath chosen, knowing the law of the fortress, and the great mystery of the House of God.
Love is the law, love under will.
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57. Invoke me under my stars!
Love is the law, love under will.
Nor let the fools mistake love; for there are love and love. There is the dove, and there is the serpent. Choose ye well! He, my prophet, hath chosen, knowing the law of the fortress, and the great mystery of the House of God.
My colour is black to the blind, but the blue & gold are seen of the seeing.
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60. My number is 11, as all their numbers who are of us. The Five Pointed Star, with a Circle in the Middle, & the circle is Red.
My colour is black to the blind, but the blue & gold are seen of the seeing.
Also I have a secret glory for them that love me.
Put on the wings, and arouse the coiled splendour within you: come unto me!
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I love you! I yearn to you! Pale or purple, veiled or voluptuous, I who am all pleasure and purple, and drunkenness of the innermost sense, desire you.
Put on the wings, and arouse the coiled splendour within you: come unto me!
62. At all my meetings with you shall the priestess say -- and her eyes shall burn with desire as she stands bare and rejoicing in my secret temple -- To me! To me!
In the sphere I am everywhere the centre, as she, the circumference, is nowhere found.
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3.
In the sphere I am everywhere the centre, as she, the circumference, is nowhere found.
4. Yet she shall be known & I never.
I am the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star.
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6.
I am the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star.
I am Life, and the giver of Life, yet therefore is the knowledge of me the knowledge of death.
I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle.
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7. I am the Magician and the Exorcist.
I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle.
"Come unto me" is a foolish word: for it is I that go.
Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass & are done; but there is that which remains.
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9.
Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass & are done; but there is that which remains.
10. O prophet! thou hast ill will to learn this writing.
Beauty and strength, leaping laughter and delicious languor, force and fire, are of us.
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20.
Beauty and strength, leaping laughter and delicious languor, force and fire, are of us.
21. We have nothing with the outcast and the unfit: let them die in their misery. For they feel not. Compassion is the vice of kings: stamp down the wretched & the weak: this is the law of the strong:
Purple beyond purple: it is the light higher than eyesight.
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51.
Purple beyond purple: it is the light higher than eyesight.
52. There is a veil: that veil is black. It is the veil of the modest woman; it is the veil of sorrow, & the pall of death: this is none of me. Tear down that lying spectre of the centuries:
A King may choose his garment as he will: there is no certain test: but a beggar cannot hide his poverty.
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the slaves shall serve. There is none that shall be cast down or lifted up: all is ever as it was. Yet there are masked ones my servants: it may be that yonder beggar is a King.
A King may choose his garment as he will: there is no certain test: but a beggar cannot hide his poverty.
59. Beware therefore! Love all, lest perchance is a King concealed! Say you so? Fool! If he be a King, thou canst not hurt him.
There is a light before thine eyes, o prophet, a light undesired, most desirable.
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61.
There is a light before thine eyes, o prophet, a light undesired, most desirable.
62. I am uplifted in thine heart; and the kisses of the stars rain hard upon thy body.
I am uplifted in thine heart; and the kisses of the stars rain hard upon thy body.
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62.
I am uplifted in thine heart; and the kisses of the stars rain hard upon thy body.
63. Thou art exhaust in the voluptuous fullness of the inspiration; the expiration is sweeter than death, more rapid and laughterful than a caress of Hell's own worm.
Write, & find ecstasy in writing! Work, & be our bed in working!
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66.
Write, & find ecstasy in writing! Work, & be our bed in working!
Thrill with the joy of life & death! Ah! thy death shall be lovely: whoso seeth it shall be glad. Thy death shall be the seal of the promise of our age long love. Come! lift up thine heart & rejoice! We are one;
Wisdom says: be strong! Then canst thou bear more joy.
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70. There is help & hope in other spells.
Wisdom says: be strong! Then canst thou bear more joy.
Be not animal; refine thy rapture! If thou drink, drink by the eight and ninety rules of art: if thou love, exceed by delicacy; and if thou do aught joyous, let there be subtlety therein!
Be not animal; refine thy rapture!
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70. There is help & hope in other spells. Wisdom says: be strong! Then canst thou bear more joy.
Be not animal; refine thy rapture!
If thou drink, drink by the eight and ninety rules of art: if thou love, exceed by delicacy; and if thou do aught joyous, let there be subtlety therein!
Deem not too eagerly to catch the promises; fear not to undergo the curses.
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16.
Deem not too eagerly to catch the promises; fear not to undergo the curses.
Ye, even ye, know not this meaning all.
Fear not at all; fear neither men nor Fates, nor gods, nor anything.
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17.
Fear not at all; fear neither men nor Fates, nor gods, nor anything.
Money fear not, nor laughter of the folk folly, nor any other power in heaven or upon the earth or under the earth. Nu is your refuge as Hadit your light; and I am the strength, force, vigour, of your arms.
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