I've often thought that there isn't any "I" at all; that we are simply the means of expression of something else; that when we think we are ourselves, we are simply the victims of a delusion.

— Aleister Crowley

Light, Life and Love are like three glow-worms at thy feet: the whole universe of stars, the dewdrops on the grass whereon thou wackest!

— Aleister Crowley

Lisa was thinking, as she climbed the apparently unending staircase, the had taken pretty long odds. She had not hesitated to buck the Tiger, Life. Simon IFF had warned her that she was acting on impulse. But--on the top of that--he had merely urged her to be true to it. She swore once more that she would stick to her guns. The black mood fell from her. She turned and looked upon the sea, now far below. The sun, a hollow orb of molten glory, hung quivering in the mist of the Mediterranean; and Lisa entered for a moment into a perfect peace of spirit. She became once with Nature, instead of a being eternally at war with it.

— Aleister Crowley

Love in a night shall live and die, Love in a day shall wing and fly;Love in the Spring shall last an hour, Easily fade a spring-tide flower.

— Aleister Crowley

May the New Year bring you courage to break your resolutions early! My own plan is to swear off every kind of virtue, so that I triumph even when I fall!

— Aleister Crowley

Modern morality and manners suppress all natural instincts, keep people ignorant of the facts of nature and make them fighting drunk on bogey tales.

— Aleister Crowley

Must not understanding lie open unto wisdom as the pyramids lie open to the stars? (6:2)

— Aleister Crowley

No recorded vision is perfect, of high visions, for the seer must keep either his physical organs or his memory in working order. And neither is capable. There is no bridge. One can only be conscious of one thing at a time, and as the consciousness moves nearer to the vision, it loses control of the physical and mental.

— Aleister Crowley

Now there is naught but a vast black triangle having the apex downwards, and in the center of the black triangle is the face of Typhoon, the Lord of the Tempest, and he wraith aloud: Despair! Despair! For thou gayest deceive the Virgin, and thou gayest cajole the Mother; but what wilt thou say unto the ancient Whore that is throne in Eternity? For if she will not, there is neither force nor cunning, nor any wit, that may prevail upon her. Thou canst not woo her with love, for she is love. And she hath all, and hath no need of thee. And thou canst not woo her with gold, for all the Kings and captains of the earth, and all the gods of heaven, have showered their gold upon her. Thus hath she all, and hath no need of thee. And thou canst not woo her with knowledge, for knowledge is the thing that she hath spurned. She hath it all, and hath no need of thee. And thou canst not woo her with wit, for her Lord is Wit. She hath it all, and hath no need of thee. Despair! Despair! Nor canst thou cling to her knees and ask for pity; nor canst thou cling to her heart and ask for love; nor canst thou put thine arms about her neck, and ask for understanding; for thou hast all these, and they avail thee not. Despair! Despair! Then I took the Flaming Sword, and I let it loose against Typhoon, so that his head was cloven asunder, and the black triangle dissolved in lightnings.

— Aleister Crowley

O bid these strangers go ;Turn to my lips till their cup overflow ;Hurt me with kisses, kill me with desire, Consume me and destroy me with the fire Of bleeding passion straining at the heart, Touched to the core by sweetness that smart ;Bitten by fiery snakes, whose poisonous breath Swoons in the midnight, and dissolves to death !

— Aleister Crowley