Your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts, and you are the slave to your emotions. It’s a powerful chain reaction that explains so much of our daily stress and anxiety. Once you see this pattern in your own life, you can’t unsee it. It’s the key to breaking free from reactive emotional cycles.
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Meaning
This quote describes a three-part chain of command in your mind: your thoughts lead, your emotions follow, and you end up being dragged along by the whole process.
Explanation
Let me break it down for you. I’ve seen this play out with so many clients. It all starts in your head, right? A single thought—”My boss didn’t reply to my email, she must be angry with me”—triggers an immediate emotional response: anxiety, dread. That feeling then takes the wheel. It dictates your next action. Maybe you avoid your boss, you get defensive, you can’t focus on your work. See the chain? The thought is the master, the emotion is the slave, and you, my friend, become the slave to the emotion. It’s an autopilot loop that most people aren’t even aware they’re in. The real work, the life-changing work, is inserting a moment of awareness between the thought and the emotion. That’s where your power is.
Quote Summary
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Original Language | English (3668) |
| Category | Emotion (177) |
| Topics | emotion control (3), self awareness (56), thoughts (29) |
| Literary Style | aphoristic (181), philosophical (434) |
| Emotion / Mood | introspective (55) |
| Overall Quote Score | 83 (302) |
Origin & Factcheck
This is straight from Elizabeth Gilbert’s massive 2006 bestseller, Eat, Pray, Love. It’s a line she shares while she’s deep in her personal journey, wrestling with her own mind and heart. You sometimes see it floating around the internet attributed to various philosophers or spiritual teachers, but nope, it’s all Gilbert.
Attribution Summary
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Author | Elizabeth Gilbert (39) |
| Source Type | Book (4032) |
| Source/Book Name | Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia (39) |
| Origin Timeperiod | 21st Century (1892) |
| Original Language | English (3668) |
| Authenticity | Verified (4032) |
Author Bio
Elizabeth Gilbert writes with clarity and heart about creativity, love, and self-discovery. After starting in magazines like GQ and The New York Times Magazine, she published Pilgrims, then broke out with Eat Pray Love, followed by Committed, The Signature of All Things, Big Magic, and City of Girls. Her 2009 TED Talk on creativity went viral and continues to inspire makers worldwide. She splits time between writing, speaking, and mentoring creative communities. For a full view of her work, see the
| Official Website | Facebook | X| Instagram
Where is this quotation located?
| Quotation | Your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts, and you are the slave to your emotions |
| Book Details | Publication Year/Date: 2006; ISBN: 978-0-670-03471-0; Last edition: Penguin Books, 2010; Number of pages: 334. |
| Where is it? | Chapter 64, Indonesia section, Approximate page 234 from 2010 edition |