The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.

The teaching is simple: act with kindness and compassion. If you cannot do this, at least try not to harm others.

The stages of insight unfold naturally when mindfulness is continuous. There is no need to desire them or try to make them happen.

Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

The purpose of our lives is to be happy, and happiness is found in benefiting others.

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

The key to meditation is to recognize the nature of your mind rather than trying to change it.

The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.

The secret of happiness is to want what you already have.

Faith is not a commodity that you either have or don't have - it is an inner quality that unfolds as we learn to trust our own deepest experience.

When I run from suffering, it follows me. When I face suffering with equanimity, it runs from me.

Life is glorious, but life is also wretched. It is both. Appreciating the gloriousness inspires us, encourages us, cheers us up, gives us a bigger perspective, energizes us. We feel connected. But if that's all that's happening, we get arrogant and start to look down on others, and there is a sense of making ourselves a big deal and being really serious about it, wanting it to be like that forever. The gloriousness becomes tinged by craving and addiction. On the other hand, wretchedness--life's painful aspect--softens us up considerably. Knowing pain is a very important ingredient of being there for another person.

The experience of emptiness engenders compassion.

The more we understand the nature of our mind, the more we understand the nature of our world.

Neither from itself nor from another, nor from both, nor without a cause, does anything whatever, anywhere arise.

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.

The past is for learning from, not for living in.

The practice of vipassana is the study of the self. When you study physical and mental phenomena, you are studying the truth about yourself.

The more you understand impermanence, the more you appreciate every moment.

Generosity generates its own enthusiasm. We don't have to force ourselves to be generous; we just need to start.

The only way to fail at meditation is to stop doing it.

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.

Karma is not fate but the law of moral causation, showing us that we are the architects of our own destiny.

Happiness is a skill that can be developed like playing an instrument or learning to read.

We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.

You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.

My religion is to live and die without regret.

The essence of the spiritual journey is the uncovering of what is always already present.

True happiness comes from a sense of inner peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through cultivation of altruism, of love, of compassion.

When we develop patience, we find that we develop a reserve of calm and tranquility.

All experiences are preceded by mind, having mind as their master, created by mind.

The more you meditate, the more you understand yourself and the better friend you become to yourself.

The planet does not need more successful people. The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of all kinds.