The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.

The greatest obstacle to connecting with our joy is resentment.

Mindfulness helps you go home to the present. And every time you go there and recognize a condition of happiness that you have, happiness comes.

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.

As rain breaks through an ill-thatched house, passion will break through an unreflecting mind.

We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It's just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.

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

When you begin to see that your enemy is suffering, that is the beginning of insight.

Feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we're holding back.

The mind is the source of all happiness and the source of all suffering.

When you run after your thoughts, you are like a dog chasing a stick. Every time a stick is thrown, you run after it. Instead, be like a lion who, rather than chasing after the stick, turns to face the thrower.

The mind is everything. What you think, you become.

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.

Forgiveness is giving up all hope for a better past.

Mindfulness helps us get better at seeing the difference between what's happening and the stories we tell ourselves about what's happening.

A disciplined mind leads to happiness, and an undisciplined mind leads to suffering.

The ultimate source of a happy life is warm-heartedness. This means extending to others the kind of concern we have for ourselves.

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

The nature of mind is clearer than the sky, yet we keep looking elsewhere.

People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.

The nature of mind is like a mirror. It is not affected by whatever appears in it, yet it never fails to reflect everything perfectly.

Freedom is not found in the absence of difficulty, but in our relationship to it.

Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.

The practice of mindfulness begins in the small, remote cave of your unconscious mind and blossoms with the sunlight of your conscious life.

Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness.

The root of suffering is resisting the certainty that no matter what the circumstances, uncertainty is all we truly have.

The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves.

Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it's not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.

Suffering is not the end of the story; it is the middle of the story.

Every intelligent individual wants to know what makes him tick, and yet is at once fascinated and frustrated by the fact that oneself is the most difficult of all things to know.

The more we witness our emotional reactions and understand how they work, the easier it is to refrain.

To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don't need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.

When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help.

Fear keeps us focused on the past or worried about the future. If we can acknowledge our fear, we can realize that right now we are okay.

We need to learn to let our emotions pass through us like waves, without getting caught in their undertow.

The mind creates the abyss, and the heart crosses it.

When thoughts arise, recognize them as the display of your own awareness, like recognizing your own children in a crowd.

The more you understand yourself, the more you understand the world.

The mind itself is the maker of all happiness and misery; yet beings do not understand this and blame external conditions.

The difference between misery and happiness depends on what we do with our attention.

Anger or hatred is like a fisherman's hook. It is very important for us to ensure that we are not caught by it.

When you look deeply into your anger, you will see that the person you call your enemy is also suffering. As soon as you see that, the capacity for accepting and having compassion for them is there.

Rather than letting our negativity get the better of us, we could acknowledge that right now we feel like a piece of shit and not be squeamish about taking a good look.

Nothing can harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts.

The more you suffer the deeper grows your character, and with the deepening of your character you read the more penetratingly into the secrets of life.

Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions.

When we attempt to exercise power or control over someone else, we cannot avoid giving that person the very same power or control over us.

The only reason we don't open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we don't feel brave enough or sane enough to deal with.

The true hero is one who conquers his own anger and hatred.

To be attached to a thing means that mind and the thing meet and grow into each other.

When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don't blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce.

In the moment of anger, abandon anger but not the person. In the moment of attachment, abandon attachment but not the person.

The seed of suffering in you may be strong, but don't wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy.

When we see the nature of the mind, we see that we are not our thoughts.

Many people think excitement is happiness... But when you are excited you are not peaceful. True happiness is based on peace.

To see directly is to be free of hope and fear. Hope and fear are like a cloud before the sun.

When you love someone, you have to have trust and confidence. Love without trust is not yet love.

Just as true humor is laughter at oneself, true humanity is knowledge of oneself.

The mind is everything. What you think you become.