True peace is found not in the absence of experience but in the clear seeing of all experience.

Happiness is not the pursuit of an endless succession of experiences but an attitude toward life.

Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment.

When you let go of trying to control everything, you can relax and enjoy life.

Silence is so much more productive of wisdom and clarity than thinking.

Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past.

All worldly pursuits have but one unavoidable and inevitable end, which is sorrow; acquisitions end in dispersion; buildings in destruction; meetings in separation; births in death.

The only way to experience truth is to look within, to observe oneself.

The purpose of a spiritual discipline is to give us a way to stop the war, not by our force of will, but through understanding and through letting go.

The three characteristics - impermanence, suffering, and non-self - are not philosophical concepts but aspects of experience to be directly observed.

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

Compassion is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength.

The purpose of life is to be happy, to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate. It is not to be well known, cited, or powerful.

Don't take life too seriously. No one gets out alive anyway.

The path of awakening is not about becoming who we think we should be, but about unbecoming who we are not.

The force of the kindness of others is so strong, we can't possibly measure it.

There is no path to happiness: happiness is the path.

Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression by saying something, and sometimes one creates as significant an impression by remaining silent.

The treasure house within you contains everything, and you are free to use it. You don't need to seek outside.

The Dhamma is not a collection of doctrinal formulas but a path leading to direct insight into the nature of reality.

To be in harmony with the wholeness of things is not to have anxiety over imperfection.

The real secret of the arts: always be a beginner.

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

We deal with our mind from morning until evening, and it can be our best friend or our worst enemy.

When one sees with wisdom that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence, one is liberated from suffering.

Each of you is perfect the way you are... and you can use a little improvement.

The things that matter most in our lives are not fantastic or grand. They are the moments when we touch one another.

Love is not a feeling. It's a capability.

Don't try to change the world. First, change yourself.

The practice is like peeling an onion. Layer after layer of delusion is removed through continuous mindfulness.

The period of greatest gain in knowledge and experience is the most difficult period in one's life.

As surely as there is a voyage away, there is a journey home.

In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few.

The practice of patience guards us against losing our presence of mind.

A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but if he is peaceful, loving and fearless then he is in truth called wise.

The nature of everything is illusory and ephemeral, those with dualistic perception regard suffering as happiness, like they who lick the honey from a razor's edge.

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.

The water in the ocean can be rough or calm. It can be clear or murky. But the water itself doesn't mind.

The most important thing in life is to know death is coming and to prepare for it.

The Buddha's teaching is a teaching of self-reliance, of being one's own master, one's own refuge.

The mind is like a well-forged sword - it adapts to all situations.

If you want to know the past, look at the present. If you want to know the future, look at the present.

If I had any position, I would thereby have a flaw. But since I have no position, I alone am without flaw.

The path is the goal. Every step of the journey is the journey.

The law of nature is the law of cause and effect. As you sow, so shall you reap.

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

The contradiction so puzzling to the ordinary way of thinking comes from the fact that we have to use language to communicate our inner experience, which in its very nature transcends linguistics.

True happiness is not about getting rid of all our problems, but about changing our relationship to them.

Life is like an ever-shifting kaleidoscope - a slight change, and all patterns alter.

Real peace comes from seeing things as they really are, not as we want them to be.

The path to liberation requires both understanding and practice, both pariyatti and patipatti.

Trees, mountains, and vines all exist in nature according to their own truth. They are born and die following their nature. They remain this way because that's what they are. They don't practice meditation or do anything special.

Observe the reality as it is, not as you wish it to be.

Peace is not found by changing the world, but by changing your attitude to the world.

Our true nature is like a diamond - pure, brilliant, and indestructible. No matter how much dirt covers it, its essential nature remains unchanged.

The obstacle is the path.

Meditation is not an escape from reality but a way to understand reality as it truly is.

The essence of Buddhist practice is to reduce our selfishness and to work for the benefit of others.

Don't be a bodhisatta; don't be an arahant; don't be anything at all. Being something makes you suffer.

Wisdom says we are nothing. Love says we are everything. Between these two our life flows.