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

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

Face your own anger and you will be free from anger. Face your own fears and you will be free from fear.

To what shall I compare this life? It is like a boat that left at dawn, leaving no trace.

External phenomena are like a dream, whatever appears is not real. Recognize the nature of dream-like phenomena to be dream-like.

The only thing that we truly have control over is our attitude toward experience.

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

Mindfulness means keeping one's consciousness alive to the present reality.

Peace is within oneself to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering. It is not found in a forest or on a hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher.

The victorious ones have said that emptiness is the relinquishing of all views. Those who are possessed of the view of emptiness are said to be incurable.

Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind.

Vipassana is the art of living. Not the art of escaping.

Peace and negativity cannot coexist just as light and darkness cannot coexist.

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.

If you want to climb a mountain, begin at the top.

To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.

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

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

The more a thing tends to be permanent, the more it tends to be lifeless.

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

When mindfulness becomes continuous, the distinction between the observer and the observed begins to break down.

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

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.

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

If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.

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

To think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth. The problem is to see reality as it is.

Mindfulness is attention to life, and life itself is sacred.

The first step toward faith is to admit that we don't know everything.

The ultimate source of happiness is not money and power, but warm-heartedness.

In the gap between thoughts, nonconceptual wisdom shines continuously.

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

True happiness is born of letting go of what is unnecessary.

Forgiveness is not a moral issue. It's a power issue. When we hold onto grievance and resentment, we are giving our power away.

The true person is not anyone in particular. But like the deep blue color of the limitless sky, it is everyone, everywhere in the world.

You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.

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

Your own treasure house contains everything you need; why search outside?

The root of all suffering is ignorance. The antidote to ignorance is wisdom that realizes emptiness.

Mindfulness is being aware of what's going on, not trying to control what's going on.

The key to the Buddha's teaching is not grasping, not trying to hold onto things that are essentially impermanent and unstable.

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

Whatever is happening is the path to enlightenment.

The truth of suffering is not to be feared but to be understood through direct observation.

The goal of the Buddhist path is not to add something to our existence but to discover something that has been there all along.

The measure of success in spiritual life is how peaceful you are.

Anxiety and excitement are the same emotion. The only difference is our attitude toward the experience.

The spiritual journey is not about heaven and finally getting to a place that's really swell.

The entire path is a path of self-responsibility. Nobody else can walk it for you.

Insight knowledge comes from direct experience, not from intellectual understanding.

The heart of one who practices is like the earth. No matter what they throw on it, the earth remains unchanged.

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

When we recognize that our thoughts are just thoughts, we can choose whether or not to follow them.

If you want to understand suffering, you must look into the situation at hand. The teachings say that wherever a problem arises it must be settled right there.

The difference between being caught in thoughts and being mindful of thoughts is like the difference between being in a movie and watching a movie.

Because you are alive, everything is possible.

Only one book is worth reading: the heart.

Study how water flows in a valley stream, smoothly and freely between the rocks.

Without darkness, there is no light. Without the path, there is no arrival.

Liberation is found in the practice, not in the theory.