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

We need the courage to learn from our experience and the wisdom to be willing to change and grow.

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

Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past.

Happiness is not about getting what you want, but wanting what you've got.

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.

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.

The path is not about moving from one place to another. It's about recognizing where we already are.

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

Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.

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

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

Right View is not just a matter of intellectual understanding but of seeing things as they really are.

It is never too late to turn on the light.

The Buddha's path is not about becoming somebody different but about becoming more and more who you really are.

The essence of Buddhist practice is to bring everything onto the path. Every experience becomes an opportunity for awakening.

The Dhamma unfolds in accordance with a definite sequence: faith, virtue, learning, generosity, wisdom, and insight.

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

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

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

Loving-kindness is not something we need to manufacture. It's a natural expression of our awakened nature.

If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?

Only when you can be extremely pliable and soft can you be extremely hard and strong.

Awareness is always with us. We don't need to create it or achieve it - we just need to recognize what's already there.

The instant you speak about a thing, you miss the mark.

Long is the night to him who is awake; long is a mile to him who is tired; long is life to the foolish who do not know the true law.

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

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.

Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible be found in us.

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

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

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.

The future is completely open, and we are writing it moment to moment.

The practice of mindfulness is the practice of being alive in the present moment.

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

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

Awareness is the basis, or what you might call the "support," of the mind. It is steady and unchanging, like the pole to which the flag of ordinary consciousness is attached.

To live is enough.

The problem is not the problem; the problem is your attitude about the problem.

The root of suffering is attachment.

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

Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.

The mind is intrinsically empty. It's empty of all that we perceive as being intrinsically "me" and "mine."

Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it.

Like a fine flower, beautiful to look at but without scent, fine words are fruitless in a man who does not act in accordance with them.

The greatest achievement is selflessness. The greatest worth is self-mastery.

People who study a lot but don't practice are like a ladle in a soup pot. It's in the soup every day, but it doesn't know the taste of the soup.

If it isn't good, let it die. If it doesn't die, make it good.

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

When mindfulness and concentration are strong, insight into the three characteristics naturally unfolds.

The everyday practice is simply to develop complete acceptance and openness to all situations and emotions.

For whom emptiness is possible, everything is possible. For whom emptiness is not possible, nothing is possible.

Real freedom is not about controlling our experience, but about being free within our experience.

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

Understanding at the intellectual level is not enough. There must be experience at the actual level.

Every moment is a fresh beginning. Every breath is a new chance.

When you generate negativity, you are the first victim of your negativity.

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

True freedom is not the absence of commitment but the presence of choice.