The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

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.

Nothing is permanent. Everything is subject to change. Being is always becoming.

The development of insight is gradual, but the realization of truth is sudden.

The person who clings to nothing of the past, present and future, who has no attachment and no aversion, has no conceptual imprints.

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

Do not follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself.

The six realms of existence are like a dream, why build a prison for yourself?

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

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

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

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.

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

Life is nothing but a continuous chain of sensations. Pleasant or unpleasant, observe them objectively.

Real happiness lies within. It cannot be found in external objects or achievements.

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

The first noble truth of the Buddha is that life contains suffering. The second noble truth is that the cause of suffering is craving.

The only things that are truly mine are my actions and their results.

When we understand others, we understand ourselves. When we love others, we love ourselves.

We can learn to be present with whatever is happening in our lives, and in this way, we can begin to transform our relationship to difficulty.

Zen is not necessarily against words, but it is well aware of their limitations.

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

Our emotions are like waves in the ocean. We can't stop the waves, but we can learn to surf.

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

The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater our own sense of well-being becomes.

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

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

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.

The movement of love is what creates the beauty in our lives.

Meditation is like catching a fish. If you try to catch it quickly, you'll miss it. If you have patience and know how to wait, the fish will come.

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

People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost.

Much of spiritual life is self-acceptance, maybe all of it.

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

Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past.

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

Not knowing how near the truth is, we seek it far away.

Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.

When dharma fills your body and mind, you realize that something is missing.

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 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.

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

The mind is the forerunner of all things. Our present life is the result of our past thoughts, and our future life will be the result of our present thoughts.

Love is the wish that others be happy, and compassion is the wish that they be free from suffering.

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.

Zen proposes its solution by directly appealing to facts of personal experience and not to book-knowledge.

The precious pot containing my riches becomes my teacher in the very moment it breaks.

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

The root of suffering is attachment.

Compassion is not something we develop. It arises naturally as we see the truth of what is.

We can learn the art of fierce compassion - redefining strength, deconstructing isolation and renewing a sense of community, practicing letting go of rigid us-vs.-them thinking.

The more clearly you see the arising and passing of phenomena, the less you will be attached to them.

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

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

All that appears and exists, all of samsara and nirvana, has one ground, two paths, and two results. This is the magical display of awareness and unawareness.

The highest mantra is to be without deception. The highest medicine is to have few desires. The highest meditation is not to be attached.

Though the view should be as vast as the sky, keep your conduct as fine as barley flour.

Compassion is not mere sentiment but a powerful force that can transform both ourselves and others.

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