When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

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.

When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways - either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength.

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

The essence of Buddhism is not a belief system but a systematic investigation of our experience.

A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it.

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

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

Time passes unhindered. When we make mistakes, we cannot turn the clock back and try again. All we can do is use the present well.

You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself.

The deepest form of happiness comes from discovering the natural peace of our own awareness.

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

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

Every step on the path must be with the understanding of anicca - impermanence. This is the essence of the teaching.

Looking for peace is like looking for a turtle with a mustache: you won't be able to find it. But when your heart is ready, peace will come looking for you.

Panic is a gateway to wisdom. When we learn to stay present with our panic, it becomes our teacher.

The path to liberation requires both individual effort and the support of the spiritual community.

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

Ethical conduct is not a constraint upon our freedom but a condition of our freedom.

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

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.

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.

Hasten slowly and you will soon arrive.

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

When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything. When you try to understand everything, you will not understand anything.

Sensations are not your enemy. They are your teacher. Through observing them, you understand the truth of existence.

The essence of meditation is not something complicated or exotic. It is simply taking a break from our habitual patterns.

Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.

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

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

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

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

Since all things are empty of inherent existence, anything is possible. If things had inherent existence, nothing would be possible.

Study the Buddha's teaching which is present in every moment.

The purpose of our lives is to be happy, and happiness is found in benefiting others.

The silence between the notes is as important as the notes themselves.

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

Silence is sometimes the best answer.

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

Things derive their being and nature by mutual dependence and are nothing in themselves.

Reality is only a Rorschach ink-blot, you know.

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.

Sankharas are the seeds of consciousness that manifest as sensations. By observing sensations equanimously, we stop creating new sankharas.

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.

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

Expectations are the thieves of joy.

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

Not by hatred is hatred conquered, but by love alone. This is an eternal law.

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

The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.

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

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

The nature of mind is not something we need to achieve - it's something we need to recognize.

The Noble Eightfold Path is a path of training: training in ethical conduct, training in mental discipline, and training in wisdom.

In the gap between thoughts, nonconceptual wisdom shines continuously.

There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow, so today is the right day to love, believe, do and mostly live.

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

The past is just a memory. The future is just a dream. Be here now.