He is a real teacher who not only instructs others, but practices the same instructions himself.

The Universe has never separated itself from man. Man separates himself from the Universe.

If you have a happy mind, your face and body will reflect that happiness.

The cause of all pain and suffering is ignorance.

To a mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.

Coming empty handed, going empty handed—that is human. When you are born, where do you come from? When you die, where do you go?

Each of us has an image of what we think we are or what we should be, and that image, that picture, entirely prevents us from seeing ourselves as we actually are.

Either you think—or else others have to think for you and take power from you, pervert and discipline your natural tastes, civilize and sterilize you.

Wisdom is knowing that you do not need anything to be happy unless you know

“Face the brutes.” … That is a lesson for all life—face the terrible, face it boldly. Like the monkeys, the hardships of life fall back when we cease to flee before them.

I have thousands of opinions still—but that is down from millions—and, as always, I know nothing.

Language has created the word “loneliness” to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word “solitude” to express the glory of being alone.

To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level.

Grateful people recognize that we live in a given world, at a given moment, under given circumstances: everything is a gift. They appreciate the given for what it is, and celebrate the gift by creatively doing something with it.

There were so many miracles at work: that a blossom might become a peach, that a bee could make honey in its thorax, that rain might someday fall.

The soil in which the meditative mind can begin is the soil of everyday life, the strife, the pain, and the fleeting joy. It must begin there, and bring order, and from there move endlessly. But if you are concerned only with making order, then that very order will bring about its own limitation… the…

The ocean which washes away all traces on the sand leaves us a new canvas with each wave.

The time which we have at our disposal every day is elastic.

The sound is just the sound. It’s me who’s going out to annoy it. If I leave the sound alone, it won’t annoy me…. If I don’t go out and bother the sound, it’s not going to bother me.

Only that day dawns to which we are awake

Mindfulness helps us get better at seeing the difference between what’s happening and the stories we tell ourselves about what’s happening, stories that get in the way of direct experience. Often such stories treat a fleeting state of mind as if it were our entire and permanent self.

The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention.

Don’t explain your philosophy. Embody it.

Life is full of alternatives but no choice.

If you want to inspire confidence, give plenty of statistics. It does not matter that they should be accurate, or even intelligible, so long as there is enough of them.

Every time you meet a person, think of some encouraging thing to say—a kind word, a helpful suggestion, an expression of admiration. Never think of any right effort as being fruitless. All right effort bears fruit, whether we see the results or not.

Could Hamlet have been written by a committee, or the Mona Lisa painted by a club? Could the New Testament have been composed as a conference report? Creative ideas do not spring from groups. They spring from individuals. The divine spark leaps from the finger of God to the finger of Adam, whether it takes ultimate…

It’s important to think. It’s what separates us from lentils.

Let go or be dragged.

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