When the mind is empty, silent, when it is in a state of complete negation – which is not blankness, nor the opposite of being positive, but a totally different state in which all thought has ceased – only then is it possible for that which is unnameable to come into being.

What we have found in this country, and maybe we’re more aware of it now, is one problem that we’ve had, even in the best of times, and that is the people who are sleeping on the grates, the homeless, you might say, by choice.

I want the Israeli government to be made accountable for its behaviour to the Palestinians, and I want the people of the U.S. to cease acting as if they don’t understand what is going on.

It occurred to me that at one point it was like I had two diseases – one was Alzheimer’s, and the other was knowing I had Alzheimer’s.

By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond the winning.

Remind yourself that winning an argument or proving your point really gets you nowhere in the long run. Win through your actions, not your words.

Technology is destructive only in the hands of people who do not realize that they are one and the same process as the universe.

Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.

Forget the past.

So much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don’t even know that fire is hot.

The answer is, who you are cannot be defined through thinking or mental labels or definitions, because it’s beyond that. It is the very sense of being, or presence, that is there when you become conscious of the present moment. In essence, you and what we call the present moment are, at the deepest level, one.

I’ve learned that men and women who are living wholehearted lives really allow themselves to soften into joy and happiness. They allow themselves to experience it.

When you look at the sun during your walking meditation, the mindfulness of the body helps you to see that the sun is in you; without the sun there is no life at all and suddenly you get in touch with the sun in a different way.

Become slower in your journey through life. Practice yoga and meditation if you suffer from ‚hurry sickness.‘ Become more introspective by visiting quiet places such as churches, museums, mountains and lakes. Give yourself permission to read at least one novel a month for pleasure.

Meditation demands an astonishingly alert mind; it is the understanding of the totality of life in which every form of fragmentation has ceased.

When thou art above measure angry, bethink thee how momentary is man’s life.

The truth is that there is no actual stress or anxiety in the world; it’s your thoughts that create these false beliefs. You can’t package stress, touch it, or see it. There are only people engaged in stressful thinking.

Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening.

The way to silence religious disputes is to take no notice of them.

Silence is a true friend who never betrays.

Knowing that the time to sleep has come, the Lord sleeps, and does well in sleeping. Often, when we have been fretting and worrying, we should have glorified God far more had we literally gone to sleep.

Let the refining and improving of your own life keep you so busy that you have little time to criticize others.

A man’s interest in a single bluebird is worth more than a complete but dry list of the fauna and flora of a town.

I am a most noteworthy sinner, but I have cried out to the Lord for grace and mercy, and they have covered me completely. I have found the sweetest consolation since I made it my whole purpose to enjoy His marvellous Presence.

Read about history, and you become aware that nothing starts with us.

I pray while driving. I pray while working, and while relaxing.

What’s the good of drawing in the next breath if all you do is let it out and draw in another?

If you know how to worry, you know how to meditate. It means to think of something over and over.

Each doctor makes a much, much more important job than I do, but at the end, nobody talks about him. We all know about it, but we don’t really think about it.

I think all Americans believe in human rights. And health is an often overlooked aspect of basic human rights. And it’s one that’s easily corrected. The reason I say that is that many of the diseases that we treat around the world, I knew when I was a child. My mother was a registered nurse. And they no longer exist in our country.

If God treats you well by teaching you a disastrous lesson, you never forget it.

The incomparable greatness of the religions of the East lies in their having been second to none in vibrating with the passion for unity. This note, which is essential to every form of mysticism, has even penetrated them so deeply that we find ourselves falling under a spell simply by uttering the names of their Gods.

Spend more time in study and prayer. That’s the secret of successful evangelism.

A squirrel dying in front of your house may be more relevant to your interests right now than people dying in Africa.

People sacrifice the present for the future. But life is available only in the present. That is why we should walk in such a way that every step can bring us to the here and the now.

Silence is one of the great arts of conversation.

You do indeed have a past, but not now! And, yes, you have a future, but not now! You can consume your now with thoughts of ‚then‘ and ‚maybe,‘ but that will keep you from the inner peace you could experience.

Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.

If you live only in one culture for the first 20 years of your life, you become conditioned without knowing it.

When you read, I’m sure you don’t realize that your eyes are going backwards and forwards and to this place and that place. Mine don’t do that.

The greatness of man is great in that he knows himself to be wretched. A tree does not know itself to be wretched.

Voyagers discover that the world can never be larger than the person that is in the world; but it is impossible to foresee this, it is impossible to be warned.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

Words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.

If you wish to forget anything on the spot, make a note that this thing is to be remembered.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

When I feel I’m doing too much, I do less if I can.

Because in a split second, it’s gone.

AIDS itself is subject to incredible stigma.

Every day I try to be in communication with the universe in an unconscious way.

I know black people love the idea that we finally have a beautiful, good-looking black president. But if he is doing awful things to us, we should wake up.

The eye sees what it brings the power to see.

Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.

Once I knew only darkness and stillness… my life was without past or future… but a little word from the fingers of another fell into my hand that clutched at emptiness, and my heart leaped to the rapture of living.

When you get into your car, shut the door and be there for just half a minute. Breathe, feel the energy inside your body, look around at the sky, the trees. The mind might tell you, ‚I don’t have time.‘ But that’s the mind talking to you. Even the busiest person has time for 30 seconds of space.

Everything God tells us to do is for our good. Whether it’s direction you get in His Word or something He’s specifically put in your heart for your situation in life, the absolute best thing you can ever do is obey Him promptly and completely.

Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already.

If you abandon the present moment, you cannot live the moments of your daily life deeply.

The best effort of a fine person is felt after we have left their presence.

Narrow your life down to this moment. Your life situation may be full of problems – most life situations are – but find out if you have a problem at this moment. Do you have a problem now?

Whenever you’re going through a tough time, generally, you become more compassionate, you become softer, you become more thoughtful, kinder. These are all spiritual qualities that will help you to align yourself with God and God consciousness rather than with a split fear-based consciousness.