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.

Meditation is not following any system; it is not constant repetition and imitation. Meditation is not concentration.

The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.

One thing I just want to say to the military families – while you might not wear a uniform, I know – we all know, the nation knows – that you serve and sacrifice right alongside of your loved ones. And we are so grateful and proud of all of you for your service to this nation.

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

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.

The best cure for the body is a quiet mind.

Be content with what you are, and wish not change; nor dread your last day, nor long for it.

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.

I really concentrate on what’s on my plate at the moment and do the very best I can.

We are dying from overthinking. We are slowly killing ourselves by thinking about everything. Think. Think. Think. You can never trust the human mind anyway. It’s a death trap.

Calm mind brings inner strength and self-confidence, so that’s very important for good health.

If we chew every morsel of our food, in that way we become grateful, and when you are grateful, you are happy.

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?

Use your health, even to the point of wearing it out. That is what it is for. Spend all you have before you die; do not outlive yourself.

Meditation is to get insight, to get understanding and compassion, and when you have them, you are compelled to act.

We can’t just continue living as if there was no tomorrow, because there is a tomorrow.

In order to become prosperous, a person must initially work very hard, so he or she has to sacrifice a lot of leisure time.

I don’t think I get that upset over things.

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… We need silence to be able to touch souls.

Anybody can become angry – that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way – that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.

A man who is good enough to shed his blood for the country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards.

Live one day at a time emphasizing ethics rather than rules.

I never deny. I never contradict. I sometimes forget.

There are so many emotions that you’re feeling, you can get stifled by them if you’re feeling them all at once. What I try to do is take one moment – one simple, simple feeling – and expand it into three-and-a-half minutes.

Because in a split second, it’s gone.

God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, ‚I love you.‘

If you have the insight of non-self, if you have the insight of impermanence, you should make that insight into a concentration that you keep alive throughout the day. Then what you say, what you think, and what you do will then be in the light of that wisdom and you will avoid making mistakes and creating suffering.

If you keep feeling a point that has been sharpened, the point cannot long preserve its sharpness.

Always say ‚yes‘ to the present moment… Surrender to what is. Say ‚yes‘ to life – and see how life starts suddenly to start working for you rather than against you.

That’s the biggest gift I can give anybody: ‚Wake up, be aware of who you are, what you’re doing and what you can do to prevent yourself from becoming ill.‘

The true art of memory is the art of attention.

Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.

We have a great group of guys that really sacrifice every night, care about each other, and try to play the right away.

If you’re not careful to think and speak words of faith, worry will creep in, and it will not only steal your peace and joy, it will steal your ‚today.‘ The present is the greatest gift God ever gives us. So hold on to the peace that’s yours in Christ. Don’t let it go.

A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be.

If danger arises in the present moment, there may be an emotion. There may even be pain. But that’s a challenge, not a problem. For a problem to exist, you need time and repetitive mind activity.

Give yourself a gift of five minutes of contemplation in awe of everything you see around you. Go outside and turn your attention to the many miracles around you. This five-minute-a-day regimen of appreciation and gratitude will help you to focus your life in awe.

Breathe in deeply to bring your mind home to your body. Then look at, or think of, the person triggering this emotion: With mindfulness, you can see that she is unhappy, that she is suffering. You can see her wrong perceptions. You can see that she is not beautiful when she says things that are unkind.

Meditation helps me to calm down.

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.

Between stimulus and response, there is a space where we choose our response.

Control thy passions lest they take vengence on thee.

I restore myself when I’m alone.

Every thought you produce, anything you say, any action you do, it bears your signature.

With mindfulness, you can establish yourself in the present in order to touch the wonders of life that are available in that moment.

I like to take it easy.

And thou wilt give thyself relief, if thou doest every act of thy life as if it were the last.

You have to stay fresh and blank in your mind when you go out to bat. You complicate things, and you’re gone.

The time when most of you should withdraw into yourself is when you are forced to be in a crowd.

At one point I learned transcendental meditation. This was 30-something years ago. It took me back to the way that I naturally was as a child growing up way in the country, rarely seeing people. I was in that state of oneness with creation and it was as if I didn’t exist except as a part of everything.

Enlightenment is always there. Small enlightenment will bring great enlightenment. If you breathe in and are aware that you are alive – that you can touch the miracle of being alive – then that is a kind of enlightenment.

I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine to keep.

A daily portion is really all we need. We do not need tomorrow’s supply, for that day has not yet dawned, and its needs are still unborn.

I have great respect for the past. If you don’t know where you’ve come from, you don’t know where you’re going. I have respect for the past, but I’m a person of the moment. I’m here, and I do my best to be completely centered at the place I’m at, then I go forward to the next place.

It is a clear gain to sacrifice pleasure in order to avoid pain.

I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

When you take your attention into the present moment, a certain alertness arises. You become more conscious of what’s around you, but also, strangely, a sense of presence that is both within and without.

I have inhaled, exhaled everything.

Sacrifice, discipline and prayer are essential. We gain strength through God’s word. We receive grace from the sacrament. And when we fumble due to sin – and it’s gonna happen – confession puts us back on the field.

Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.