I am always wary of decisions made hastily. I am always wary of the first decision, that is, the first thing that comes to my mind if I have to make a decision. This is usually the wrong thing. I have to wait and assess, looking deep into myself, taking the necessary time.

Choose your life’s mate carefully. From this one decision will come 90 percent of all your happiness or misery.

The best cure for the body is a quiet mind.

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.

I had therefore to remove knowledge, in order to make room for belief.

A man is usually more careful of his money than he is of his principles.

Being flooded with information doesn’t mean we have the right information or that we’re in touch with the right people.

Such as we are made of, such we be.

I think Clinton, after getting into office and into Washington, was shocked at being bludgeoned. So he spent time trying to be all things to all people – one way guaranteed not to be successful or respected in a lion’s den. You can’t just play around with all those big cats – you’ve got to take somebody on.

All my life, whenever it comes time to make a decision, I make it and forget about it.

All human evil comes from a single cause, man’s inability to sit still in a room.

Every President wants to do right.

Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why.

When I was writing ‚Kitchen Confidential,‘ I was in my 40s, I had never paid rent on time, I was 10 years behind on my taxes, I had never owned my own furniture or a car.

I’m very aware and very conscious of the path I chose in life, and very aware of the path I didn’t choose.

I had to make a choice at one point in my life, of missing films or missing my children. It was a very easy decision to make because I missed my children so very much.

Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.

The truth is, I’ve never fooled anyone. I’ve let men sometimes fool themselves.

I guess I’m living in the present more than the past.

When in doubt tell the truth.

Relish everything that’s inside of you, the imperfections, the darkness, the richness and light and everything. And that makes for a full life.

If we were not all so interested in ourselves, life would be so uninteresting that none of us would be able to endure it.

There are goods so opposed that we cannot seize both, but, by too much prudence, may pass between them at too great a distance to reach either.

It is very nearly impossible… to become an educated person in a country so distrustful of the independent mind.

Total relaxation is the secret to enjoying sitting meditation. I sit with my spine upright, but not rigid; and I relax all the muscles in my body.

Anything can make me stop and look and wonder, and sometimes learn.

I don’t want to be alone, I want to be left alone.

I’m very type-A, and many things in my life are about control and domination, but eating should be a submissive experience, where you let down your guard and enjoy the ride.

I actually started off majoring in computer science, but I knew right away I wasn’t going to stay with it. It was because I had this one professor who was the loneliest, saddest man I’ve ever known. He was a programmer, and I knew that I didn’t want to do whatever he did. So after that, I switched to Communications.

Then suddenly something just kicked me. I kind of woke up and realised that I was in a different atmosphere than you normally are. My immediate reaction was to back off, slow down.

A majority is always better than the best repartee.

I said on the equality side of it, that it is essential to a woman’s equality with man that she be the decision-maker, that her choice be controlling.

Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends… Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.

I was very depressed when I was 19… I would go back to my apartment every day and I would just sit there. It was quiet and it was lonely. It was still. It was just my piano and myself. I had a television and I would leave it on all the time just to feel like somebody was hanging out with me.

It seems like we wake up and it’s a race until you get to bed. It gets to you after a while and you think, ‚What the hell am I doing?‘

I can’t tell anybody else how to run their life or their business, but I really believe I’ve got a good bead on myself.

I was offered a job on Wall Street by my uncle. But I wanted to get out. Make-it-on-my-own kinda thing.

I think Buddhism should open the door of psychology and healing to penetrate more easily into the Western world.

I really haven’t had that exciting of a life. There are a lot of things I wish I would have done, instead of just sitting around and complaining about having a boring life. So I pretty much like to make it up. I’d rather tell a story about somebody else.

You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.

You’re going to die. You’re going to be dead. It could be 20 years, it could be tomorrow, anytime. So am I. I mean, we’re just going to be gone. The world’s going to go on without us. All right now. You do your job in the face of that, and how seriously you take yourself you decide for yourself.

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

Wise leaders generally have wise counselors because it takes a wise person themselves to distinguish them.

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.

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

Honor thy error as a hidden intention.

When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

When you wash your hands, when you make a cup of coffee, when you’re waiting for the elevator – instead of indulging in thinking, these are all opportunities for being there as a still, alert presence.

The paradox of education is precisely this – that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.

I always entertain the notion that I’m wrong, or that I’ll have to revise my opinion. Most of the time that feels good; sometimes it really hurts and is embarrassing.

God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.

It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?

Do not seek to bring things to pass in accordance with your wishes, but wish for them as they are, and you will find them.

I have considered voting Conservative because I am so against the Labour party.

You say that you are my judge; I do not know if you are; but take good heed not to judge me ill, because you would put yourself in great peril.

When I had to make a decision whether or not an activity was appropriate for the Sabbath, I simply asked myself, ‚What sign do I want to give to God?‘ That question made my choices about the Sabbath day crystal clear.

The simple act of paying attention can take you a long way.

Mindfulness practices enhance the connection between our body, our mind and everything else that is around us. Mindful living is the key to understanding our struggles with weight and to empowering us to control our weight.

The more extensive a man’s knowledge of what has been done, the greater will be his power of knowing what to do.

Policy makers who have never served in the military continue to use the military to lead social change in this country.

Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy and serenity.