It is through gratitude for the present moment that the spiritual dimension of life opens up.

The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it.

There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.

Meditation helps me to calm down.

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

Civilisations have been destroyed many times, and this civilisation is no different. It can be destroyed. We can think of time in terms of millions of years and life will resume little by little. The cosmos operates for us very urgently, but geological time is different.

If a man loses his reverence for any part of life, he will lose his reverence for all of life.

Life is grim, and we don’t have to be grim all the time.

Love is anterior to life, posterior to death, initial of creation, and the exponent of breath.

Confront a corpse at least once. The absolute absence of life is the most disturbing and challenging confrontation you will ever have.

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.

Every loss of life is terrible.

There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?

My head’s never really quiet. The only time I can get it to turn off is if I watch ‚CSI‘ or ‚Law & Order,‘ where I have to follow the crime. If I can’t turn my head off during that, I know I’ve really got a problem.

Everything can change at any moment, suddenly and forever.

Life’s a rollercoaster. You’re up one minute; you’re down one minute. But who doesn’t like rollercoasters?

Look folks, we know who built this country and we know who is going to rebuild it. It’s you. Instead of vilifying you, we should be thanking you. We owe you.

We forge the chains we wear in life.

Nothing in life is promised except death.

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.

The internal machinery of life, the chemistry of the parts, is something beautiful. And it turns out that all life is interconnected with all other life.

Life is a lively process of becoming.

When one’s expectations are reduced to zero, one really appreciates everything one does have.

Thanks to my fans that have been with me from the beginning, I was able to sell out arenas on my own.

Die to everything of yesterday so that your mind is always fresh, always young, innocent, full of vigor and passion.

Every man in his lifetime needs to thank his faults.

Old age is not a matter for sorrow. It is matter for thanks if we have left our work done behind us.

In such a porcelain life, one likes to be sure that all is well lest one stumble upon one’s hopes in a pile of broken crockery.

I thank God I’m in a position where I can pick and choose – there are some roles I don’t play.

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

I live in a crazy time.

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.

All my adult life people have been helping me.

So when you are listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it.

Beethoven can write music, thank God, but he can do nothing else on earth.

If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.

We never look deeply into the quality of a tree; we never really touch it, feel its solidity, its rough bark, and hear the sound that is part of the tree. Not the sound of wind through the leaves, not the breeze of a morning that flutters the leaves, but its own sound, the sound of the trunk and the silent sound of the roots.

Every day is a gift from God. There’s no guarantee of tomorrow, so that tells me to see the good in this day to make the most of it.

He has the most who is most content with the least.

In seeking comfort, we generally find a quiet corner in life where there is a minimum of conflict, and then we are afraid to step out of that seclusion.

Whether we’re happy with our circumstances or not, giving God praise is so important.

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

Most people get a fair amount of fun out of their lives, but on balance life is suffering, and only the very young or the very foolish imagine otherwise.

The compensation of a very early success is a conviction that life is a romantic matter. In the best sense one stays young.

What is my life if I am no longer useful to others.

Day by day we should weigh what we have granted to the spirit of the world against what we have denied to the spirit of Jesus, in thought and especially in deed.

God is cruel. Sometimes he makes you live.

Little by little, not by making big promises, I need to be calmer, read more, spend more time with my loved ones, and be more mindful about nature and environment.

If I forget to pray, I can’t get through the day without snapping at people.

Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit.

I’ve been really, really fortunate.

A quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough.

Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you.

Who is rich? He that rejoices in his portion.

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.

Life is a difficult game. You can win it only by retaining your birthright to be a person.

If you were to destroy the belief in immortality in mankind, not only love but every living force on which the continuation of all life in the world depended, would dry up at once.

I just have an enthusiasm for life.

Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.

True virtue is life under the direction of reason.

Buddhism teaches us not to try to run away from suffering. You have to confront suffering. You have to look deeply into the nature of suffering in order to recognize its cause, the making of the suffering.