No valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.

Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.

Instead of comparing our lot with that of those who are more fortunate than we are, we should compare it with the lot of the great majority of our fellow men. It then appears that we are among the privileged.

Growing up I didn’t watch movies.

It doesn’t take much to make me angry.

We’ve fallen into a trap of ever-widening orbits of contact, and there is a total disregard for the present moment.

Our whole life is set up in the path of least resistance. We don’t want to suffer. We don’t want to feel discomfort. So the whole time, we’re living our lives in a very comfortable area. There’s no growth in that.

Meditation can help us embrace our worries, our fear, our anger; and that is very healing. We let our own natural capacity of healing do the work.

If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.

The world we see that seems so insane is the result of a belief system that is not working. To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds.

Memories are thoughts that arise. They’re not realities. Only when you believe that they are real, then they have the power over you. But when you realize it’s just another thought arising about the past, then you can have a spacious relationship with that thought. The thought no longer has you in its grip.

Perfectionism is not the same thing as striving to be our best. Perfectionism is not about healthy achievement and growth; it’s a shield.

Be nice to your children. After all, they are going to choose your nursing home.

If something can corrupt you, you’re corrupted already.

I’m not very articulate.

To create something you must be something.

Expect nothing. Live frugally on surprise.

There is only one sort of discipline, perfect discipline.

Habit is a second nature that destroys the first. But what is nature? Why is habit not natural? I am very much afraid that nature itself is only a first habit, just as habit is a second nature.

I have always had this view about the modern education system: we pay attention to brain development, but the development of warmheartedness we take for granted.

You learn a lot in life but there are a lot of tools and resources in school that help you grow professionally and personally for whatever goal you may want to achieve.

Every day is a gift from God. Learn to focus on the Giver and enjoy the gift!

There is so much that people take for granted.

Peace in the world starts with peace in oneself. If everyone lives mindfully, everyone will be more healthy, feel more fulfilled in their daily lives and there will be more peace.

I’m not a New Age person, but I do believe in meditation, and for that reason I’ve always liked the Buddhist religion. When I’ve been to Japan, I’ve been to Buddhist temples and meditated, and I found that rewarding.

If you carefully consider what you want to be said of you in the funeral experience, you will find your definition of success.

It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.

There are many things that happen every day that we could murmur about if we let ourselves go there. But they really aren’t worth the effort it takes to get upset and gripe about it.

Self-respect: the secure feeling that no one, as yet, is suspicious.

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

Our brains are either our greatest assets or our greatest liabilities.

The first story I finished was when I was six years old.

Subdue your appetites, my dears, and you’ve conquered human nature.

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

Only you can control your future.

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

Being too good is apt to be uninteresting.

The first duty of man is to conquer fear; he must get rid of it, he cannot act till then.

Coaching wouldn’t be for me. No, certainly not.

Meditation is difficult for many people because their thoughts are always on some distant object or place. One form of meditation is to label the thought as it appears and then choose to let it go.

Character, not circumstances, makes the man.

Commit yourself to a mighty purpose.

I do have motivation. A lot of motivation.

Choosing to be positive and having a grateful attitude is going to determine how you’re going to live your life.

Nothing is more terrible than activity without insight.

There are old heads in the world who cannot help me by their example or advice to live worthily and satisfactorily to myself; but I believe that it is in my power to elevate myself this very hour above the common level of my life.

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.

If you’re put on a pedestal, you’re supposed to behave yourself like a pedestal type of person. Pedestals actually have a limited circumference. Not much room to move around.

A day wasted on others is not wasted on one’s self.

Quality is not an act, it is a habit.

It is a fine thing to have ability, but the ability to discover ability in others is the true test.

It is what a man thinks of himself that really determines his fate.

Never neglect details. When everyone’s mind is dulled or distracted the leader must be doubly vigilant.

A broad margin of leisure is as beautiful in a man’s life as in a book. Haste makes waste, no less in life than in housekeeping. Keep the time, observe the hours of the universe, not of the cars.

The aim of a college education is to teach you to know a good man when you see one.

Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.

To remain a credible leader, I must always work first, hardest, and longest on changing myself. This is neither easy nor natural, but it is essential.

The idea of recognising your strengths and using them in as versatile a way as you can is cool to me.

I feel you’re in charge of your own situation.

I think of myself more as a sportsman than I do an artist.

When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate.