The gross heathenism of civilization has generally destroyed nature, and poetry, and all that is spiritual.

Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history.

The truth is that you can only come to know God when you give up the past and the future in your mind and merge totally into the now, because God is always here now.

We’ve climbed the mighty mountain. I see the valley below, and it’s a valley of peace.

I have done one thing that I think is a contribution: I helped Buddhist science and modern science combine. No other Buddhist has done that. Other lamas, I don’t think they ever pay attention to modern science. Since my childhood, I have a keen interest.

Human beings love poetry. They don’t even know it sometimes… whether they’re the songs of Bono, or the songs of Justin Bieber… they’re listening to poetry.

In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.

How can one preach goodness and love to men without at the same time offering them an interpretation of the World that justifies this goodness and this love?

Being part of a community with a church at its centre and singin‘ hymns is a great thing to do.

Uncontrolled, the hunger and thirst after God may become an obstacle, cutting off the soul from what it desires. If a man would travel far along the mystic road, he must learn to desire God intensely but in stillness, passively and yet with all his heart and mind and strength.

A man who is eating or lying with his wife or preparing to go to sleep in humility, thankfulness and temperance, is, by Christian standards, in an infinitely higher state than one who is listening to Bach or reading Plato in a state of pride.

So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their ending!

My mother always used to say, ‚Well, if you had been born a little girl growing up in Egypt, you would go to church or go to worship Allah, but surely if those people are worshipping a God, it must be the same God‘ – that’s what she always said. The same God with different names.

Forgiveness is not a feeling – it’s a decision we make because we want to do what’s right before God. It’s a quality decision that won’t be easy and it may take time to get through the process, depending on the severity of the offense.

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.

There is a power in God’s gospel beyond all description.

I have seen many storms in my life. Most storms have caught me by surprise, so I had to learn very quickly to look further and understand that I am not capable of controlling the weather, to exercise the art of patience and to respect the fury of nature.

Some Christians feel guilty when they are doing something that isn’t ‚spiritual.‘ Somehow or another, they feel the need to hurry through the grocery store, dash through the house cleaning, and rush through all the daily aspects of life that seem irrelevant to their faith.

In the Church, and in the journey of faith, women have had and still have a special role in opening doors to the Lord.

Why am I here? I’m not lucky. That’s God.

I believe that each of us comes from the Creator trailing wisps of glory.

I learn poetry, learn text, and that really keeps you alive.

Like as the waves make towards the pebbl’d shore, so do our minutes, hasten to their end.

I know, to banish anger altogether from one’s breast is a difficult task. It cannot be achieved through pure personal effort. It can be done only by God’s grace.

If there really is a god, then he really looks after me.

The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, ‚O God, forgive me,‘ or ‚Help me.‘

The unnatural, that too is natural.

People don’t come to church for preachments, of course, but to daydream about God.

Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful, more simple or more direct than does nature because in her inventions nothing is lacking, and nothing is superfluous.

The mountains are calling and I must go.

Faith is permitting ourselves to be seized by the things we do not see.

Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time.

Let us more and more insist on raising funds of love, of kindness, of understanding, of peace. Money will come if we seek first the Kingdom of God – the rest will be given.

In this business you have to develop a thick skin, but I’m always going to feel everything. It’s my nature.

One of the greatest lessons of my own life was learning to turn the inner rampage of hatred and anger toward my own father for his reprehensible behavior and abandonment of his family into an inner reaction more closely aligned with God and God-realized love.

The progress of rivers to the ocean is not so rapid as that of man to error.

With me poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion.

Reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.

I believe many people feel like God is mad at them.

Poetry is the art of substantiating shadows, and of lending existence to nothing.

There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.

I do put a lot of God in my music, but not because I’m super religious. There are a lot of demons in my music, too. I acknowledge both.

Worshipping is stripping ourselves of our idols, even the most hidden ones, and choosing the Lord as the centre, as the highway of our lives.

For those of you who do not know Him, choosing your eternal home is the most important decision you will ever make.

When nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it.

When you face a ‚performance‘ that might provoke the ‚I’m scared‘ response, choose love and approach your opportunity as a chance to dance with God. It’s more fun than ‚Dancing with the Stars!‘

God never promised us a trouble-free life.

As I write, highly civilized human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me.

I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.

You hesitate to stab me with a word, and know not – silence is the sharper sword.

From my perspective, I absolutely believe in a greater spiritual power, far greater than I am, from which I have derived strength in moments of sadness or fear. That’s what I believe, and it was very, very strong in the forest.

Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary.

Small amounts of philosophy lead to atheism, but larger amounts bring us back to God.

A man watches his pear tree day after day, impatient for the ripening of the fruit. Let him attempt to force the process, and he may spoil both fruit and tree. But let him patiently wait, and the ripe pear at length falls into his lap.

Religion is the recognition of all our duties as divine commands.

People often speak of God being even-handed. God is not even-handed. God is biased, in favor of the weak, of the despised.

Let me recommend the best medicine in the world: a long journey, at a mild season, through a pleasant country, in easy stages.

Honoring the priesthood fosters respect, respect promotes reverence, and reverence invites revelation.

The great question of our time is, ‚Will we be motivated by materialistic philosophy or by spiritual power?‘

Forgiveness is God’s command.

It’s not easy to define poetry.