There’s something about death that is comforting. The thought that you could die tomorrow frees you to appreciate your life now.

Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body.

A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.

Animals are such agreeable friends – they ask no questions; they pass no criticisms.

Every country must be absolutely free to adopt the type of economic, political and social system that it considers convenient.

We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out.

Freedom is relative.

Anger is like a storm rising up from the bottom of your consciousness. When you feel it coming, turn your focus to your breath.

There is nothing so terrible as activity without insight.

I briefly did therapy, but after a while, I realised it is just like a farmer complaining about the weather. You can’t fix the weather – you just have to get on with it.

No trace of slavery ought to mix with the studies of the freeborn man. No study, pursued under compulsion, remains rooted in the memory.

A squirrel dying in front of your house may be more relevant to your interests right now than people dying in Africa.

I can’t help the way you was born if you was gay.

He who gives away shall have real gain. He who subdues himself shall be free; he shall cease to be a slave of passions. The righteous man casts off evil, and by rooting out lust, bitterness, and illusion do we reach Nirvana.

Things in themselves have no life in them. A car can’t comfort or encourage you. A house means nothing if there’s no life and love inside.

The only thing you ever have is now.

Each day provides its own gifts.

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.

Women have to be extremely careful about choosing something that they consider an act of defiance that can really be used to further their enslavement.

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

Life without liberty is like a body without spirit.

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

I walk every day, and I look at the mountains and the fields and the small city, and I say: ‚Oh my God, what a blessing.‘ Then you realise it’s important to put it in a context beyond this woman, this man, this city, this country, this universe.

Meditation has been a loyal friend to me. It has helped me write my books.

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.

Who is more to be pitied, a writer bound and gagged by policemen or one living in perfect freedom who has nothing more to say?

The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts.

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.

Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains.

Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.

It is not necessary that you leave the house. Remain at your table and listen. Do not even listen, only wait. Do not even wait, be wholly still and alone. The world will present itself to you for its unmasking, it can do no other, in ecstasy it will writhe at your feet.

The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit.

We are moving towards a world that is reordering itself and that may appear more ordered at some periods of time, but I see no sign that we are moving towards a world order in my definition of it – namely, a system which is accepted, which is internalized by the majority of the key participants.

The English think they are free. They are free only during the election of members of parliament.

Sometimes I just sit still and enjoy God’s presence.

Shrinking away from death is something unhealthy and abnormal which robs the second half of life of its purpose.

Unbeing dead isn’t being alive.

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

When you have that respect from your teammates, it makes it a lot more comfortable.

Many people in this world are still so identified with every thought that arises in their head. There is not the slightest space of awareness there.

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

I don’t go down the road of condemning.

Every day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a few sensible words.

To enjoy freedom we have to control ourselves.

When death, the great reconciler, has come, it is never our tenderness that we repent of, but our severity.

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

The eyes of others our prisons; their thoughts our cages.

Everything’s intentional. It’s just filling in the dots.

Guilt is perhaps the most painful companion of death.

I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner: ‚This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality.‘ Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.

I’ve looked that old scoundrel death in the eye many times but this time I think he has me on the ropes.

Every time I get in the McLaren I feel more comfortable, my confidence increases and I feel more at home with the team.

The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness.

The best way to enhance freedom in other lands is to demonstrate here that our democratic system is worthy of emulation.

Life levels all men. Death reveals the eminent.

Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable.

You practice mindfulness, on the one hand, to be calm and peaceful. On the other hand, as you practice mindfulness and live a life of peace, you inspire hope for a future of peace.

Forgotten is forgiven.

Slavery takes hold of few, but many take hold of slavery.

Confronted with the impossibility of remaining faithful to one’s beliefs, and the equal impossibility of becoming free of them, one can be driven to the most inhuman excesses.