The Dalai Lama Quotes

My aim is to create a happy society with genuine friendship. Friendship between Tibetan and Chinese peoples is very essential.

China has to go along with world trends. That's democracy, liberty, individual freedom. China sooner or later has to go that way. It cannot go backward.

I always tell my Western friends that it is best to keep your own tradition. Changing religion is not easy and sometimes causes confusion. You must value your tradition and honor your own religion.

Brute force, no matter how strongly applied, can never subdue the basic human desire for freedom.

I call myself a feminist. Isn't that what you call someone who fights for women's rights?

In the final analysis, the hope of every person is simply peace of mind.

Education is the way to achieve far-reaching results, it is the proper way to promote compassion and tolerance in society.

Unlike physical progress, which is subject to natural restrictions, the qualities of the mind can be developed limitlessly.

Compassion is not helpless pity, but an awareness and determination that demands action.

If an individual has a calm state of mind, that person's attitudes and views will be calm and tranquil even in the presence of great agitation.

The best way of fulfilling your own interest is to take care of others.

Not only is your own happiness and welfare related to others, but the more you help them, the happier you will be.

Appearance is something absolute, but reality is not that way - everything is interdependent, not absolute.

Even when we have physical hardships, we can be very happy.

Easy times are the enemy, they put us to sleep. Adversity is our friend, it wakes us up

It is not only our right as members of the global human family to protest when our brothers and sisters are being treated brutally, but it is also our duty to do whatever we can to hep them.

A mind committed to compassion is like an overflowing reservoir - a constant source of energy, determination, and kindness.

Even a small act of compassion grants meaning and purpose to our lives.

A sense of contentment is crucial to being happy. Physical health, material wealth and friends contribute to this, but contentment governs our relations with them all.

Use your human intelligence in the best way you can; transform your emotions in a positive way.

Because we all share an identical need for love, it is possible to feel that anybody we meet, in whatever circumstances, is a brother or sister.

An eye for an eye....we are all blind

It is the enemy who can truly teach us to practice the virtues of compassion and tolerance.

You are the people who are shaping a better world. One of the secrets of inner peace is the practice of compassion.

Real love is not based on attachment, but on altruism. In this case, your compassion will remain as a humane response to suffering as long as beings continue to suffer.

Every morning when I wake up, I dedicate myself to helping others to find peace of mind. Then, when I meet people, I think of them as long term friends; I don't regard others as strangers.

Every human action, whether it has become positive or negative, must depend on motivation.

Whether or not we follow any particular spiritual tradition, the benefits of love and kindness are obvious to anyone.

We need material development, but we need to understand that by itself it doesn't bring peace of mind.

If we have no inner peace, we deceive ourselves into thinking that comfort and prosperity will bring happiness.

I often tease young people about their concern for how they look; more important is inner beauty - compassion, affection and respect.

Gratitude is something you show in relation to others.

Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned.

The more contact we have with one another and the more we come to understand each other's values, the greater will be our mutual respect.

The feeling of being happy or unhappy rarely depends on our absolute state, but on our perception of the situation, on our capacity to be satisfied with what we have.

When you engage in fulfilling the needs of others, your own needs are fulfilled as a by-product.

Once a year go somewhere you have never been before.

Ultimately, the human being is in the mercy of nature.

Constructiveness is the human way.

Not to identify oneself with something, or to associate things with the 'me,' and to see that the idea that there is a 'me,' which is distinct from things, is a delusion.

If some people have the belief or view that the Dalai Lama has some miracle power, that's totally nonsense.

I always believe the rule by king or official leader is outdated. Now we must catch up with the modern world.

One can overcome the forces of negative emotions, like anger and hatred, by cultivating their counter-forces, like love and compassion.

To a large extent, whether you suffer depends on how you respond to a given situation.

War is out of date, obsolete.

Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease.

Anger, pride and competence are our real enemies.

Anger, jealousy, impatience, and hatred are the real troublemakers, with them problems cannot be solved.

Black Power If the motive is good, and there are no other possibilities, then seen most deeply it [violence] is nonviolence, because its aim is to help others.

One who is caught in thought loses one's original nature. All he knows are words and descriptions. When he sees the actual thing, he fails to perceive it.