Love and nonattachment are the basis of true generosity.

It is our mind, and that alone, that chains us or sets us free.

Once you overcome the hatred within your mind, you will discover that in the world outside, there is no longer any such thing as even a single enemy.

Do not encumber your mind with useless thoughts. What good does it do to brood on the past or anticipate the future? Remain in the simplicity of the present moment.

If we allow our thoughts to arise and dissolve by themselves, they will pass through our mind as a bird flies through the sky, without leaving a trace.

Meditation could be said to be the Art of Simplicity: simply sitting, simply breathing and simply being.

Day by day, be content with whatever you have and satisfied with whatever happens. Everything else will then fall naturally into place.

There is no logical reason why thoughts, which have no substance, should have so much power over you, nor is there any reason why you should become their slave

On the day that you were born, you began to die. Do not waste a single moment more!

A beautiful country is a dream-like illusion. It is senseless to cling to it. Unless the inner forces of negative emotions are conquered, strife with outer enemies will never end.

Life is fragile, like the dew hanging delicately on the grass, crystal drops that will be carried away on the first morning breeze.

A cat is friendly in a hollow sort of way, like the way a prostitute is friendly.

I just got tired of being overweight and unfit, so I changed my diet from hamburgers to yogurt and muesli, and it seems to work.

I should have told her at the time. I could have taken a deep breath, looked away, and forced myself to say it.

There are always three speeches, for every one you actually gave. The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave.

The ornament of beauty, Shakespeare wrote, is suspect. And he was right. But beauty itself, unadorned and unaffected, is sacred, I think, worthy of our awe and our loyalty.

Everything is but a dream!

Killing a defective infant is not morally equivalent to killing a person. Sometimes it is not wrong at all.

The greater a man is in power above others, the more he ought to excel them in virtue. None ought to govern who is not better than the governed.

All that we know is nothing can be known.

At the age of 21 I was so sensible and became a nun. I am very grateful to myself for that.