People today are too concerned about saving time and having convenience.

For the first time in history, my community has had to use air conditioners. Imagine that, air conditioners in the Arctic.

What we do every day - whether you live in Mexico, the United States, Russia, China can have a very negative impact on an entire way of life for an entire people far away from that source

To my father, who told me the stories that matter. To my mother, who taught me to remember them.

History is the preceptor of prudence, not principles.

I think the person who takes a job in order to live - that is to say, for the money [not for purpose or passion]- has turned himself into a slave.

Religion should be a basis for overcoming division, not for creating it.

There is no way to escape death, it is just like trying to escape by four great mountains touching sky. There is no escape from these four mountains of birth, old age, sickness and death.

The ancient Greek "oral poets" all had this anxiety about the deficiencies of their memories and always began poems by praying to the muse to help them remember.

Being a Buddhist monk means never losing one's optimism in spite of all difficulties. It also means being harder on yourself than any of your teachers ever were.

The essence of charity ... was not deciding what others needed and giving it to them, but giving them what they wanted.

I feel very fortunate to have my ears. I'd share them with everybody but I only have two to go around.

It is the unknown that excites the ardor of scholars, who, in the known alone, would shrivel up with boredom.