Take the selfishness out of anger and you're left with determination.

Let me give you a wonderful Zen practice. Wake up in the morning...look in the mirror, and laugh at yourself.

Our tendency in life is to avoid things that frighten us. But in order to become whole, we need to go deeper and deeper into ourselves by reaching further and further into the things we fear.

When we don't ask, we don't let others give. When we fear rejection, we don't let generosity arise.

In every area, working with what you habitually reject is one of the best ways to facilitate growth and transformation.

Our work may be important, but we don't take it too seriously. Otherwise, we get attached to one relatively small thing and ignore the rest of life.

We're creating a little niche for ourselves instead of working the whole canvas.

The pursuit of enlightenment is for the purpose of the world, not merely for the purpose of the individual. Practices for enlightenment must lead to action in the world.

People get stuck a lot because they're afraid to act; in the worst case,...we get so attached to some end result that we can't function. We need help just to move on, only life doesn't wait.

The basic problem, actually, is how to get rid of the idea that we're going to get rid of our problems. Only then can we relate directly with the real issues of our life.

Look in the mirror, and laugh at yourself.

Love shows you the purpose but commitment gives you the courage.

You’re saying, “What the hell am I gonna do with her?” You’re saying, “Shit, did she take her pills?” You’re saying, “Once upon a time, I used to have a little girl.

There’s an alternate view. That no man or woman alive is the disempowered victim of another’s degrading circumstance. Each is equipped to pursue their own fate. No one needs saving.

I was raised - my mom and dad were dairy farmers. Once you've made a decision to plant a crop for that year, you can't go back and undo that decision.

If I didn't have a front-row seat on history, it was at least a seat on the aisle.

From a personal point of view, I'd like to interview my great-grandparents because I barely knew them, and I know next to nothing about my family beyond 100 years.

If the others heard me talking out loud they would think that I am crazy. But since I am not, I do not care.

Unjustly poets we asperse: Truth shines the brighter clad in verse, And all the fictions they pursue Do but insinuate what is true.

The American people expect the president of the United States to be prepared to support action to protect the people of this nation. And I know Donald Trump will.

I started to write [The Name of the Rose] in March of 1978, moved by a seminal idea. I wanted to poison a monk.