The basic principle of spiritual life is that our problems become the very place to discover wisdom and love.

The heart is like a garden. It can grow compassion or fear, resentment or love. What seeds will you plant there?

If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.

The things that matter most in our lives are not fantastic or grand. They are the moments when we touch one another.

Most of us have spent our lives caught up in plans, expectations, ambitions for the future; in regrets, guilt or shame about the past. To come into the present is to stop the war.

We do not have to improve ourselves; we just have to let go of what blocks our heart.

Do not doubt your own basic goodness. In spite of all confusion and fear, you are born with a heart that knows what is just, loving, and beautiful.

In the end, just three things matter: How well we have lived How well we have loved How well we have learned to let go

Have respect for yourself, and patience and compassion. With these, you can handle anything.

Let go of the battle. Breathe quietly and let it be. Let your body relax and your heart soften. Open to whatever you experience without fighting.

To open deeply, as genuine spiritual life requires, we need tremendous courage and strength, a kind of warrior spirit.

Focus on being productive instead of busy.

Never pray for justice, because you might get some.

I may not be the smartest fellow in the world, but I can sure pick the smartest people to do business with and size them up very fast.

No violence, gentlemen — no violence, I beg of you! Consider the furniture!

You are more ready and able to grasp at opportunity when your hands are empty.

You can't get closer to the heart of national sovereignty than national security and intelligence services.

And there we all were, as invisible as you could wish to see.

When you let me take I'm grateful. When you let me give I'm blessed.

Virtue is the truest nobility.

Life is dangerous and you're not gonna live a life without risk.