To live in this precious animal body on this earth is as great a part of spiritual life as anything else.

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.

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

Smartass Disciple: Master, you keep preaching the truth. They don't listen.Master of Stupidity: Oh that's not bad. That attitude keeps us in the business.

Dialogue is about freeing human beings from the beliefs and attitudes that make human beings miserable.

Live and love with your soul's goodness and inner beauty as your heart leaps upward in any season of your life.

You can get the monkey off your back, but the circus never leaves town

I unfortunately had a lot of medical procedures throughout my life, so I decided to paint all of my surgeries as a way to heal and as a way to grow.

Also, in my acting, I feel very much like a storyteller, exploring the flaws of the characters that I interpret. I look for the imperfections, and I love a character that is just so flawed.

I don't ever want to be where I can't just walk into a mall and do what I want without a crowd coming up a round me.

Even the greatest movements on earth, have their beginnings with something small.

The beauty of my work is that my sets cost nothing. That's what I love about being a writer of novels.

I saw people who were hostile; they had felt so much hurt that hostility was their only defense against being crushed again.