We have to learn to be kind to ourselves. In the long run avoiding unpleasantness is a very unkind thing to do to yourself.

The process of becoming who you will be begins first with the total acceptance of who you are.

Whatever attitudes we habitually use toward ourselves, we will use on others, and whatever attitudes we habitually use toward others, we will use on ourselves.

When you have learned compassion for yourself, compassion for others is automatic.

You can learn not to want what you want, to recognize desires but not be controlled by them.

Watch the functioning of your own mind in a calm and detached manner so you can gain insight into your own behavior.

No matter how hard you pursue pleasure and success, there are times when you fail. No matter how fast you flee, there are times when pain catches up with you.

The purpose of meditation is personal transformation.

The you that goes in one side of the meditation experience is not the same you that comes out the other side.

Meditation changes your character.

Pain is inevitable, suffering is not.

However, we do not lack anti-terrorist laws. I do not believe that the recent London bombs were the result of any deficiencies in our legal system.

Anxiety and conscience are a powerful pair of dynamos. Between them, they have ensured that I shall work hard, but they cannot ensure that one shall work at anything worthwhile.

When you say 'state' you mean 'national.' National Socialism. That is what Mussolini and Hitler did. National Socialism. State Capitalism. They've changed the name.

I will never try to steer myself into a situation that I know might create a discussion after the race any protest immediately cuts down on my social hours after the race is over.

There is no worse sound in the world than someone who cannot play the violin but insists on doing so anyway.

Cruelty, I truly believe, is the one and only sin.

I want some fact-based evidence about where we came from. Things we consider mysterious need not be attributed to a deity.

You're an animal, you live, maybe this one time is your lifetime - go there. Who cares what somebody else thinks?

Be the compromise you want to see in the world.

No truly great person ever thought themselves so.