We shouldn't be looking for heroes, we should be looking for good ideas.

The death penalty can be tolerated only by extreme statist reactionaries who demand a state that is so powerful that it has the right to kill.

Never mistake motion for action.

If booze is in the man, wisdom is in the can.

He who spits at heaven, spits in his own face.

What fills the heart, will flow from the mouth.

The rain that falls today, doesn't fall tomorrow.

A fool can ask more than a hundred wise men can answer.

If you don't have a horse, use a donkey.

The future is a book with seven locks.

The best captains are ashore.

He who listens well, speaks well.

A man's own self is his friend. A man's own self is his foe.

The ink of the scholar is more holy than the blood of the martyr.

You can't teach the old maestro a new tune.

A man can pose as a wise when searching for wisdom, but if he believes to have found it, is a fool.

A drowning man is not troubled by rain.

Riches are not from an abundance of wordly goods but from a contented mind.

Fools learn nothing from wise men, but wise men learn much from fools.

A mother only does her children harm if she makes them the only concern of her life.

No one knows what he can do till he tries.

I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.

First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.

Seek not the good in external things;seek it in yourselves.

Demand not that things happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do, and you will go on well.

People are not disturbed by things, but by the views which they take of things.

It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

Science gives us knowledge, but only philosophy can give us wisdom.

Behind everything is your ego: I, I, I, I. But in seva there is no I, because it has to be done for someone else. It is for the need of the time, or surrounding people, that you do it.

So what if somebody recognizes you: Oh, you are a wonderful person. So what? In that person's mind that thought came and went. It is also finished. That mind has gone. Maybe they keep an attraction for you for some days, some months, so what? That also goes it also goes.

It is the theory that decides what can be observed.

There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America.

The best judge of whether or not a country is going to develop is how it treats its women. If it's educating its girls, if women have equal rights, that country is going to move forward. But if women are oppressed and abused and illiterate, then they're going to fall behind.

Before we seek refuge from suffering, we must first deepen our understanding of its nature and causes. Doing so intensifies our wish to find protection from suffering. Such a mental process, which incorporates study and contemplation, must also be applies to develop our appreciation of the Buddha's qualities.

Real humility is rare because to have it you have to want nothing, et when you have it you get everything.

When we talk about gaining the perfect wisdom of Buddha, we should not think that we need to create qualities in ourselves that are not there already and acquire them from somewhere outside of us. Rather, we should see perfect Buddha wisdom as a potential that is being realized.

Those who are wise practice love.

According to Buddhist teaching, there is a very close interdependence between the natural environment and the sentient beings living in it.

I believe that the proper utilization of time is this: if you can, serve other people, other sentient beings. If not, at least refrain from harming them. I think that is the whole basis of my philosophy.

Whenever we see any disagreements, we must think how to solve them on basis of recognition of oneness of the entire humanity.

Generally speaking, it is better to keep one's own tradition. But among some people... there is an interest in Buddhism. Sometimes, because of their individual mental dispositions, they do not find much in their own tradition that is effective, but they still want a spiritual practice. They feel a strong pull toward Buddhism, an then, of course, it is their right to follow Buddhism. After all, all religions belong to humanity. What's important is that once we make a decision to follow another religion we should keep in our minds that we must avoid criticizing our own previous tradition.

We (Buddhist) are all students of one teacher - the Buddha. One very kind, wise teacher. That is most important. As followers or students of this great teacher, we should take his own life as a model.

Never idealize others. They will never live up to your expectations.

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

Death would not be called bad, O people, if one knew how to truly die.

I am neither male nor female, nor am I sexless. I am the Peaceful One, whose form is self-effulgent, powerful radiance.

Let no man in the world live in delusion. Without a Guru none can cross over to the other shore.

Thou has a thousand eyes and yet not one eye; Thou host a thousand forms and yet not one form.

I am not the born; how can there be either birth or death for me?