There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness.

When you consider things like the stars, our affairs don't seem to matter very much, do they?

Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.

When civil fury first grew high, and men fell out they knew not why.

Man can learn nothing unless he proceeds from the known to the unknown.

Appearances to the mind are of four kinds. Things either are what they appear to be; or they neither are, nor appear to be; or they are, and do not appear to be; or they are not, and yet appear to be. Rightly to aim in all these cases is the wise man’s task.

The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

A kind word is like a spring day.

Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.

If everyone were clothed with integrity, if every heart were just, frank, kindly, the other virtues would be well-nigh unless, since their chief purpose is to make us bear with patience the injustice of our fellows.

We must each lead a way of life with self-awareness and compassion, to do as much as we can. Then, whatever happens we will have no regrets.

The people turn to a benevolent rule as water flows downwards, and as wild beasts fly to the wilderness.

If you develop a pure and sincere motivation, in you are motivated by a wish to help on the basis of kindness, compassion, and respect, then you can carry on any kind of work, in any field, and function more effectively.

Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.

To be able to practice five things everywhere under the heaven constitutes perfect virtue. . . gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness and kindness.

Every heart that has beat strong and cheerfully has left a hopeful impulse behind it in the world, and bettered the tradition of mankind.

One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea.

You must try to observe yourself more and more objectively, to look at everything in yourself as though another person.

I am quite sure now that often, very often, in matters concerning religion and politics a man's reasoning powers are not above the monkey's.

Life does not consist of facts. It consists mainly of the storm of thoughts that is forever flowing through one's head.

A man is as big as the measure of his thinking.

I've always felt that a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic.

There are only two kinds of people, those who accept dogmas and know it, and those who accept dogmas and don't know it.

Plant seeds of expectation in your mind; cultivate thoughts that anticipate achievement. Believe in yourself as being capable of overcoming all obstacles and weaknesses.

There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world; and that is an idea whose time has come.