“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.”

Equanimity arises when we accept the way things are.

Every facet, every department of your mind, is to be programmed by you. And unless you assume your rightful responsibility, and begin to program your own mind, the world will program it for you.

The person who betrayed you is sunning themselves on a beach in Hawaii and you’re knotted up in hatred. Who is suffering?

The goal of practice is always to keep our beginner’s mind.

To live fully is to let go and die with each passing moment, and to be reborn in each new one.

The grief we carry is part of the grief of the world. Hold it gently. Let it be honored. You do not have to keep it in anymore. You can let go into the heart of compassion; you can weep.

We can always begin again.

Within each of us there is a silence as vast as the universe. We long for it. We can return to it.

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

Life is so hard, how can we be anything but kind?

To undertake a genuine spiritual path is not to avoid difficulties but to learn the art of making mistakes wakefully, to bring them to the transformative power of our heart.

Compassion for ourselves gives rise to the power to transform resentment into forgiveness, hatred into friendliness, and fear into respect for all beings.

When we let go of our battles and open our hearts to things as they are, then we come to rest in the present moment. This is the beginning and the end of spiritual practice.

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

No matter how difficult the past, you can always begin again today.

A second quality of mature spirituality is kindness. It is based on a fundamental notion of self-acceptance.

No leader, however great, can long continue unless he wins battles. The battle decides all.

Thank God that He’s working; thank Him that He’s fighting your battles.

A battle is won by him who is firmly resolved to win it.

Love taught me to stay alive in the battle of life.

Winning is important, but survival is even more important. If you don’t survive, you don’t get to fight the next battle.

Sometimes you lose a battle. But mischief always wins the war.

It’s all God’s will: you can die in your sleep, and God can spare you in battle.

Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.