“The basic work of health professionals in general, and of psychotherapist s in particular, is to become full human beings and to inspire full human-beingness in other people who feel starved about their lives.”

Good and bad, happy and sad, all thoughts vanish into emptiness like the imprint of a bird in the sky.

Chaos should be regarded as extremely good news!

When you relate to thoughts obsessively, you are actually feeding them because thoughts need your attention to survive. Once you begin to pay attention to them and categorize them, then they become very powerful.

Mindfulness does not mean pushing oneself toward something or hanging on to something. It means allowing oneself to be there in the very moment of what is happening in the living process – and then letting go.

It’s easier to put on a pair of shoes than to wrap the earth in leather.

The trouble with Westerners is that they want to witness their own enlightenment.

Although the warrior’s life is dedicated to helping others, he realizes that he will never be able to completely share his experience with others…Yet he is more and more in love with the world.

Hold the sadness and pain of samsara in your heart and at the same time the power and vision of the Great Eastern Sun. Then the warrior can make a proper cup of tea.

Ultimately, that is the definition of bravery: not being afraid of yourself.

We say that the sun is behind the clouds, but actually it is not the sun but the city from which we view it that is behind the clouds. If we realized that the sun is never behind the clouds we might have a different attitude toward the whole thing.

The emphasis on practice is because it is the only time in your life you can steer your karmic situation.

It’s no use trying to be different than you are.

Sit and do nothing. Every once in a while a golden fish swims by and lays her golden eggs. You’ll know.

You can’t feel the earth if you can’t feel the space.

Sanity lies somewhere between the inhibitions of conventional morality and the looseness of extreme impulse, but the area in-between is very fuzzy.

Developing confidence is like watching the sun rise. First it seems very feeble and one wonders whether it will make it. Then it shines and shines.

I guess if people all followed the basic principles of their own religions, they would love everybody instead of hating half the world.

Punk rock really influenced me, the basic metal bands, Zeppelin, Stones and Floyd, and Southern rock bands. I think I was pretty well-rounded.

And playing them really sloppy. Keeping it very basic-and using only a few notes-and playing slowly with perfect rhythm is a task in itself.

I was literally reduced to basic breath and blinks while she inhabited my vessel and told her story through me.

I couldn’t think. The basics of my life seemed altered and thrown into question.

Invest in basic research and recruit the best minds.

The basic notion of justice, is that the rights of everybody are equals, in principle. In the rights of others, we have to respect our own rights. It is only in that condition that we can reasonnably require that it be respected by others.

My father insisted that I learnt the Koran and encouraged me to understand the basic traditions and beliefs of Islam but without imposing any particular views. He was an overwhelming personality but open-minded and liberal.