“Peace requires us to surrender our illusions of control.”

As we willingly enter each place of fear, each place of deficiency and insecurity in ourselves, we will discover that its walls are made of untruths, of old images of ourselves, of ancient fears, of false ideas of what is pure and what is not.

No amount of meditation, yoga, diet, and reflection will make all of our problems go away, but we can transform our difficulties into our practice until little by little they guide us on our way.

Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well.

Since death will take us anyway, why live our life in fear? Why not die in our old ways and be free to live?

We each need to make our lion’s roar – to persevere with unshakable courage when faced with all manner of doubts and sorrows and fears – to declare our right to awaken.

Use whatever has come to awaken patience, understanding, and love.

The waves do keep coming, so learn to surf.

Ours is a society of denial that conditions us to protect ourselves from any direct difficulty and discomfort. We expend enormous energy denying our insecurity, fighting pain, death and loss and hiding from the basic truths of the natural world and of our own nature.

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.

Train your mind the same way you’d train a puppy: Be patient, be consistent, and have some fun along the way.

Attention to the human body brings healing and regeneration. Through awareness of the body we remember who we really are.

Even Socrates, who lived a very frugal and simple life, loved to go to the market. When his students asked about this, he replied, “I love to go and see all the things I am happy without.

We have only now, only this single eternal moment opening and unfolding before us, day and night.

To let go does not mean to get rid of. To let go means to let be. When we let be with compassion, things come and go on their own.

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.

While free markets tend to democratize a society, unfettered capitalism leads invariably to corporate control of government.

Don’t let others dictate who you are. Decide for yourself.

Bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by pygmies.

A belief in God is fundamental; upon it rest the influences that control life.

Whenever I hear people discussing birth control, I always remember that I was fifth.

If you’re a movie actor, you’re on your own – you cannot control the stage. The director controls it.

The man with the average mentality, but with control, with a definite goal, and a clear conception of how it can be gained, and above all, with the power of application and labor, wins in the end.

I usually control the environment I’m in, but my control is very quiet and subtle.