Quotes - Inspirational, Healing, Thought Provoking, and So Much More

 Quotes:

“Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy and serenity.” —Thich Nhat Hanh 

 

“The deeds you do may be the only sermon some persons will hear today.”
-St. Francis of Assisi

 

It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.
Dream Big. Sparkle More. Shine Bright.A little smile, a word of cheer, a bit of love from someone near..
Keep your best wishes, close to your heart and watch what happens. – Tony Deliso
I believe in you.
The best time for new beginnings is now.
I’m making a prediction that you are going to keep being awesome.
Life is a great big canvas

Smile knowing that good luck has finally found you. A future is forming with  joy, happiness, and health.

 

May you be filled with loving-kindness
My you be at peace

May you be healthy in body and mind
May your life unfold with Ease
-Metta

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. – Henry David Thoreau

 

 “If I could never tell a single person about my achievements, would I still pursue them?” - Anonymous

 

You’re off to great places! Today is your day. Your mountain is waiting. So get on your way. – Dr. Seuss

“People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.” - Paulo Coelho

“If you own this story you get to write the ending.” -Brene Brown

 

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them." 

-Henry David Thoreau

Be Careful how 

you talk to yourself,

because you 

are listening 

- Picture Quotes . com

"Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"No one has more power over a consciousness than the consciousness themselves. Determination is the necessary tool for us to promote all the desired energetic transformations. There will be no counterflow or interference stronger than our-selves, since all we have to do is maintain our effort and commitment. The one that gives up first loses."

-Nancy Trivellato

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” ― Maya Angelou

 

"If it can be solved, there’s no need to worry, and if it can’t be solved, worry is of no use." -Dalai Lama

“Trouble knocked at the door, but, hearing laughter, hurried away.” – Benjamin Franklin

 

“Believe something and the Universe is on its way to being changed. Because you’ve changed, by believing. Once you’ve changed, other things start to follow. Isn’t that the way it works?” - Diane Duane 

"If you don't know the guy on the other side of the world, love him anyway because he's just like you. He has the same dreams, the same hopes and fears. It's one world, pal. We're all neighbors." —Frank Sinatra 

 

Wake up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours await me. I vow to live fully in each moment and look at all beings with eyes of compassion. - Thich Nhat Hanh 

 

I am forever remembering that everything is here to teach me how to love - Spring Washam

 

The greatest wisdom is in simplicity. Love, respect, tolerance, sharing, gratitude, forgiveness. It’s not complex or elaborate. The real knowledge is free. It’s encoded in your DNA. All you need is within you. Great teachers have said that from the beginning. Find your heart, and you will find your way. - Carlos Barrios

“Enlightenment is a simple recognition of who we truly already are.” Anonymous

"Understanding yourself is power. 

Loving yourself is freedom.

Forgiving yourself is peace.

Being yourself is bliss." 

MementtOmori

 

“I went in being me, but not knowing it. I came out being me, and knowing it. It was this that changed my life.” Anonymous

 

Our ultimate nature is always here. It does not arrive or depart based on causes and conditions. 

 

We can take our lives exactly as they are in this moment; it is a  fallacy to think that we’re necessarily going to get closer to God by changing the form of our lives, by leaving so-and-so, or changing  our jobs, or moving, or whatever . . . by giving up our stereos, or  cutting off our hair, or growing our hair, or shaving our beards, or.  . . . It isn’t the form of the game; it’s the nature of the being that  fulfills the form. If I’m a lawyer, I can continue being a lawyer. I  merely use being a lawyer as a way of coming to God.   

- Ram Dass, Grist For The Mill

"The sole aim of life is to get back to your real self and get established permanently in
your own conscious self. Man is suffering because he has got torn away from his moorings-his real self-the supreme-self. Once he is able to establish his contact with the self again, all his trouble and miseries will automatically come to an end." 

- Guru, Yogiraj Shri Vishuddhanand Paramahansadeva

 

“To study the way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things.” 

-Dogen 

 

"When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I'm not speaking of that force which is just emotional bosh. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principal of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality." 

– Martin Luther King Jr.

 

“The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that its center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.” - Black Elk

 

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” - Mark Twain

 

"Once you realize God knows everything, you're free." 

- Sikh saying

 

“We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.” 

- Carl Sagan

 

“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.” - Joseph Campbell
 

"When things change inside you, things change around you." —Unknown

 

“I realized then that even though I was a tiny speck in an infinite cosmos, a blip on the timeline of eternity, I was not without purpose.” 

- R.J. Anderson

 

"Driven by motivations stronger than any limited self-concept, we are able to transcend our perceived limitations"  

- article - Lian's Roar

”In a conflict between the heart and the brain, follow your heart.” 

– Swami Vivekananda

 

“Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.” 

- Victor Hugo

“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” 

- C.S. Lewis

“We effect more than we can possibly know. With every mood, every thought, every word, every gesture, we change our lives and our universe.” 

- Maharishi Sadashiva Isham

 

The Truth is magical: it transforms all who embrace it.
-Guy Finley
 

"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible." 

- Dalai Lama

 
Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely. 

-Roy T. Bennett

"Just one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day." 

- Dalai Lama

"How then do we reach the point where we are able to listen deeply to one another and to use loving speech? To do this, we first have to practice taking care of our own pain and anger."

― Thich Nhat Hanh, Creating True Peace

“There is no other teacher but your own soul.” 

- Swami Vivekananda

 

Self-Mastery: To lead others, you must first demonstrate that you can lead yourself." 

- description of book by  Joe Navarro

“The words you speak become the house you live in.” 

– Hafiz

 

“Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.” 

– Buddha

"When you think everything is someone else’s fault, you will suffer a lot. When you realize that everything springs only from yourself, you will learn both peace and joy." 

- Dalai Lama

If we don’t make assumptions, we can focus our attention on the truth, not on what we think is the truth. Then we see life the way it is, not the way we want to see it. When we don’t believe our own assumptions, the power of our belief that we invested in them returns to us. And when we recover all the energy that we invested in making assumptions, we can use that energy to create a new dream: our personal heaven. Don’t make assumptions.
- Don Miguel Ruiz

 

“When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me.” 

- Erma Bombeck 

 

In truth, the revelation of any limitation is a Divine invitation to walk into, and through it.

-Guy Finley

 

"What is remembered lives" 

Sunflowers naturally know to turn their heads with the sun, and you naturally
have this wisdom in you too.
- Dr. Anita Sanchez

“You inspire people who pretend to not even see you trust me.”
- Jordan Hoechlin

Inner Peace

 

"Don't search for anything except peace. Try to calm the mind. Everything else will come on its own." —Baba Hari Das

Peace begins with a smile.” 

—Mother Teresa

“You will find peace not by trying to escape your problems, but by confronting them courageously. You will find peace not in denial, but in victory.” 

—J. Donald Walters

"Peace brings with it so many positive emotions that it is worth aiming for in all circumstances." 

—Estella Eliot 

“The life of inner peace, being harmonious and without stress, is the easiest type of existence.” 

—Norman Vincent Peale

 "When you make peace with yourself, you make peace with the world." 

—Maha Ghosananda

 

Whatever you have forgotten, you can remember. Whatever you have buried you can unearth. If you are willing to look deep into your own nature, if you are willing to peel away the layers of not-self you have adopted in making your way through the tribulations of life, you will find that your true self is not as far removed as you think. -Meredith Jordan

 

We, as individuals, and as a species, are constantly pushed to "better" ourselves, to "evolve" to improve ourselves and our species. But by who's definition do we define better? By what criteria do we measure ourselves? What beliefs guide our change?  Is it possible that we are enough just as we are in each moment? if we just stopped to look at the beauty already present, could that simple shift in focus, shift ourselves and our humanity? 

- me

 

“Develop a mind that is vast like space, where experiences both pleasant and unpleasant can appear and disappear without conflict, struggle or harm. Rest in a mind like vast sky.”
- Buddha 

 

Path of the Heart, Kindness, Love

The truth of this path of the heart is that there is no path. There is only the heart and the love  that consumes the lover who becomes the Beloved. Love is a state of being, not a trip from  here to there. 

- Ram Dass 

 

"This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness." 

- Dalai Lama 

 

Self Love, Self Respect 

 

“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.” 

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

"Follow the three R’s: – Respect for self. – Respect for others. – Responsibility for all your actions." 

- Dalai Lama

 

"Feelings are a bodily thing, and respecting them is called, and is, kindness." 

- A. S. Byatt 

“What I know for sure: There is no greater gift you can give or receive than to honor your calling. It’s why you were born. And how you become most truly alive.” 

- Oprah 

"Do you 

want to meet the 

love of 

your life? 

Look in 

the mirror."  

- Byron Katie

 

"I started to say no. I’m not doing that. I don’t want to do that. I’m not taking that picture. I’m not going to that event. I’m not standing by that because that’s not what I stand for. And slowly but surely, I remembered who I am, and then you go home, and you look in the mirror, and you’re like, “Yes, I can go to bed with you every night.” Because that person, I know that person.That person has balls, that person has integrity, that person has an opinion."
 —Lady Gaga 

 

 "Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it, and embrace them". 

- Rumi

 

Guides and Teachers 

 

If you follow a guide, a teacher, make sure they will lead you to a healthy, proper, good, great, optimally, an ideal place for you to be. 

- me

 

We, as individuals, and as a species, are constantly pushed to "better" ourselves, to "evolve" to improve ourselves and our species. But by who's definition do we define better? By what criteria do we measure ourselves? What beliefs guide our change?  Is it possible that we are enough just as we are in each moment? if we just stopped to look at the beauty already present, could that simple shift in focus, shift ourselves and our humanity? 

-  me

 

Respect 

 

One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say. 

-Bryant H. McGill 

 

“Respect other people's feelings. It might mean nothing to you, but it could mean everything to them.”― Roy T. Bennett

 

Respecting someone indicates the quality of your personality. 

-Mohammad Rishad Sakhi 

 

“It's not differences that divide us. It's our judgments about each other that do.” 

- Margaret Wheatley

People change. 

People can evolve. 

People can get better.

 

Never limit someone to who they used to be. 

The potential for growth is limitless

-Alina's Tv 

"The true hero is one who conquers his own anger and hatred." 

- Dalai Lama 

 

He who loves others is constantly loved by them. He who respects others is constantly respected by them. 

- Mencius

When we show our respect for other living things, they respond with respect for us. 

- Arapaho Proverb

Respect other people regardless of the level they are at... or the level you are at. When you hand out respect, you get it back. 

- Erik Estrada

Respect your fellow human being, treat them fairly, disagree with them honestly, enjoy their friendship, explore your thoughts about one another candidly, work together for a common goal and help one another achieve it. 

- Bill Bradley

The basis for peace is respecting all creatures. 

- Cesar Chavez

Respect is appreciation of the separateness of the other person, of the ways in which he or she is unique. 

- Annie Gottlieb

Respect is one of the greatest expressions of love. 

-Miguel Angel Ruiz

Respect is how to treat everyone. 

-Richard Branson

Have a big enough heart to love unconditionally, and a broad enough mind to embrace the differences that make each of us unique. 

-D.B. Harrop

The wise make the world beautiful by respecting others. 

- Maxime Lagacé

A lack of boundaries invites a lack of respect. 

- Unknown

Manners cost nothing. -Unknown

Be more humble than a blade of grass, more tolerant than a tree, always offering respect onto others and never expecting any in return. 

- Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

The right to be respected is won by respecting others. 

- Vasyl Sukhomlynsky

True disability is the inability to accept and respect differences. 

- Unknown

A man must learn to understand the motives of human beings, their illusions, and their sufferings in order to acquire a proper relationship to individual fellow-men and to the community. 

- Albert Einstein

The key is to learn to respect and honor the complications of other people’s lives. 

- Goldie Hawn

Respect at the cost of others is disrespect in effect. 

- Muhammad Tariq Majeed

“If people respect you respect them back, if they disrespect you respect them back. They represent their ideology you represent yours.” 

- Anonymous

 

Buddhist Thoughts
 

If you let go a little
You will have happiness

If you let go a lot

You will have a lot of happiness.

If you let go comepletely

You will be free. 

-Ajahn Chah

 

May I hold myself with compassion

May I treat others with kindness

May I be free
May I let go

- Metta

 

With appreciation and gratitude, 

we open our heart and let the

blessings in life touch us
- James Baraz

Whatever has the nature of arising

has the nature of ceasing

- Buddha

Do everything with a mind that lets go 

- Ajahn Chah

With each moment of practice, we begin to shatter the glass ceilings that confine our self-image and self-worth, which the unconsciousness of the larger society and our own internalized messages of self-judgement have imposed on us. Each step we take in our mindfulness practice is a step toward collective freedom." 

- Larry Yang

 

May I meet this moment fully.  May I meet it as a friend 

- Sylvia Boorstein 

 

“It is possible that the next Buddha will not take the form of an individual. The next Buddha may take the form of a community—a community practicing understanding and loving kindness, a community practicing mindful living. This may be the most important thing we can do for the survival of the Earth.”  

- Thich Nhat Hahn

"May I become at all times, both now and forever

A protector of those without protection

A guide for those who have lost their way

A ship for those with oceans to cross

A bridge for those with rivers to cross

A sanctuary for those in danger

A lamp for those without light

A place of refuge for those who lack shelter

And a servant to all in need

For as long as space endures,

And for as long as living beings remain,

Until then may I, too, abide

To dispel the misery of the world."

- Shantideva 

 

East Indian 

 "Just as the waves, the foam, the surf, the bubbles and other manifestations of an ocean are nothing but water alone in its essential nature; the body, mind and the intellect are nothing but consciousness alone. " 

- the Acharya

 

There is no Universe "out there," only a reflection of a complexity of mirrors.

-Article about Indra's Net buddhists . org

Nature

 

“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do. There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the earth.” - Rumi

"May my soul bloom in love for all existence." 

- Rudolf Steiner

 

"...normal is not necessarily natural."

  - Tony Buzan

Philosophy

 

The test of a belief isn’t its provable truth, but its utility. 

- Philosophy of David Hume

Morality isn’t about having moral ideas, it’s about having been trained, from an early age, in the art of decency through the emotions. Being good means getting into good habits of feeling.  

- Philosophy of David Hume

It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in war. (Either Chinese or Japanese proverb)