"In order to rally people, governments need enemies... if they do not have a real enemy, they will invent one in order to mobilize us."
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Quote collection
Nhat Hanh quotes (page 24 of 37)
723 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"We have to understand in order to be of help. We all have pain, but we tend to suppress it, because we don't want it to come up to our living room. the most important thing is that we need to be understood. We need someone to be able to listen to us and to understand us, then we will suffer less, but everyone is suffering, and no one wants to listen. We don't know how to express ourselves so that people can understand. because we suffer so much, the way we express our pain hurts other people, and they don't want to listen."
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"I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, and in my way of life"
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"You have to do it by yourself. You can not do it alone."
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"Anger is the energy that people use in order to act. But when you are angry, you are not lucid, and you might do wrong things. That is why compassion is a better energy."
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"How do you want to create peace, if there is no peace inside yourselves?"
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"While drinking, while talking, while writing, while watering our garden, it's always possible to practice living in the here and the now."
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"One hour of compassionate deep listening can bring about transformation and healing."
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"The terrorists, they have the wrong perception. They believe that the other group is trying to destroy them as a religion, as a civilization. So they want to abolish us, to kill us before we can kill them. And the antiterrorist may think very much the same way - that these are terrorists and they are trying to eliminate us, so we have to eliminate them first. Both sides are motivated by fear, by anger, and by wrong perception."
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"The present moment contains past and future. The secret of transformation, is in the way we handle this very moment."
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"We ourselves need love; it's not only society, the world outside, that needs love. But we can't expect that love to come from outside of us. We should ask the question whether we are capable of loving ourselves as well as others."
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"Do not live with a vocation that is harmful to humans and nature. Do not invest in companies that deprive others of their chance to live. Select a vocation that helps realise your ideal of compassion."
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"Don't think you have to be solemn to meditate. To meditate, well, you have to smile a lot."
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"If you are capable of brushing your teeth in mindfulness, then you will be able to enjoy the time when you take a shower, cook your breakfast, sip your tea."
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"Our mind is the foundation of all our actions, whether they are actions of body, speech, or mind, i.e., thinking. Whatever we think, say, or do arises from our mind. What our consciousness consumes becomes the substance of our life, so we have to be very careful which nutriments we ingest."
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"Breathing in, I am aware of my heart. Breathing out, I smile to my heart and know that my heart still functions normally. I feel grateful for my heart."
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"When you look at the sun during your walking meditation, the mindfulness of the body helps you to see that the sun is in you; without the sun there is no life at all and suddenly you get in touch with the sun in a different way."
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"Freedom from suffering is a great happiness."
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"When we say, "I take refuge in the Buddha," we should also understand that "The Buddha takes refuge in me," because without the second part the first part is not complete. The Buddha needs us for awakening, understanding, and love to be real things and not just concepts. They must be real things that have real effects on life. Whenever I say, "I take refuge in the Buddha," I hear "the Buddha takes refuge in me.""
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"Each time you take a mindful step you are back in the arms of Mother Earth and are reminded of your true sweet home in the here and now."
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