Nhat Hanh Quotes
The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.
Silence is essential. We need silence just as much as we need air, just as much as plants need light. If our minds are crowded with words and thoughts, there is no space for us.
Around us, life bursts with miracles, a glass of water, a ray of sunshine, a leaf, a caterpillar, a flower, laughter, raindrops.
To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.
It is not impermanence that makes us suffer. What makes us suffer is wanting things to be permanent when they are not.
Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.
The quality of our life depends on the quality of the seeds that lie deep in our consciousness.
Breathing in, I calm body and mind. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment I know this is the only moment.
A bodhisattva is someone who has compassion within himself or herself and who is able to make another person smile or help someone suffer less. Every one of us is capable of this.
People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.
Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.
Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.
The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms.
We all have the seeds of love in us.We can develop this wonderful source of energy, nurturing the unconditional love that does not expect anything in return.
Guarding knowledge is not a good way to understand. Understanding means to throw away your knowledge.
You do not suffer because things are impermanent. You suffer because things are impermanent and you think they are permanent.
Be Yourself. Life is precious as it is. All the elements for your happiness are already here. There is no need to run, strive, search, or struggle. Just Be.
If you think that peace and happiness are somewhere else and you run after them, you will never arrive.
When you love someone, the best thing you can offer is your presence. How can you love if you are not there?
In the Light of interbeing, peace and happiness in your daily life means peace and happiness in the world.
If you love someone but rarely make yourself available to him or her, that is not true love.
Take my hand. We will walk. We will only walk. We will enjoy our walk without thinking of arriving anywhere.
Smile, breathe and go slowly." - Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Zen monk, author and peace activist.
Many people think excitement is happiness.... But when you are excited you are not peaceful. True happiness is based on peace.
Freedom is the basic condition for you to touch life, to touch the blue sky, the trees, the birds, the tea, and the other person.
In the moment when we are able to smile, to look at ourselves with compassion, our world begins to change.
For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.
People suffer because they are caught in their views. As soon as we release those views, we are free and we don't suffer anymore.
A bodhisattva doesn't have to be perfect. Anyone who is aware of what is happening and who tries to wake up other people is a bodhisattva. We are all bodhisattvas, doing our best.
Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything - anger, anxiety, or possessions - we cannot be free.
The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life.
When we recognise the virtues, the talent, the beauty of Mother Earth, something is born in us, some kind of connection; love is born.
When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That's the message he is sending.
I will practice coming back to the present moment...not letting regrets and sorrow drag me back into the past or letting anxieties, fears, or cravings pull me out.
Each moment you are alive is a gem. It needs you to breathe gently for the miracles to be displayed.
The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions.
At any moment, you have a choice, that either leads you closer to your spirit or further away from it.
