You can learn not to want what you want, to recognize desires but not be controlled by them.

The process of becoming who you will be begins first with the total acceptance of who you are.

Whatever attitudes we habitually use toward ourselves, we will use on others, and whatever attitudes we habitually use toward others, we will use on ourselves.

When you have learned compassion for yourself, compassion for others is automatic.

Watch the functioning of your own mind in a calm and detached manner so you can gain insight into your own behavior.

No matter how hard you pursue pleasure and success, there are times when you fail. No matter how fast you flee, there are times when pain catches up with you.

The purpose of meditation is personal transformation.

The you that goes in one side of the meditation experience is not the same you that comes out the other side.

Meditation changes your character.

We have to learn to be kind to ourselves. In the long run avoiding unpleasantness is a very unkind thing to do to yourself.

Pain is inevitable, suffering is not.

Don’t feel ashamed of working hard! Believe that things will change.

Anyone can have a good day, but you have to be able to perform on a bad day.

Art cannot be modern. Art is primordially eternal.

I think it takes an introspective person to want to go into the theater and see the dark side of themselves.

We will not allow this day of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial to go without somebody going to jail.

I don't mind, it doesn't hurt me if anyone says I'm not normal. I don't know what normal is. Sometimes I'm just really tired, or I haven't eaten, and people get the wrong idea about me.

I often feel intellectually frustrated when I'm in a position where I'm not moving forward; when I'm not enquiring about something.

If you don't believe your general, you're not going to go into battle knowing you're going to die.

The biggest thing for women to keep in mind is you can't ever let someone define beauty for you. Look in the mirror and say that this is my definition of perfection.

Reading is more of a left-brain process, and listening to music is a right-brain function.