Quotes from Thich Nhat Hanh

You discover that the main cause of your suffering is the seed of anger in you, because it has been watered too often, by yourself and by other people.

If you can see your mother as a fragile five-year-old girl, then you can forgive her very easily with compassion. The five-year-old girl who was your mother is always alive in her and in you.

The only place where we can touch Jesus and the Kingdom of God is within us.

The present moment is the only time over which we have dominion. The most important person is always the person you are with, who is right before you.

You can arrange your schedule so you have enough time to eat. The place and teh food should be appropriate. Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are. Tell me where you eat, and I will tell you who you are.

The best position for practicing this is lying down. You focus your attention on a part of your body, such as your heart. As you breathe in, you become aware of your heart, and as you breathe out, you smile towards it. You send it your love, your tenderness.

We wanted peace. We did not care about anyone's victory or defeat. We just wanted the bombs to stop falling on us.

Nothing can exist by itself alone. It has to depend on every other thing. That is called inter-being. There is no being; there is only inter-being.

The most effective way to show compassion to another is to listen, rather than talk. You have an opportunity to practice deep, compassionate listening. If you can listen to the other person with compassion, your listening is like a salve for her wound. In the practice of compassionate listening, you listen with only one purpose, which is to give the other person the chance to speak out and to suffer less.

It is not by going out for a demonstration against nuclear missiles that we can bring about peace. It is with our capacity of smiling, breathing, and being peace that we can make peace.

If you are lost in a forest at night, you can follow the North Star to find your way out. You follow the North Star, but your goal is to get back home; it's not to arrive at the North Star.

The fruit of mindfulness practice is the realization that peace and joy are available within us and around us, right here and right now.