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.

Shallow understanding accompanies shallow compassion. Great understanding goes with great compassion.

Understanding is a gift. The other person may feel understood for the first time. Understanding is the other name of love. If you don't understand, you can't love. If you don't understand your son, you can't love him. If you don't understand your mother, you can't love her. To offer understanding means to offer love. Without understanding, the more we love, the more we make ourselves and others suffer.

Compassion doesn't mean that you have to love that person who's so difficult. But if you stop and look deeper, you'll see that person's difficulties. If you can accept him, then you can love him.

Whenever you find yourself judging your partner, go back to your in-breath and out-breath and ask, How can I see this differently? Can I look more deeply to better understand her suffering and her difficulties?

With understanding and compassion, you will be able to heal the wounds in your heart, and the wounds in the world.

The energy of mindfulness has the element of friendship and loving kindness in it.

Carrying a grudge is a heavy burden. As you forgive, you will feel the joy of being forgiven.

Every man should keep a fair-sized cemetery in which to bury the faults of his friends.

Keeping score is for games, not friendships.

My school was pretty tough, and I played football there so I would be accepted, to save myself a kicking.

I'm not that kinda guy to hold a grudge.