Thich Nhat Hanh Quotes That Will Inspire You to Live Your Best Life

1. Bhikkhus, what is meant by ‘pursuing the past’? To pursue the past means to lose yourself in thoughts about what you looked like in the past, what your feelings were then, what rank and position you held, what happiness or suffering you experienced then. Giving rise to such thoughts entangles you in the past. Bhikkhus, what is meant by ‘losing yourself in the future’? To lose yourself in the future means to lose yourself in thoughts about the future. You imagine, hope, fear, or worry about the future, wondering what you will look like, what your feelings will be, whether you will have happiness or suffering. Giving rise to such thoughts entangles you in the future.

2. If our love is only a will to possess, it is not love. Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

3. If we stop being joyful and stop singing, we are caught in a kind of prison. The stars in the sky never build prisons. Call Me by My True Names: The Collected Poems

4. If you love someone but rarely make yourself available to him or her, that is not true love. Living Buddha, Living Christ

5. 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 Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation

6. Many people think excitement is happiness.... But when you are excited you are not peaceful. True happiness is based on peace. The Art of Power

7. Our appointment with life is in the present moment. If we do not have peace and joy right now when will we have peace and joy--tomorrow, or after tomorrow? What is presenting us from being happy right now? Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

8. The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it. (21) Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

9. Through my love for you, I want to express my love for the whole cosmos, the whole of humanity, and all beings. By living with you, I want to learn to love everyone and all species. If I succeed in loving you, I will be able to love everyone and all species on Earth... This is the real message of love. Teachings on Love

10. We really have to understand the person we want to love. If our love is only a will to possess, it is not love. If we only think of ourselves, if we know only our own needs and ignore the needs of the other person, we cannot love. We must look deeply in order to see and understand the needs, aspirations, and suffering of the person we love. This is the ground of real love. You cannot resist loving another person when you really understand him or her.From time to time, sit close to the one you love, hold his or her hand, and ask, 'Darling, do I understand you enough? Or am I making you suffer? Please tell me so that I can learn to love you properly. I don't want to make you suffer, and if I do so because of my ignorance, please tell me so that I can love you better, so that you can be happy." If you say this in a voice that communicates your real openness to understand, the other person may cry.That is a good sign, because it means the door of understanding is opening and everything will be possible again. Maybe a father does not have time or is not brave enough to ask his son such a question. Then the love between them will not be as full as it could be. We need courage to ask these questions, but if we don't ask, the more we love, the more we may destroy the people we are trying to love. True love needs understanding. With understanding, the one we love will certainly flower. Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

11. Be the monarch of your life and sign the decree to exile suffering and call back from all points of the universe the power of birds and flowers, the vitality of youth. The whole universe will smile when your eyes smile. Call Me by My True Names: The Collected Poems

12. Guarding knowledge is not a good way to understand. Understanding means to throw away your knowledge. Being Peace

13. If you know how to be happy with the wonders of life that are already there for you to enjoy, you don't need to stress your mind and your body by striving harder and harder, and you don't need to stress this planet by purchasing more and more stuff. The Earth belongs to our children. We have already borrowed too much from it, from them; and the way things have been going, we're not sure we'll be able to give it back to them in decent shape. And who are our children, actually? They are us, because they are our own continuation. So we've been shortchanging our own selves. Much of our modern way of life is permeated by mindless overborrowing. The more we borrow, the more we loser. That's why it's critical that we wake up and see we don't need to do that anymore. What's already available in the here and now is plenty for us to be nourished, to be happy. Only that kind of insight will get us, each one of us, to stop engaging in the compulsive, self-sabotaging behaviors of our species. We need a collective awakening. One Buddha is not enough. All of us have to become Buddhas in order for our planet to have a chance. Fortunately, we have the power to wake up, to touch enlightenment from moment to moment, in our very own ordinary and, yes, busy lives. So let's start right now. Peace is your every breath. Peace Is Every Breath: A Practice for Our Busy Lives

14. In true love, you attain freedom. When you love, you bring freedom to the person you love. If the opposite is true, it is not true love. You must love in such a way that the person you love feels free. (p.4, Shambhala Publications) True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart

15. The greatest gift we can offer anyone is our true presence. The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation

16. The person you love has all kinds of seeds in her: joy, suffering, and anger. If you water her anger, then in just five minutes you can bring the anger out in her. If you know how to water the seeds of her compassion, joy, and understanding, then these seeds will blossom. If you recognize the good seeds in her, you are watering her self-confidence and she will become the source of her own happiness as well as yours. Fidelity: How to Create a Loving Relationship That Lasts

17. The secret of Buddhism is to remove all ideas, all concepts, in order for the truth to have a chance to penetrate, to reveal itself. Buddha Mind, Buddha Body: Walking Toward Enlightenment

18. The seed of suffering in you may be strong, but don't wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy. The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation

19. Those who are without compassion cannot see what is seen with the eyes of compassion. The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation

20. Through my love for you, I want to express my love for the whole cosmos, the whole of humanity, and all beings. By living with you, I want to learn to love everyone and all species. If I succeed in loving you, I will be able to love everyone and all species on Earth... This is the real message of love. Teachings on Love

21. We are aware that blaming and arguing can never help us and only create a wider gap between us; that only understanding, trust, and love can help us change and grow Fidelity: How to Create a Loving Relationship That Lasts

22. We have negative mental habits that come up over and over again. One of the most significant negative habits we should be aware of is that of constantly allowing our mind to run off into the future. Perhaps we got this from our parents. Carried away by our worries, we're unable to live fully and happily in the present. Deep down, we believe we can't really be happy just yet—that we still have a few more boxes to be checked off before we can really enjoy life. We speculate, dream, strategize, and plan for these "conditions of happiness" we want to have in the future; and we continually chase after that future, even while we sleep. We may have fears about the future because we don't know how it's going to turn out, and these worries and anxieties keep us from enjoying being here now. Peace Is Every Breath: A Practice for Our Busy Lives

23. Western civilization places so much emphasis on the idea of hope that we sacrifice the present moment. Hope is for the future. It cannot help us discover joy, peace, or enlightenment in the present moment. Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life