Quotes from Thich Nhat Hanh

If our love is only a will to possess, it is not love.

Some people live as though they are already dead. There are people moving around us who are consumed by their past, terrified of their future, and stuck in their anger and jealousy. They are not alive; they are just walking corpses.

The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.

A real love letter is made of insight, understanding, and compassion. Otherwise it's not a love letter. A true love letter can produce a transformation in the other person, and therefore in the world. But before it produces a transformation in the other person, it has to produce a transformation within us. Some letters may take the whole of our lifetime to write.

Root out the violence in your life, and learn to live compassionately and mindfully. Seek peace. When you have peace within, real peace with others is possible.

The true miracle is not walking on water or walking in air, but simply walking on this earth.

Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts. Whenever your mind becomes scattered, use your breath as the means to take hold of your mind again.

Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful.

At any moment, you have a choice, that either leads you closer to your spirit or further away from it.

We have more possibilities available in each moment than we realize.

To think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth. The problem is to see reality as it is.

If we are not fully ourselves, truly in the present moment, we miss everything.

In mindfulness one is not only restful and happy, but alert and awake. Meditation is not evasion; it is a serene encounter with reality.

Attachment to views is the greatest impediment to the spiritual path.

In modern society most of us don't want to be in touch with ourselves; we want to be in touch with other things like religion, sports, politics, a book - we want to forget ourselves. Anytime we have leisure, we want to invite something else to enter us, opening ourselves to the television and telling the television to come and colonize us.

I am determined to practice deep listening. I am determined to practice loving speech.

Until there is peace between religions, there can be no peace in the world.

Breathing in, there is only the present moment. Breathing out, it is a wonderful moment.

In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change.

I have lost my smile, but don't worry. The dandelion has it.

Our notions about happiness entrap us. We forget that they are just ideas. Our idea of happiness can prevent us from actually being happy. We fail to see the opportunity for joy that is right in front of us when we are caught in a belief that happiness should take a particular form.

Being vegetarian here also means that we do not consume dairy and egg products, because they are products of the meat industry. If we stop consuming, they will stop producing. Only collective awakening can create enough determination for action.

Anxiety, the illness of our time, comes primarily from our inability to dwell in the present moment.

Each moment is a chance for us to make peace with the world, to make peace possible for the world, to make happiness possible for the world.