“Looking deeply into the flower, we see that the flower is made of non-flower elements. We describe the flower as being full of everything. There is nothing that is not present in the flower. We see sunshine, we see the rain, we see clouds, we see the earth, and we also see time and space in the flower. A flower, like everything else, is made entirely of non-flower elements. The whole cosmos has come together in order to help the flower manifest herself. The flower is full of everything except one thing: a separate self, a separate identity.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, No Death, No Fear
“When you visualize yourself and your beloved in three hundred years’ time, you just feel so happy that you are alive today and that your dearest is alive today. You open your eyes and all your anger has gone.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, No Death, No Fear
“Some people do not even want to look at a person when the person is alive, but when the person dies they write eloquent obituaries and make offerings of flowers. At that point the person has died and cannot really enjoy the fragrance of the flowers anymore. If we really understood and remembered that life was impermanent, we would do everything we could to make the other person happy right here and right now. If we spend twenty-four hours being angry at our beloved, it is because we are ignorant of impermanence.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, No Death, No Fear
“Someday when we die we will lose all our possessions, our power, our family, everything. Our freedom, peace and joy in the present moment is the most important thing we have. But without an awakened understanding of impermanence, it is not possible to be happy.”
Thich Nhat Hanh, No Death, No Fear
“I know many parents whose children, when they are eighteen or nineteen years old, leave home and live on their own. The parents lose their children and feel very sorry for themselves. Yet the parents did not value the moments they had with their children. The same is true of husbands and wives. You think that your spouse will be there for the whole of your life, but how can you be so sure? We really have no idea where our partners will be in twenty or thirty years’ time or even tomorrow. It is very important to remember every day the practice of impermanence.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, No Death, No Fear
“We are often sad and suffer a lot when things change, but change and impermanence have a positive side. Thanks to impermanence, everything is possible. Life itself is possible. If a grain of corn is not impermanent, it can never be transformed into a stalk of corn. If the stalk were not impermanent, it could never provide us with the ear of corn we eat. If your daughter is not impermanent, she cannot grow up to become a woman. Then your grandchildren would never manifest. So instead of complaining about impermanence, we should say, ‘Warm welcome and long live impermanence.’ We should be happy. When we can see the miracle of impermanence, our sadness and suffering will pass.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, No Death, No Fear
“When you look at the surface of the ocean, you can see waves coming up and going down. You can describe these waves in terms of high or low, big or small, more vigorous or less vigorous, more beautiful or less beautiful. You can describe a wave in terms of beginning and end, birth and death. That can be compared to the historical dimension. In the historical dimension, we are concerned with birth and death, more powerful, less powerful, more beautiful, less beautiful, beginning and end and so on. Looking deeply, we can also see that the waves are at the same time water. A wave may like to seek its own true nature. The wave might suffer from fear, from complexes. A wave may say, ‘I am not as big as the other waves,’ ‘I am oppressed,’ ‘I am not as beautiful as the other waves,’ ‘I have been born and I have to die.’ The wave may suffer from these things, these ideas. But if the wave bends down and touches her true nature she will realize that she is water. Then her fear and complexes will disappear.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, No Death, No Fear
“If you look at a friend with the eyes of a meditator, you will see in him or her all generations of their ancestors. You will be very respectful to them and to your own body because you will see their body and your body as the sacred home of all our ancestors. You will also see that our bodies are the source of all future generations. We will not damage our bodies, because that wouldn’t be kind to our descendants. We do not use drugs and we do not eat or drink things that have toxins or that will harm our bodies. This is because our insight of manifestation helps us to live in a healthy way, with clarity and responsibility.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, No Death, No Fear
“Walking slowly in the moonlight through the rows of tea plants, I noticed my mother was still with me. She was the moonlight caressing me as she had done so often, very tender, very sweet… wonderful! Each time my feet touched the earth I knew my mother was there with me. I knew this body was not mine alone but a living continuation of my mother and my father and my grandparents and great-grandparents. Of all my ancestors. These feet that I saw as ‘my’ feet were actually ‘our’ feet. Together my mother and I were leaving footprints in the damp soil.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, No Death, No Fear
“What do you focus on most often? What’s your life’s obsession? Finding love? Making a difference? Learning? Earning? Pleasing everyone? Avoiding pain? Changing the world? Are you aware of what you focus on most; your primary question in life? Whatever it is, it will shape, mold, and direct your life.” ~ Tony Robbins, Money: Master the Game
“The average person asks questions such as ‘How do I get by?’ or ‘Why is this happening to me?’ Some even ask questions that disempower them, causing their minds to focus on and find roadblocks instead of solutions. Questions like ‘How come I can never lose weight?’ or ‘Why can’t I ever hang on to my money?’ only move them farther down the path of limitation. I have been obsessed with the question of how do I make things better? How do I help people to significantly improve the quality of their lives now? This focus has driven me for 38 years to find or create strategies and tools that can make an immediate difference. What about you? What question(s) do you ask more than any other?” ~ Tony Robbins, Money: Master the Game
“To get results, you can’t just ask the question once, you have to become obsessed with finding its greatest answer(s).” ~ Tony Robbins, Money: Master the Game
“So much of what makes us wealthy is free. The secret to wealth is gratitude. It’s not just what we achieve or accomplish. It’s what we appreciate. It’s not just the adventure of a cruise. It’s what we take the time to enjoy. You can find an adventure and joy in those you love, in the dancing eyes of your children, or the joyous faces fo those you love. There are jackpots everywhere if you wake up to the beauty of your life today. So don’t vow to someday get beyond scarcity; start beyond it. Realize how lucky you are and all the wealth you possess in love, joy, opportunities, health, friends, and family. Don’t get rich. Start rich.” ~ Tony Robbins, Money: Master the Game
“I meet people everyday who tell me the job market is frozen, or they’ve been laid off and fear they’ll never find work again. But I’m here to tell you it’s not the market, it’s you. You can increase your earnings potential—anyone can. You can add value to the marketplace. You can learn new skills, you can master your own mind-set, you can grow and change and develop, and you can find the job and economic opportunity that you need and deserve.” ~ Tony Robbins, Money: Master the Game
“He who gains time gains everything.” ~ Benjamin Disraeli, via Money: Master the Game
“You can be rich by having more than you need, or by needing less than you have.” ~ Jim Mott, via Money: Master the Game
“Everybody has a secret world inside of them. All of the people of the world, I mean everybody. No matter how dull and boring they are on the outside, inside them they’ve all got unimaginable, magnificent, wonderful, stupid, amazing worlds. Not just one world. Hundreds of them. Thousands maybe.” ~ Neil Gaiman, The Sandman
“Most people overestimate what they can do in a year, and they massively underestimate what they can accomplish in a decade or two. The fact is: you are not a manager of circumstance, you’re the architect of your life’s experience.” ~ Tony Robbins, Money: Master the Game
“What you get will never make you happy; who you become will make you very happy or very sad.” ~ Jim Rohn, via Money: Master the Game
“It doesn’t matter where you stand in relation to your friends, your family, your colleagues, or clients. All that matters is your personal journey. It’s tempting to look at others as a yardstick and convince yourself that you’re all the way out in front, with the appearance of a lead, or resign yourself to the back of the pack. But that’s not the point. The race of life is a marathon, not a sprint. The only thing to do is focus on the path in front of you. Look ahead. Establish your own pace. Keep moving forward. And then create that plan.” ~ Tony Robbins, Money: Master the Game