14 Quotes by The Dalai Lama

I always tell my Western friends that it is best to keep your own tradition. Changing religion is not easy and sometimes causes confusion. You must value your tradition and honor your own religion.

Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others; to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can.

From the scientific view, the theory of karma may be a metaphysical assumption -- but it is no more so than the assumption that all of life is material and originated out of pure chance

if we lose our human values by having everything mechanied, then machines will dictate our lives.

Love and kindness are always appropriate. Whether or not you believe in rebirth, you will need love in this life. If we have love, there is hope to have real families, real brotherhood, real equanimity, real peace.

If you succeed through violence at the expense of others' rights and welfare, you have not solved the problem, but only created the seeds for another.

Irrespective of whether we are a believer or an agnostic, whether we believe in God or karma, moral ethics is a code which everyone is able to pursue.

The proper way to create friends is through a warm heart and not simple money or power. Friends of power and friends of money are something different. These are not friends.

If you have adopted Buddhism you should not consider yourself a 'great Buddhist' and immediately start to do everything differently. A Tibetan proverb states, 'Change your mind but leave your appearance as usual.