864 Quotes by Thich Nhat Hanh

The third element of love is mudita, joy. True love always brings joy to ourselves and to the one we love. If our love does not bring joy to both of us, it is not true love.

Suppose you want something very much. You think that if you don’t get that something, happiness won’t be possible. You get caught in that idea. But, in reality, there are people who have that thing who are miserable, and there people who don’t have that thing who are perfectly happy.

Don’t think that without this or that you can’t be happy. Go ahead and try your best to have what you want, but in the meantime you can still be happy.

Do we really want to realize our greatest aspiration? If we truly want to accomplish our aspirations, then why would we go along a path that goes against them, and leaves us without enough energy to practice and help ourselves and others?

We need to practice mindfulness daily in order to fulfill our aspiration. We need to patiently pursue our aspiration, but we don’t lose the present moment, we enjoy the present moment and we use it to realize our deepest desire

Our deep aspiration is an immense source of energy.

That is why I don't believe much in what Mr. Descartes said: "I think, therefore I am." I think, therefore I'm lost in my thinking. I'm not there.

We may have suffered a lot because of our attachment to those things, but we don’t have the courage to release them; it doesn’t feel safe to do so. But it may be that we continue to suffer because of our attachment to those things. It may be a person, a material object, or a position in society, anything. We think that without that person or thing we will not be safe, and that is why we’re caught by it.

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.