Nhat Hanh Quotes

298 Sourced Quotes

Breathe and you dwell in the here and now, breath and you see impermanence is life.

Nhat Hanh
Reconciliation is a deep practice that we can do with our listening and our mindful speech. To reconcile means to bring peace and happiness to nations, people, and members of our family.... In order to reconcile, you have to possess the art of deep listening.

Nhat Hanh
Compassion is a mind that removes the suffering that is present in the other.

Nhat Hanh
When you look deeply into your anger, you will see that the person you call your enemy is also suffering. As soon as you see that, the capacity of accepting and having compassion for them is there.

Nhat Hanh
Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy and serenity.

Nhat Hanh
Reality is reality. It transcends every concept. There is no concept which can adequately describe it, not even the concept of interdependence.

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

Nhat Hanh
There are many ways to calm a negative energy without suppressing or fighting it. You recognize it, you smile to it, and you invite something nicer to come up and replace it; you read some inspiring words, you listen to a piece of beautiful music, you go somewhere in nature, or you do some walking meditation.

Nhat Hanh
Before practicing meditation, we see that mountains are mountains. When we start to practice, we see that mountains are no longer mountains. After practicing a while, we see that mountains are again mountains. Now the mountains are very free. Our mind is still with the mountains, but it is no longer bound to anything.

Nhat Hanh
When you love someone, the best thing you can offer is your presence. How can you love if you are not there?

Nhat Hanh
If we are not peaceful, if we are not feeling well in our skin, we cannot demonstrate real peace, and we cannot raise our children well either.

Nhat Hanh
If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today

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

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

Nhat Hanh
If we do not know how to take care of ourselves and to love ourselves, we cannot take care of the people we love. Loving oneself is the foundation for loving another person.

Nhat Hanh
Each thought, each action in the sunlight of awareness becomes sacred.

Nhat Hanh
With mindfulness - the practice of peace - we can begin by working to transform the wars in ourselves. Conscious breathing helps us do this.

Nhat Hanh
Take my hand. We will walk. We will only walk. We will enjoy our walk without thinking of arriving anywhere.

Nhat Hanh
The situation the Earth is in today has been created by unmindful production and unmindful consumption. We consume to forget our worries and our anxieties. Tranquilising ourselves with over-consumption is not the way.

Nhat Hanh
When we live in the spirit of gratitude, there will be much happiness in our life. The one who is grateful is the one who has much happiness while the one who is ungrateful will not be able to have happiness.

Nhat Hanh
For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.

Nhat Hanh
Fear keeps us focused on the past or worried about the future. If we can acknowledge our fear, we can realize that right now we are okay. Right now, today, we are still alive, and our bodies are working marvelously. Our eyes can still see the beautiful sky. Our ears can still hear the voices of our loved ones.

Nhat Hanh
You must love in such a way that the person you love feels free.

Nhat Hanh
Meditation is not passive sitting in silence. It is sitting in awareness, free from distraction, and realizing the clear understanding that arises from concentration.

Nhat Hanh
Suffering is not enough. Life is both dreadful and wonderful...How can I smile when I am filled with so much sorrow? It is natural—you need to smile to your sorrow because you are more than your sorrow.

Nhat Hanh
May our heart's garden of awakening bloom with hundreds of flowers.

Nhat Hanh
Everything inside and around us wants to reflect itself in us. We don't have to go anywhere to obtain the truth. We only need to be still and things will reveal themselves in the still water of our heart.

Nhat Hanh
When we say, "I take refuge in the Buddha," we should also understand that "The Buddha takes refuge in me," because without the second part the first part is not complete. The Buddha needs us for awakening, understanding, and love to be real things and not just concepts. They must be real things that have real effects on life. Whenever I say, "I take refuge in the Buddha," I hear "the Buddha takes refuge in me."

Nhat Hanh
In order to be loved, we have to love, which means we have to understand.

Nhat Hanh
Every one of us needs a home. The world needs a home. There are so many young people who are homeless. They may have a building to live in, but they are homeless in their hearts. That is why the most important practice of our time is to give each person a home.

Nhat Hanh