c2p-cmd/Good-Quotes-Authors huggingface dataset:
When she smiles at you, you will feel like the whole world in yours. If you really love her; else her smile wouldn't matter.
— Rahul Rawat
Her smile shames the sun
— Harlan Coben, Six Years
A smile becomes you or perhaps you become you when you smile.
— Margi Preus, West of the Moon
When you let another steal your joy you give them power over you. Don’t let anyone steal your smile
— Tammy Johnson
The gray has no chance against that smile. It vanishes in a wonderful haze of bright color.
— Harlan Coben, Six Years
I fell in love... she caused a type of smile within me that nothing else can or has.
— Steve Maraboli
Gentleness stepped out of your smile
—  but:Suspicion cried out from your laughter.
Miss Marshall looked up at that moment and made his decision for him. She looked at him and then her whole face lit up. He almost staggered back under the force of her smile. It made him feel…reckless. A man couldn’t disappoint a smile like that.
She smiled at me, and I never forgot it. Or more accurately, I always remembered it.
— A.S. King, Ask the Passengers
She'd obviously read the book many times before, and so she read flawlessly and confidently, and I could hear her smile in the reading of it, and the sound of that smile made me think that maybe I would like novels better if Alaska Young read them to me.
— John Green, Looking for Alaska
The mask's back in place. The heard-it-all smile. The seen-it-all eyes.
— Moira Young, Rebel Heart
Sky and the stars and the sun, and the moon and the mountain and the rivers will smile, if you smile. Beasts and the brutes and the monsters and the birds, and the flowers, and the plants, will be kind if you are kind. Doomed and the hopeless and the condemned and the ruined and the miserable and the lost, will be happy if you are happy.
— M.F. Moonzajer, A moment with God ; Poetry
Life isn't about the brand of clothes you wear, or about who looks the best. It's about the number of faces which smile when they hear your name
— Christian O. Ortiz, Classified : The Human Women Guide
Worry adds no hours to a day, nor happiness to a smile, so it is not worth succumbing to, especially when it obscures the sight of potential.
— Johnathan Jena
I just hope that one day, in one gloriously farcical moment I will be taken completely by surprise. I hope that I trip and fall. And when that day comes I hope that all of the doom and gloom that fill my black balloon will burst and ignite something so beautiful, so overwhelming that I find myself seeing beauty in the ugliest of places.
— Kendal Rob
From the deepest silence between us arose uncertain, utterly vague and, as it were, whispered varieties on the theme ‘smile’.
— Nicola Lecca, Ritratto notturno
It’s hard not to smile when you’re going eyeball to eyeball with a frosted chocolate cupcake.
— Shannon Wiersbitzky, What Flowers Remember
Because they died, we know we still live. Because a star explodes and a thousand worlds like ours die, we know this world is. That is the smile: that what might not be, is.
— John Fowles, The Magus
He seemed like the sort to have a vast arsenal of smirks, shaped over a decade of nonverbal conversation.
— Thomm Quackenbush, Artificial Gods
S.M.I.L.E - A Sweet Mile in Life's Experience
— Ankita Agrawal
One Smile makes two Smiles and two makes many Smiles so keep Smiling :) :).
— Bhago
Be awesome! Smile like a flower.
— Debasish Mridha
And who shall you be once you don your grand disguise?""La luna," she said with a smile."Then I shall be la notte to your moon" Archer lifted the hard black mask he held and slipped it over his thinner silk one
— Kristen Callihan, Firelight
One of the greatest gifts in this world is the ability to make others smile. - The Unauthorized Autobiography of Jonathan Fisher
— J.E.B. Spredemann
Black,The death of an old habit in order for anew journey to start. The dark cloudsdisappeared, chased away by the brilliant shine of your smile. So that I had the courage to be me once again…~Riley
— Ottilie Weber, Beneath the Scars
Life is here to be enjoyed, your smile and your happiness makes it even better.
— Jim Jensen
They say time heals all, But time is our only enemy; breathe deep and find strength to smile tonight, for the morning may never come
— Michael Biondi
To sulk is to create a noise
—  to smile is to create a music.
Dilute your arrogance with a smile.
— Sukant Ratnakar, Open The Windows: To the World around You
It was the kind of smile that no one further than ten inches from her face would perceive. Her expression was so lightly cast to my eyes that had it been a snowflake on my lashes it would have melted away with an accidental blink.
— Zach Lichtmann, Dynamo
the only simple gift but meaningful you can give to everyone are smiles.. 
— Jinnul Jr.
we love rain cause raining means cleaning sins
— MK PRINCE
Pink,You are gentle and sweet just like this rose. When your rose pink lips smiled at me that first time I remembered how to smile.~Riley
— Ottilie Weber, Beneath the Scars
Life is here to be enjoyed, your happiness and your smile makes it even better
— Jim Jensen
It’s getting more difficult to be wise,” he says, laughing into my ear.I smile at him. “I think that’s how it’ssupposed to be.
— Veronica Roth, Allegiant
I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation.
— Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado
His heart overflowed with good intentions but his fists felt best covered in blood.
— Debra Anastasia, Return to Poughkeepsie
While talking to you I always get a Little Smile on my face that I never noticed
— Pawan Mehra
A smile is the most beautiful colour in the world.
— Xingyun, A Life of Pluses and Minuses
But if all this time between them had taught him anything, it was that they were orbiting the same fate. Together, always together, even when physically apart.
— Debra Anastasia, Return to Poughkeepsie
He look at you not because you are sexy, but because your perfect smile.
— Sugiarti Manik
Sometimes you can save someone’s whole world just by smiling at them. Kindness is one of those things that has immense value to the person experiencing it.
— Debra Anastasia
It felt real, seeing his friend like that. It was like a gift. He wasn’t into spiritual bullshit, but damn. "Damn. That Mouse had become his friend was a gift, but a curse as well. If he’d left that whole situation alone, would Mouse — would James — have had a better life? A different outcome?
— Debra Anastasia, Return to Poughkeepsie
If you can win an argument by stretching your lips with a smile, why open your mouth and lose it.
— Sukant Ratnakar, Open The Windows: To the World around You
We all smiled because it was the truth: Living did take a lot more guts than giving up.
— Brendan Halpin, A Really Awesome Mess
If you can win an argument by stretching your lips for a smile, why open your mouth and lose it.
— Sukant Ratnakar, Open The Windows: To the World around You
Adam has the most engaging smile and I realize, this is a private smile reserved just for me . . . like he’s waited his whole life for just one smile.
— Ashley Pullo, The Bridge
I know,” he says, and it’s the strangest thing. I can tell he’s smiling, slow and syrupy, when he says it.
— Charlotte Stein, Power Play
She was losing it. Needing to harden, hating that she was out of control and sloppy, she punched the leather. He needed to apologize. He needed to stop the fucking car and kiss her. She had to slap him. Eve didn’t realize how badly she’d been craving this man.
— Debra Anastasia, Return to Poughkeepsie
smile..smile..and smile. i mean- just smile, and everything else will follow.
— Anne Jane Gone Lopez
I think everything in life is art. What you do. How you dress. The way you love someone, and how you talk. Your smile and your personality. What you believe in, and all your dreams. The way you drink your tea. How you decorate your home. Or party. Your grocery list. The food you make. How your writing looks. And the way you feel. Life is art.
— Helena Bonham Carter
Kill your enemies with success and bury them with a smile.... Never fails.
— Ziad K. Abdelnour, Economic Warfare: Secrets of Wealth Creation in the Age of Welfare Politics
Levi was smiling. He kicked her chair again.
— Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl
A true smile is when the mouth and the heart coordinate with each other.
— Barbara Ann Kipfer
The only keeper of your happiness is you. Stop giving people the power to control your smile, your worth and your attitude.
— Mandy Hale
When you are having a really crappy day, and life seems to be kicking your ass, try to force your self to laugh. If you can achieve a smile and a laugh, you can chase any demons away
— L.F. Young
Always keep your smile. That's how I explain my long life.
— Jeanne Calment
Enjoy, smile... wild... peace.
— C. JoyBell C.
Just a smile from the right person can delete fear, cancel unhappiness, and even dissolve physical pain.
— Doug "Ten" Rose
Smile and thank God, that you are alive today!
— John Steinbeck
Moriarty rarely smiled,and then usually to terrify some poor victim. The first time I heard him laugh, I thought he had been struck by a deadly poison and the stutter escaping through his locked jaws was a death rattle.
— Kim Newman, Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D'Urbervilles
When your job is what defines you, when that is the be-all and end-all of your existence, what does a fake smile and a sallow look matter. You have to save your job to keep body and soul together, don't you?
— Andy Paula
And there was Tara, again with that shy half-smile and her burgundy lips slightly puckered, that shy kink, an incomplete curlicue at the corner of her mouth; he'd seen it before many times but never noted it, and now it had him mesmerized.
— Graham Joyce, Some Kind of Fairy Tale
She transcends her sport, which is what any sport needs...And she does it while smiling the whole time. It's kind of a joke, but then again it's not, especially if you're a male pro trailing in her wake. To have this woman in the middle of such a suffer fest out there crushing people and smiling all the way...
— Lance Armstrong, A Life Without Limits: A World Champion's Journey
Puns are just another form of sarcasm, which may or may not make you - smile, giggle, or laugh.
— Aniruddha Sastikar
I love her passionately with a morbid intensity; madly as one can only love a woman who never responds to our love with anything but an eternally uniform, eternally calm, stony smile.
— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Venus in Furs
And you asked why people always expected you to smile in photographs. And I told you it was because they hoped that in the future, there would be something to smile about
— pleasefindthis
You are never fully dressed until you put on a smile!
— Les Miserables
A smile doesn't always stand for a perfect life.
— Faraaz Kazi
Sally has a smile I would accept as my last view on earth...
— Wallace Stegner, Crossing to Safety
So, we're not enemies anymore?" She said. "I never said I wanted to be, believe me. When I saw you sitting in your own, eating lunch, all I wanted to do was fool around and make you smile." He shot her a shy glance.
— Kathryn James, Mist
Indiscriminately share your smile
— Truth Devour, Wantin
Her smile was like a swift light passing across a darkened room.("Hair")
— Joan Aiken, Best New Horror 23
He who frowns when they say that he sucks shouldn’t smile when they say that he rocks.
— Mokokoma Mokhonoana
When I die, I would love to die smiling. If however I forget this, I hope I have someone there to make me smile.
— Fafore
When he smiles, they mostly look away. But Martin likes to think they carry his smile for a few blocks – that even the smallest gesture is something grand.
— Simon Van Booy, The Illusion of Separateness
There was a rare quality about Nurse Grace’s smile. It was the knowledge that sooner or later her smile would inspire some witty observer to say something around the lines of, “Every time you do this, an angel farts”.
— Sorin Suciu, The Scriptlings
A model’s opinion seldom matters. The only time that he is required to open his mouth is when he is required to smile at the camera.
— Mokokoma Mokhonoana
Funny enough, I sit on my porch all day, wave and smile at everyone. Some of them aren't sure, some smiles right back, some come back later and say; "This morning you made my day, had the best day all week, thank you for that!" Smile and wave, that's all it takes :)
— Martin R. Lemieux
A man who smiles when he falls gives the Devil a good slap!
— Mehmet Murat ildan
Sometimes you forget how much you love someone, until you realize their smile is like a spotlight shined on your heart.
— Cassia Leo, Bring Me Home
I have lost my smile,but don't worry.The dandelion has it.
— Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
If my stupidity makes you smile, I rather prefer to act always as stupid.
— M.F. Moonzajer
Don't be afraid to be who you are, we were created to perfect in our own imperfect way.
— Kendal Rob
Though a smile is little work, its effects are long lasting.
— Bucky Buckbinder
I like it the most when I see that smiling face of his.
— Suu Morishita ( 森下suu), 日々蝶々 2
Smile creates love and peace
—  love and peace create smile.
One candle is like a smile. One little light can start a whole fire. Smile at someone today.
— Gail Thackray
Switch on your smile, laugh without reason. You control happiness, you change the world.
— Roel van Sleeuwen
It's hard to keep a straight face when I just wanna smile- Fun.
— Fun
Since there are thousands of reasons to be happy, let us smile so many thousands times!
— Mehmet Murat ildan
A smile opened, thin as a paper cut, in the bottom of Flowers's face.
— Michael Chabon, Telegraph Avenue
Keep a smile, It will enrich your profile.Don't be sad,It only effects bad.
— Vishal Bhojwani, SPARK
A single smile of man is a thousand defeat of the devil!
— Mehmet Murat ildan
I often wonder, if those that smile the most, are the most saddest people in the world.
— Anthony Liccione
every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing
— Mother Teresa, The Joy in Loving
Even though I felt like crying, I did my very best to smile.
— Kristen Ashley, Rock Chick Renegade
Time to get a go on this drop-dead-gorgeous morning.
— Coco J. Ginger
My dogs have been the reason I have woken up every single day of my life with a smile on my face.
— Jennifer Skiff, The Divinity of Dogs: True Stories of Miracles Inspired by Man's Best Friend
The greatest weapon that one can have is a simple...smile.
— Lionel Suggs
...if you smile for no reason at all you will actually start to feel happy
— Rebecca Stead, Liar & Spy
Okay, so maybe sometimes the real world is smiles and miracles.
— Gary D. Schmidt, The Wednesday Wars
If sharks could smile, they'd smile like he was now.
— Kathleen Peacock, Hemlock
It's easy enough to smile at a man if you want to capture his attention, but once you realize he's not really looking at you, that perhaps he never really saw you, smiling becomes much more difficult
— Ashlyn Macnamara, A Most Scandalous Proposal
Be Strong , Have Faith and Always Smile .
— Ra'ad Ammari
A smile is an inexpensive way to change your looks.
— Clemmie Galati
...don't you realize a flawless profile means nothing when a mere smile drives me to desperation? Don't you covet that power?..
— John Geddes, A Familiar Rain
Her smile was like a Samuel Beckett play - easy to read but difficult to interpret.
— Bob     Smith
You hand fits in mine like its made to be but bear this in mind it was meant to be and im joining up the dots with the freckles on you cheeks and it all makes sense to me. I know you've never loved the crinkles by your eyes when you smile you've never loved your stomach or your thighs and the dimples in your back at the bottom of your spine but I love them endlessly.I won't let these little things slip out of my mouth but if i do its you oh its you they add up to and Im in love with you and all your little thing. You can't go to bed without a cup of tea and maybe thats the reason that you talk in you sleep and all those conversations are the secrets that I keep though it makes no sense to me. I know you've never loved the sound of your voice on tape you never want to know how much you weigh you still have to squeeze into to your jeans but you're perfect to me. I won't let these little things slip out of my mouth but if its true its you its these they add up to and Im in love with you and all you little things. You'll never love yourself half as much as I love you and you'll never treat yourself right darlin' but I want you to if I let you know I'm here for you then maybe you'll love yourself like I love you ohhhhh. And I've just let these little things slip out of my mouth cause its you oh its you its you they add up to and Im in love with you and all your little things I wont let these little things slip out of my mouth but if its true its you its you they add up to and im in love with you and all your little things. <3
— One Direction
Someday we're going to look back on every shared smile and smile some more. It's moments like this that make life worth enduring.
— Nadège Richards
Then she smiles, like it'sthe first time she's seen sunafter a decade of winters.
— Emma Cameron, Cinnamon Rain
We smile but I want more. I want her to hug me.
— M.J. Hayland
A crust of bread and a corner to sleep in. A minute to smile and an hour to weep in. A pint of joy to a peck of trouble, And never a laugh but the moans come double. And that is life. A crust and a corner that makes love precious, With a smile to warm and tears to refresh us, And joy seems sweeter when cares come after, And a moan is the finest of foils for laughter. And that is life.
— Paul Laurence Dunbar
Her smile could wash away a thousand doubts as soon as light up a room.
— Belinda Jeffrey, One Long Thread
Joy passed, but happiness never completely disappeared; a touch of it would always remain to remind one it had been there. It was happiness that made one smile, then.
— Anne Holm, I Am David
I laugh with them because it is one of the worst things to be in a room full of people and not laughting when everybody else is.
— M.J. Hayland
Try smiling at people, you never know how one smile can affect their day.
— Benjamin Bayani, The Nation
Jacob: "Let her stare."Terra: "What?"Jacob: "Yeah most of the starers are just curious. Smile back. That's what I used to do.
— Justina Chen, North of Beautiful
So, he, uhm, all ac/ac, or a little ac/dc?" she asked, blushing, and Chase's grin about swallowed his face."He claims to be ac/dc," he said, watching her face light up completely.
— Amy Lane, Chase in Shadow
I felt a smile on my face. "Thanks." "For what?" "Using my name instead of calling me a thing.
— John Corwin, Dark Light of Mine
I'm wearing this fake smile.
— Daae ALF
You act like you're okay,Like everything is just fine.But you can't hide a frown,And smile at the same time.
— Mimi Shannon
I did this.The sudden reality of the situation sets in and I know that not only will I kill again, but I have doomed this poor soul to a life in the shadows, stalking his prey by the silver light of the full moon.The corners of my mouth slants toward the heavens and I am smiling.
— Benjamin M. Strozykowski, Psychic Skin Volume 1
He was one of those people who completely changes when they smile. Like the sun had come out.
— Caroline Green, Dark Ride
It always looked to me like she was smiling. In fact, I know she was. Lots if things smile, like a flower to the sun. And one thing sure. I knew that just like I could smile to see Pinky, she sure could smile to see me.
— Robert Newton Peck, A Day No Pigs Would Die
Dignified in what she does, when she sings the smile that she brings to all of you unaware of what's to come, I said tell me what's to come.
— Tegan Quin
There was a sad fellow over on a bar stool talking to the bartender, who was polishing a glass and listening with that plastic smile people wear when they are trying not to scream.
— Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye
A smile is the only infectious affliction everyone is encouraged to spread.
— Omar Kiam
A journey of a thousand mile begins with a SMiLE
— Bernard Kelvin Clive
Look at your heart-flower and smile.You will be able to solve your most pressing problems.
— Sri Chinmoy, Meditation: Man-perfection in God-satisfaction
I've always been super aware that we could all die at any moment. This ceiling could fall. I could trip and land on this pen I'm holding. I could choke on my cold pasta lunch. I could be attacked by that pigeon eying me from my window sill. I could be shot...by a stranger...who lost something in their heart. Remember death is real. It's not scary. Living is the thing to care about. Don't hold grudges. Smile and make others smile as often as possible. Don't let jerks run the world.
— Colleen AF Venable
No matter how fleeting Your smile is,Your smile is the very beginningOf your wisdom-light.
— Sri Chinmoy, The Jewels of Happiness: Inspiration and Wisdom to Guide Your Life-Journey
Smile, my beloved, like the gold smiles from my father's coffers.
— Kahlil Gibran
Pete offered tobacco and paper, but Claude brought out his cigarettes and they both decided to try those. Pete provided the match. When he had their cigarettes burning strongly he turned to look back at the road, then straight up ahead. "We'll get there for supper if we get there," he said, and Claude laughed. Pete was a young man, but had a wild old grin stretched all out of shape in the corners and punched full of holes.
— Douglas Woolf, Wall to Wall
You only lose what you cling to.
— Gautama Buddha
1. Accept everything just the way it is.2. Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.3. Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling.4. Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.5. Be detached from desire your whole life long.6. Do not regret what you have done.7. Never be jealous.8. Never let yourself be saddened by a separation.9. Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself nor others.10. Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love.11. In all things have no preferences.12. Be indifferent to where you live.13. Do not pursue the taste of good food.14. Do not hold on to possessions you no longer need.15. Do not act following customary beliefs.16. Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful.17. Do not fear death.18. Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age.19. Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help.20. You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour.21. Never stray from the Way.
— Miyamoto Musashi
If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.
— Pema Chödrön
We are not going in circles, we are going upwards. The path is a spiral; we have already climbed many steps.
— Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
Now, Kalamas, don’t go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, ‘This contemplative is our teacher.’ When you know for yourselves that, ‘These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to welfare & to happiness’ — then you should enter & remain in
— Gautama Buddha
It is like a lighted torch whose flame can be distributed to ever so many other torches which people may bring along; and therewith they will cook food and dispel darkness, while the original torch itself remains burning ever the same. It is even so with the bliss of th
— Gautama Buddha
Greater in battlethan the man who would conquera thousand-thousand men,is he who would conquerjust one —himself.Better to conquer yourselfthan others.When you've trained yourself,living in constant self-control,neither a deva nor gandhabba,nor a Mara banded with Brahmas,could turn that triumphback into defeat.
— Gautama Buddha
People get into a heavy-duty sin and guilt trip, feeling that if things are going wrong, that means that they did something bad and they are being punished. That's not the idea at all. The idea of karma is that you continually get the teachings that you need to open your heart. To the degree that you didn't understand in the past how to stop protecting your soft spot, how to stop armoring your heart, you're given this gift of teachings in the form of your life, to give you everything you need to open further.
— Pema Chödrön
Whatever a monk keeps pursuing with his thinking and pondering, that becomes the inclination of his awareness.
— Gautama Buddha
Treat every moment as your last. It is not preparation for something else.
— Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
Purity or impurity depends on oneself,No one can purify another.
— Gautama Buddha
Attachment leads to suffering.
— Gautama Buddha
Long is the night to him who is awake
—  long is a mile to him who is tired
There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment. A man's whole life is a succession of moment after moment. There will be nothing else to do, and nothing else to pursue. Live being true to the single purpose of the moment.
— Tsunetomo Yamamoto, Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai
O snailClimb Mount FujiBut slowly, slowly!
— Kobayashi Issa
Where there are humans, You'll find flies,And Buddhas.
— Kobayashi Issa
A person, who no matter how desperate the situation, gives others hope, is a true leader.
— Daisaku Ikeda
Whereever you are, you are one with the clouds and one with the sun and the stars you see. You are one with everything. That is more true than I can say, and more true than you can hear.
— Shunryu Suzuki
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.
— Thich Nhat Hanh, The Fruitful Darkness: A Journey Through Buddhist Practice and Tribal Wisdom
Many do not realize that we here must die. For those who realize this, quarrels end.
— Anonymous, The Dhammapada
As human beings, not only do we seek resolution, but we also feel that we deserve resolution. However, not only do we not deserve resolution, we suffer from resolution. We don't deserve resolution; we deserve something better than that. We deserve our birthright, which is the middle way, an open state of mind that can relax with paradox and ambiguity.
— Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
When you dig a well, there's no sign of water until you reach it, only rocks and dirt to move out of the way. You have removed enough; soon the pure water will flow," said Buddha.
— Deepak Chopra
True change is within
—  leave the outside as it is.
To dwell in the here and now does not mean you never think about the past or responsibly plan for the future. The idea is simply not to allow yourself to get lost in regrets about the past or worries about the future. If you are firmly grounded in the present moment, the past can be an object of inquiry, the object of your mindfulness and concentration. You can attain many insights by looking into the past. But you are still grounded in the present moment.
— Thich Nhat Hanh, The Art of Power
We are such spendthrifts with our lives, the trick of living is to slip on and off the planet with the least fuss you can muster. I’m not running for sainthood. I just happen to think that in life we need to be a little like the farmer, who puts back into the soil what he takes out.
— Paul   Newman
The Buddha's original teaching is essentially a matter of four points -- the Four Noble Truths:1. Anguish is everywhere.2. We desire permanent existence of ourselves and for our loved ones, and we desire to prove ourselves independent of others and superior to them. These desires conflict with the way things are: nothing abides, and everything and everyone depends upon everything and everyone else. This conflict causes our anguish, and we project this anguish on those we meet.3. Release from anguish comes with the personal acknowledgment and resolve: we are here together very briefly, so let us accept reality fully and take care of one another while we can.4. This acknowledgement and resolve are realized by following the Eightfold Path: Right Views, Right Thinking, Right Speech, Right Conduct, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Recollection, and Right Meditation. Here "Right" means "correct" or "accurate" -- in keeping with the reality of impermanence and interdependence.
— Robert Aitken, The Dragon Who Never Sleeps: Verses for Zen Buddhist Practice
The heart is what is important." There is nothing more vulnerable, nothing more corruptible than the human mind; nor is there anything as powerful, steadfast and ennobling.
— Daisaku Ikeda
Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy.
— Mahatma Gandhi
...for you know that soft is stronger than hard, water stronger than rock, love stronger than force." Vesadeva to Siddartha
— Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
Buddhism holds that everything is in constant flux. Thus the question is whether we are to accept change passively and be swept away by it or whether we are to take the lead and create positive changes on our own initiative. While conservatism and self-protection might be likened to winter, night, and death, the spirit of pioneering and attempting to realize ideals evokes images of spring, morning, and birth.
— Daisaku Ikeda
I'd like to dividemyself in order to see,among these mountains,each and every flowerof every cherry tree.
— Saigyō
Where would I find enough leatherTo cover the entire surface of the earth?But with leather soles beneath my feet,It’s as if the whole world has been covered.
— Śāntideva
Pain is not wrong. Reacting to pain as wrong initiates the trance of unworthiness. The moment we believe something is wrong, our world shrinks and we lose ourselves in the effort to combat the pain.
— Tara Brach, Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha
We have two alternatives: either we question our beliefs - or we don't. Either we accept our fixed versions of reality- or we begin to challenge them. In Buddha's opinion, to train in staying open and curious - to train in dissolving our assumptions and beliefs - is the best use of our human lives.
— Pema Chödrön, The Pocket Pema Chodron
Rise to the challenges that life presents you. You can't develop genuine character and ability by sidestepping adversity and struggle.
— Daisaku Ikeda
The determination to win is the better part of winning.
— Daisaku Ikeda
People can only live fully by helping others to live. When you give life to friends you truly live. Cultures can only realize their further richness by honoring other traditions. And only by respecting natural life can humanity continue to exist.
— Daisaku Ikeda
Through countless births in the cycle of existence I have run, not finding although seeking the builder of this house; and again and again I faced the suffering of new birth. Oh housebuilder! Now you are seen. You shall not build a house again for me. All your beams are broken, the ridgepole is shattered. The mind has become freed from conditioning: the end of craving has been reached.
— Gautama Buddha
The virtuous man delights in this world and he delights in the next
— Gautama Buddha, The Dhammapada: The Sayings of the Buddha
Strength is Happiness. Strength is itself victory. In weakness and cowardice there is no happiness. When you wage a struggle, you might win or you might lose. But regardless of the short-term outcome, the very fact of your continuing to struggle is proof of your victory as a human being.
— Daisaku Ikeda
You tell me to stand still, but I am not walking," he shouted, "whereas you who are walking say you are still. How is it that you are standing still but I am not?"The Buddha turned round. "My legs move but my mind is still," he said. "Your legs are still but your mind moves all the time in a fire of anger, hatred, and feverish desire. Therefore, I am still but you are not.
— Majjhimanikaya
Limitations gone:Since my mind fixed on the moon,Clarity and serenityMake something for whichThere's no end in sight.
— Saigyō, Mirror for the Moon
All phenomena do not inherently exist because of being dependent-arisings. All phenomena do not inherently exist because of being dependently imputed.
— Gautama Buddha
Tightly held by rocksThrough winter, the ice todayBegins to come undone:A way-seeker also is the water,Melting, murmuring from the moss.
— Saigyō, Mirror for the Moon
Man is an onion made up of a hundred integuments, a texture made up of many threads. The ancient Asiatics knew this well enough, and in the Buddhist Yoga an exact technique was devised for unmasking the illusion of the personality. The human merry-go-round sees many changes: the illusion that cost India the efforts of thousands of years to unmask is the same illusion that the West has labored just as hard to maintain and strengthen.
— Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf
It is only when we begin to relax with ourselves that meditation becomes a transformative process. Only when we relate with ourselves without moralizing, without harshness, without deception, can we let go of harmful patterns. Without maitri (metta), renunciation of old habits becomes abusive. This is an important point.
— Pema Chödrön
Support the type of thinking that leads you to feeling good, peaceful & happy.
— Allan Lokos, Pocket Peace: Effective Practices for Enlightened Living
Of course, even when you see the world as a trap and posit a fundamental separation between liberation of self and transformation of society, you can still feel a compassionate impulse to help its suffering beings. In that case you tend to view the personal and the political in a sequential fashion. "I'll get enlightened first, and then I'll engage in social action." Those who are not engaged in spiritual pursuits put it differently: "I'll get my head straight first, I'll get psychoanalyzed, I'll overcome my inhibitions or neuroses or my hang-ups (whatever description you give to samsara) and then I'll wade into the fray." Presupposing that world and self are essentially separate, they imagine they can heal one before healing the other. This stance conveys the impression that human consciousness inhabits some haven, or locker-room, independent of the collective situation -- and then trots onto the playing field when it is geared up and ready.It is my experience that the world itself has a role to play in our liberation. Its very pressures, pains, and risks can wake us up -- release us from the bonds of ego and guide us home to our vast, true nature. For some of us, our love of the world is so passionate that we cannot ask it to wait until we are enlightened.
— Joanna Macy, World as Lover, World as Self
Do not ask for less responsibility to be free and relaxed--Ask for more strenght!
— Sheng-yen
If you want to take care of tomorrow, take better care of today. We always live now. All we have to do is entrust ourselves to the life we now live.
— Dainin Katagiri
Here's an example: someone says, "Master, please hand me the knife," and he hands them the knife, blade first. "Please give me the other end," he says. And the master replies, "What would you do with the other end?" This is answering an everyday matter in terms of the metaphysical.When the question is, "Master, what is the fundamental principle of Buddhism?" Then he replies, "There is enough breeze in this fan to keep me cool." That is answering the metaphysical in terms of the everyday, and that is, more or less, the principle zen works on. The mundane and the sacred are one and the same.
— Alan W. Watts, What Is Zen?
The buddha-dharma does not invite us to dabble in abstract notions. Rather, the task it presents us with is to attend to what we actually experience, right in this moment. You don't have to look "over there." You don't have to figure anything out. You don't have to acquire anything. And you don't have to run off to Tibet, or Japan, or anywhere else. You wake up right here. In fact, you can only wake up right here.So you don't have to do the long search, the frantic chase, the painful quest. You're already right where you need to be.
— Steve Hagen, Buddhism Plain and Simple
What makes human life--which is inseparable from this moment--so precious is its fleeting nature. And not that it doesn't last but that it never returns again.
— Steve Hagen, Buddhism Is Not What You Think: Finding Freedom Beyond Beliefs
Salute to the Smiling Faces of the 21st Century.
— Daisaku Ikeda
Like a lamp, dispelling the darkness of ignorance
— Dalai Lama XIV
Monks, even if bandits were to savagely sever you, limb by limb, with a double-handled saw, even then, whoever of you harbors ill will at heart would not be upholding my Teaching. Monks, even in such a situation you should train yourselves thus: 'Neither shall our minds be affected by this, nor for this matter shall we give vent to evil words, but we shall remain full of concern and pity, with a mind of love, and we shall not give in to hatred. On the contrary, we shall live projecting thoughts of universal love to those very persons, making them as well as the whole world the object of our thoughts of universal love — thoughts that have grown great, exalted and measureless. We shall dwell radiating these thoughts which are void of hostility and ill will.' It is in this way, monks, that you should train yourselves.
— Gautama Buddha
Now seen...now gone,The butterfly flits in and outThrough fence-hung flowers;But a life lived so close to themI envy...though it's here and gone.
— Saigyō, Mirror for the Moon
The victorious ones have saidThat emptiness is the relinquishing of all views.For whomever emptiness is a view,That one has achieved nothing.
— Nāgārjuna, The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā
There's a limit to my patience with anything that smacks of metaphysics. I squirm at the mention of "mind expansion" or "warm healing energy." I don't like drum circles, public nudity or strangers touching my feet.
— Koren Zailckas, Fury: A Memoir
Buddha once saw a jackal, a wild dog, run out of the forest where he was staying. It stood still for a while, then it ran into the underbrush, and then out again. Then it ran into a tree hollow, then out again. Then it went into a cave, only to run out again. One minute it stood, the next it ran, then it lay down, then it jumped up. The jackal had the mange. When it stood, the mange would eat into its skin, so it would run. Running, it was still uncomfortable, so it would stop. Standing, it was still uncomfortable, so it would lie down. Then it would jump up again, running to the underbrush, the tree hollow, never staying still. The Buddha said, “Monks, did you see that jackal this afternoon? Standing, it suffered. Running, it suffered. Sitting, it suffered. Lying down, it suffered. It blamed standing for its discomfort. It blamed sitting. It blamed running and lying down. It blamed the tree, the underbrush, and the cave. In fact, the problem was with none of those things. The problem was with his mange.” We are just the same as that jackal. Our discontent is due to wrong view. Because we don’t exercise sense restraint, we blame our suffering on externals. Whether we live in Thailand, America or England, we aren’t satisfied. Why not? Because we still have wrong view. Just that! So wherever we go, we aren’t content. But just as that jackal would be content wherever it went as soon as its mange was cured, so would we be content wherever we went once we rid ourselves of wrong view.
— Ajahn Chah
There is no miserable place waiting for you, no hell realm, sitting and waiting like Alaska—waiting to turn you into ice cream. But whatever you call it—hell or the suffering realms—it is something that you enter by creating a world of neurotic fantasy and believing it to be real. It sounds simple, but that's exactly what happens.
— Lama Thubten Yeshe, Becoming Vajrasattva
Awakening does not mean a change in difficulty, it means a change in how those difficulties are met.
— Mark Epstein, The Trauma of Everyday Life
In the first movement, our infancy as a species, we felt no separation from the natural world around us. Trees, rocks, and plants surrounded us with a living presence as intimate and pulsing as our own bodies. In that primal intimacy, which anthropologists call "participation mystique," we were as one with our world as a child in the mother's womb.Then self-consciousness arose and gave us distance on our world. We needed that distance in order to make decisions and strategies, in order to measure, judge and to monitor our judgments. With the emergence of free-will, the fall out of the Garden of Eden, the second movement began -- the lonely and heroic journey of the ego. Nowadays, yearning to reclaim a sense of wholeness, some of us tend to disparage that movement of separation from nature, but it brought us great gains for which we can be grateful. The distanced and observing eye brought us tools of science, and a priceless view of the vast, orderly intricacy of our world. The recognition of our individuality brought us trial by jury and the Bill of Rights.Now, harvesting these gains, we are ready to return. The third movement begins. Having gained distance and sophistication of perception, we can turn and recognize who we have been all along. Now it can dawn on us: we are our world knowing itself. We can relinquish our separateness. We can come home again -- and participate in our world in a richer, more responsible and poignantly beautiful way than before, in our infancy.
— Joanna Macy, World as Lover, World as Self
You don't understand. I only prostitute the part of the body that isn't important, and nobody suffers except my karma a little bit. I don't do big harm. You prostitute your mind. Mind is seat of Buddha. What you do is very very bad. You should not use your mind in that way
— John Burdett, Bangkok Tattoo
This will never come again
— Steve Hagen
The way is yours for the asking - the way is yours for the taking. The way is as it should be.
— Karen Hackel, The Whisper of Your Soul
Today's satori:Such a change of mind wouldNot exist withoutMy lifelong habit of havingMy mind immersed in blossoms.
— Saigyō, Mirror for the Moon
Children I implore youget out of the burning house nowthree carts wait outsideto save you from a homeless liferelax in the village squarebefore the sky everything's emptyno direction is better or worseeast is just as good as westthose who know the meaning of thisare free to go where they want
— Han-shan
And this is a Buddhist country?” said Matt, “This is a country of lovingkindness and compassion? Hah. I think the Americans would call this ‘tough love.’ ”“That is the paradox of Buddhism,” said Ranjit, “As a young doctor I would see these violent things and wonder why they happened, knowing that it was not something that Buddhists should do. Then I realized we are not born Buddhist. All the focus on channeling anger and dealing with hardship did not emanate from these people…. It was a lesson to these people. We are a land of Buddhists because we need to hear the lessons of Buddha, not because we follow Buddha.”-spoken by Ranjit, the surgeon, after an episode of violence....
— Joe Niemczura, The Sacrament of the Goddess
It was my letting go that gave me a better hold.
— Chris Matakas, #Human: Learning To Live In Modern Times
The possessions themselves were not the problem, it was my relationship with possessing.
— Chris Matakas, #Human: Learning To Live In Modern Times
A fearless heart is free of desire, a kind heart finds paradise everywhere.
— Alan Yuen
To forgive does not mean to forget.
— Allan Lokos, Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living
Beyond this life andThis world I'll have it tilMy heart's content:The bright moon that passed overThe horizon before I had my fill.
— Saigyō, Mirror for the Moon
As a friend of mine told me about Real Happiness: you wrote this one in American.
— Sharon Salzberg
O let us live in joy, in love among those who hate! Among men who hate, let us live in love.
— Anonymous, The Dhammapada
Here bhikkhus, some misguided men learn the Dhamma–discourses, stanzas, expositions, verses, exclamations, sayings, birth stories, marvels, and answers to questions–but having learned the Dhamma, they do not examine the meaning of those teachings with wisdom. Not examining the meaning of those teachings with wisdom, they do not gain a reflective acceptance of them. Instead they learn the Dhamma only for the sake of criticising others and for winning in debates, and they do not experience the good for the sake of which they learned the Dhamma.
— Gautama Buddha, The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya
As we live out of such a mind, we become generous, with no sense of tolerance. We become patient, with no sense of putting up with anything. We become compassionate, with no sense of separation. And we become wise, with no sense of having to straighten anyone out.
— Steve Hagen
Merchant: 'So you have lived on the possessions of others?'Saddhartha: 'Apparently. The merchant also lives on the possession of others.'Merchant: 'Well spoken...
— Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
And so Gotama wandered into the town to obtain alms, and the two Samanas recognized him only by his complete peacefulness of demeanor, by the stillness of his form, in which there was no seeking, no will, no counterfeit, no effort - only light and peace.
— Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
Last year, Yoshino,I walked away bending branchesTo point me to blossoms--Which now are everywhere and I canGo where I've never been before.
— Saigyō, Mirror for the Moon
The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal God and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description.
— Albert Einstein
Knowing life's purpose would invest everything one did with meaning.
— Kentetsu Takamori, You Were Born for a Reason: The Real Purpose of Life
The earth is black in front of the cliff, and no orchids grow.Creepers crawl in the brown mud by the path.Where did the birds of yesterday fly?To what other mountain did the animals go?Leopards and pythons dislike this ruined spot;Cranes and snakes avoid the desolation.My criminal thoughts of those days pastBrought on the disaster of today.
— Wu Cheng'en, Monkey: The Journey to the West
Every day Zuigan used to call out to himself, "Master!" and then he answered himself, "Yes, Sir!" And he added, "Awake, Awake!" and then answered, "Yes, Sir! Yes, Sir!""From now onwards, do not be deceived by others!" "No, Sir! I will not, Sir!"
— Wumen Huikai, The Gateless Gate
The Buddha-nature which is ours from the very beginning is like the sun which emerges from the clouds, or like a mirror which, when rubbed, regains its original purity and clarity. (217)
— Edward Conze, Buddhist Scriptures
I read of a Buddhist teacher who developed Alzheimer's. He had retired from teaching because his memory was unreliable, but he made one exception for a reunion of his former students. When he walked onto the stage, he forgot everything, even where he was and why. However, he was a skilled Buddhist and he simply began sharing his feelings with the crowd. He said, "I am anxious. I feel stupid. I feel scared and dumb. I am worried that I am wasting everyone's time. I am fearful. I am embarrassing myself." After a few minutes of this, he remembered his talk and proceeded without apology. The students were deeply moved, not only by his wise teachings, but also by how he handled his failings.There is a Buddhist saying, "No resistance, no demons.
— Mary Pipher, Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World