Motivation Monday: Quotes by Dalai Lama

Born on 6th July 1935, Tenzin Gyatso, popularly known in the world as 14th Dalai Lama, is Tibetan spiritual leader. Respecting his contribution for free Tibet and spreading non-violence in the world, he was awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. His sayings are always thought to be motivating.

For last few days, I have been collecting and reading various quotes and recently shared some quotes on happiness, success and friendship as well. I will be sharing more quotes in coming days. In this post, I have collected some best quotes by Dalai Lama. For easy reading and understanding, I tried to separate the quotes in different categories.

Inspirational and motivational

“To conquer oneself is a greater victory than to conquer thousands in a battle.”

“There is a saying in Tibetan, “Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.”

“No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster.”

“All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, which is love, compassion and forgiveness the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives.”

”The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness.”

“It is easy to point out the mistakes of others, while it is hard to admit one’s own mistakes. A man broadcasts the sins of others without thinking, but he hides his own sins as a gambler hides his extra dice.”

“Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend - or a meaningful day.”

“Human potential is the same for all. Your feeling, “I am of no value”, is wrong. Absolutely wrong. You are deceiving yourself. We all have the power of thought - so what are you lacking? If you have willpower, then you can change anything. It is usually said that you are your own master.”

“With realization of one's own potential and self-confidence in one's ability, one can build a better world.”

Love

“If you don’t love yourself, you cannot love others. You will not be able to love others. If you have no compassion for yourself then you are not able of developing compassion for others.”

“We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection.”

“If there is love, there is hope to have real families, real brotherhood, real equanimity, and real peace. If the love within your mind is lost, if you continue to see other beings as enemies, then no matter how much knowledge or education you have, no matter how much material progress is made, only suffering and confusion will ensue.”

Happiness

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.”

“I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or satisfaction. Yet true happiness comes from a sense of peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through the cultivation of altruism, of love and compassion, and elimination of ignorance, selfishness, and greed.”

”I truly believe that individuals can make a difference in society. Since periods of change such as the present one come so rarely in human history, it is up to each of us to make the best use of our time to help create a happier world.”

”It is very important to generate a good attitude, a good heart, as much as possible. From this, happiness in both the short term and the long term for both yourself and others will come.”

Kindness

“My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.”

“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.”

“When we feel love and kindness towards others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace. And there are ways in which we can consciously work to develop feelings of love and kindness.”

“There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness.”

Peace and violence

“Through violence, you may ’solve’ one problem, but you sow the seeds for another.”

“When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us. When our community is in a state of peace, it can share that peace with neighboring communities, and so on.”

“We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.”

Optimism

“Basically we are all the same human beings with the same potential to be a good human being or a bad human being ... The important thing is to realize the positive side and try to increase that; realize the negative side and try to reduce. That's the way.”

Some other quotes

“If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them.”

“I feel that the essence of spiritual practice is your attitude toward others. When you have a pure, sincere motivation, then you have right attitude toward others based on kindness, compassion, love and respect.”

Image credit: amerune