Top 500 Thich Nhat Hanh Quotes (2024 Update)
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201. “If we practice for five or ten minutes every day, we’ll naturally remember how to practice when we most need it, and we can survive the onslaught of a strong emotion very easily.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

202. “Meditation is the art of using one kind of energy to transform another.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

203. “Do not avoid contact with suffering or close your eyes before suffering. Do not lose awareness of the existence of suffering in the life of the world. Find ways to be with those who are suffering by all means, including personal contact and visits, images, sounds. By such means,... awaken yourself and others to the reality of suffering in the world. If we get in touch with the suffering of the world, and are moved by that suffering, we may come forward to help the people who are suffering.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

204. “Breath remains the vehicle to unite body and mind and to open the gate to wisdom.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

205. “When our beliefs are based on our own direct experience of reality and not on notions offered by others, no one can remove these beliefs from us.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

206. “Time has much more value than money. Time is life. Money is nothing compared with life. In two hours of drinking tea together, we don’t get money, but we do get life.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

207. “You have to realize that happiness is not something you find at the end of the road. You have to understand that it is here, now.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

208. “We are the continuation of all our ancestors. Thanks to impermanence, we have a chance to transform our inheritance in a beautiful direction.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

209. “It is often said that the Buddha’s teaching is only a raft to help you cross the river, a finger pointing to the moon. Don’t mistake the finger for the moon. The raft is not the shore. If we cling to the raft, if we cling to the finger, we miss everything.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

210. “If I lose my direction, I have to look for the North Star, and I go to the north. That does not mean I expect to arrive at the North Star. I just want to go in that direction.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

211. “When Jesus said, “I am the way,” He meant that to have a true relationship with God, you must practice His way.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

212. “If you feel irritation or depression or despair, recognize their presence and practice this mantra: “Dear one, I am here for you.” You should talk to your depression or your anger as you would to a child. You embrace it tenderly with the energy of mindfulness and say, “Dear one, I know you are there, and I am going to take care of you,” just as you would with your crying baby.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

213. “Our senses are our windows to the world, and sometimes the wind blows through them and disturbs everything within us. Some of us leave our windows open all the time, allowing the sights and sounds of the world to invade us, penetrate us, and expose our sad, troubled selves.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

214. “Understanding is a gift. The other person may feel understood for the first time. Understanding is the other name of love. If you don’t understand, you can’t love. If you don’t understand your son, you can’t love him. If you don’t understand your mother, you can’t love her. To offer understanding means to offer love. Without understanding, the more we love, the more we make ourselves and others suffer.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

215. “Compassion is the only energy that can help us connect with another person. The person who has no compassion in him can never be happy.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

216. “As you practice building a home in yourself, you become more and more beautiful.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

217. “Don’t chase after your thoughts as a shadow follows its object. Don’t run after your thoughts. Find joy and peace in this very moment .”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

218. “Release your cows so you can be truly happy.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

219. “Live in a way that encourages deep happiness in yourself and others. You can vow to bring joy to one person in the morning and to help relieve the suffering of one person in the afternoon. Ask yourself, “Who can I make smile this morning?” This is the art of creating happiness.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

220. “To “love our enemy” is impossible, because the moment we love him, he is no longer our enemy.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

221. “Sitting meditation is a way to practice letting go of the things we carry needlessly. These things are nothing but obstacles to our happiness. Ease in our sitting and ease in our breathing nourishes the body and mind.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

222. “Sometimes our parents are full of love and sometimes they are full of anger. This love and anger comes not only from them, but from all previous generations. When we can see this, we no longer blame our parents for our suffering.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

223. “Nirvana means pacifying, silencing, or extinguishing the fire of suffering. Nirvana teaches that we already are what we want to become. We don’t have to run after anything anymore. We only need to return to ourselves and touch our true nature. When we do, we have real peace and joy.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

224. “Your dream can be realized right in the present moment. You live your life in such a way that every step in the right direction and every breath along the way becomes the realization of your dream. Your dream does not take you away from the present; on the contrary, your dream becomes reality in the present moment.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

225. “Teaching is not done by talking alone. It is done by how you live your life. My life is my teaching. My life is my message.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

226. “While washing the dishes, you might be thinking about the tea afterwards, and so try to get them out of the way as quickly as possible in order to sit and drink tea. But that means that you are incapable of living during the time you are washing the dishes.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

227. “When we recognize that we have a habit of replaying old events and reacting to new events as if they were the old ones, we can begin to notice when that habit energy comes up. We can then gently remind ourselves that we have another choice. We can look at the moment as it is, a fresh moment, and leave the past for a time when we can look at it compassionately. We.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

228. “Those who are without compassion cannot see what is seen with the eyes of compassion.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

229. “Mindfulness frees us of forgetfulness and dispersion and makes it possible to live fully each minute of life. Mindfulness enables us to live.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

230. “If you walk with true awareness of every step, without having a goal to get anywhere, happiness will arise naturally. You don’t need to look for happiness.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

231. “To practice nonviolence, first of all we must learn to deal peacefully with ourselves.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

232. “Mindfulness is the continuous practice of touching deeply every moment of daily life. To be mindful is to be truly present with your body and your mind, to bring harmony to your intentions and actions, and to be in harmony with those around you.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

233. “There are four kinds of food that every person consumes every day. In Buddhism, we call these kinds of food the Four Nutriments. They are edible food; sense impressions; volition; and consciousness, both individual and collective.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

234. “We are not noble by birth. We are noble only by virtue of the way we think, speak, and act.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

235. “Shouting at someone is not the way to help. If you’ve already shouted, then realize that this is one of your unskillful behaviors. Go back to your in-breath and out-breath and say, I have to repair this. Then go to the other person and apologize, and tell yourself that next time you’ll try your best to remember beforehand and act differently.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

236. “The Four Establishments of Mindfulness are the foundation of our dwelling place. Without them, our house is abandoned; no one is sweeping, dusting or tidying up. Our body becomes unkempt, or feelings full of suffering, and our mind a heap of afflictions. When we are truly home, our body, mind, and feelings will be a refuge for ourselves and others.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

237. “Don’t chew your worries, your fear, or your anger. If you chew your planning and your anxiety, it’s difficult to feel grateful for each piece of food. Just chew your food.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

238. “Many people still believe that we can only be happy when we have a lot of money and power. Looking around, we see many people who have plenty of money and power, but who still suffer very deeply from stress and loneliness. So power and money are not the answer. We have to educate ourselves in the art of living mindfully.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

239. “Happiness can be attained by letting go, including letting go of your ideas about happiness.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

240. “To live in the present moment is a miracle. The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green Earth in the present moment, to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

241. “The most effective way to show compassion to another is to listen, rather than talk.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

242. “Every time we truly stop and look deeply, the result is a better understanding of the true nature of what is there inside us and around us.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

243. “He saw that living beings suffer because they do not understand that they share one common ground with all beings.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

244. “You discover that the main cause of your suffering is the seed of anger in you, because it has been watered too often, by yourself and by other people.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

245. “If we lose the present moment, we lose life.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

246. “If you are lost in a forest at night, you can follow the North Star to find your way out. You follow the North Star, but your goal is to get back home; it’s not to arrive at the North Star.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

247. “You think that you’re safe when carrying your phone. But the truth is that mindfulness will do much more than a phone to protect you, to help you suffer less, and to improve your communication.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

248. “Relax. It’s only a game.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

249. “Happiness is possible only when you stop running and cherish the present moment and who you are. Who you are is already a wonder; you don’t need to be someone else. You are a wonder of life.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

250. “The wheat field needs clouds and sunshine. So in this slice of bread there is sunshine, there is cloud, there is the labor of the farmer, the joy of having flour, and the skill of the baker and then – miraculously! – there is the bread. The whole cosmos has come together so that this piece of bread can be in your hand. You don’t need to do a lot of hard work to get this insight. You only need to stop letting your mind carry you away with worrying, thinking, and planning.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh