Top 500 Thich Nhat Hanh Quotes (2024 Update)
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351. “Often we either don’t plan at all, or we get caught up in obsessive planning because we fear the future and its uncertainty.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

352. “If we continue to hold on to a dream for something in the future, we lose the present moment. And if we lose the present, we lose everything.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

353. “When we surround ourselves with people who are committed to understanding and loving, we’re nourished by their presence and our own seeds of understanding and love are watered. When we surround ourselves with people who gossip, complain, and are constantly critical, we absorb these toxins.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

354. “To practice aimlessness is to identify what it is you’re looking for, waiting for, or running after, and let it go. By removing these objects of seeking that are pulling you away from the here and now, you will discover that everything you want is already right here in the present moment. You don’t need to “be someone” or do something in order to be happy and free.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

355. “There are those who say that in their heaven there is no suffering. But if there is no suffering, how can there be happiness? We need compost to grow flowers, and mud to grow lotuses.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

356. “Peace is based on respect for life, the spirit of reverence for life.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

357. “I am determined not to spread news that I do not know to be certain and not to utter words that can cause division or discord.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

358. “Why wander all over the world looking for something you already have? You are already the richest person on Earth.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

359. “It is not by going out for a demonstration against nuclear missiles that we can bring about peace. It is with our capacity of smiling, breathing, and being peace that we can make peace.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

360. “Know that life can only be found in the present moment.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

361. “No act of killing can be justified.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

362. “Often our perceptions are incorrect. We get in touch with an object and think that it embodies love, happiness, a self, or purity. We tend to think that love is something sentimental that will fill the emptiness inside us. We blame our suffering on another person or group, or on bad luck, but outside conditions are not the reason it appears. Our suffering was already there.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

363. “God the Father is in God the Son; and the Holy Spirit is in the Son and in the Father. That is interbeing.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

364. “Violence can never bring about peace and understanding. Only by looking deeply in order to understand the true roots of violence can we achieve peace.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

365. “Everyone wants to be happy, and there is a strong energy in us pushing us toward what we think will make us happy. But we may suffer a lot because of this. We need the insight that position, revenge, wealth, fame, or possessions are, more often than not, obstacles to our happiness. We need to cultivate the wish to be free of these things so we can enjoy the wonders of life that are always available – the blue sky, the trees, our beautiful children.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

366. “During the past few years I have avoided tiring myself and losing my breath. I must take care of my body, treat it with respect as a musician does his instrument. I apply nonviolence to my body, for it is not merely a tool to accomplish something. It itself is the end.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

367. “We can walk in such a way that we arrive with each step – not walking just to get somewhere else.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

368. “We’re all searching for a place where we feel safe and comfortable, a home where we can be truly ourselves. As we become more skilled in mindfulness and lay down the roots of fidelity, we can truly relax with our partner. All the restlessness and searching inside dissipates when we find our true home.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

369. “Even if we have time, we don’t come home to ourselves. We try to keep ourselves constantly entertained – watching television, socialising, or using alcohol or drugs – because we don’t want to experience that suffering all over again.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

370. “In the West, we are very goal oriented. We know where we want to go, and we are very directed in getting there. This may be useful, but often we forget to enjoy ourselves along the route.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

371. “If we can relax when our strong emotions come, then we don’t pass fear on to our children and to future generations.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

372. “Since we cling to our hope in the future, we do not focus our energies and capabilities on the present moment.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

373. “With mindful walking, our steps are no longer a means to arrive at an end.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

374. “Whether we are in the city, the countryside, or the wilderness, we need to sustain ourselves by choosing our surroundings carefully and nourishing our awareness in each moment.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

375. “Consciously choosing what and who you surround yourself with is among the keys to finding more space for joy.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

376. “When you touch deep understanding and love, you are healed.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

377. “We disregard the wonders of the present moment, thinking that heaven and the ultimate are for later, not for now.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

378. “A guided meditation is an opportunity to look deeply into the mind, to sow wholesome seeds there, and to strengthen and cultivate those seeds so that they may become the means for transforming the suffering in us.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

379. “I am convinced that happiness is not possible unless it is based on freedom.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

380. “Don’t agonize over the past, because the past is gone. Don’t worry about the future, because the future is not yet here.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

381. “Even when we’re sitting still, with no external stimuli, an endless internal dialogue may be going on in our head. we’re constantly consuming our thoughts. Cows, goats, and buffalo chew their food, swallow it, then regurgitate and rechew it multiple times. We may not be cows or buffalo, but we ruminate just the same on our thoughts – unfortunately, primarily negative thoughts. We eat them, and then we bring them up to chew again and again, like a cow chewing its cud.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

382. “There are animals that are ruminants, like water buffalo and cows. After chewing and swallowing, they bring up the food again and they chew and swallow it again. There are people who continue to consume the suffering of the past in that way. They spend their time during the day ruminating over their own suffering from the past.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

383. “My dear friends, my dear disciples, don’t take refuge in anything outside of you.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

384. “Suppose we give something to someone. With the wisdom of nondiscrimination, we see that there is no giver and no receiver. If we still think that we’re the giver and the other person is the receiver, then that’s not perfect giving. We give because the other person is in need of what we’re giving and the act is very natural. If we’re really practicing generosity, we won’t say, “He’s not grateful at all.” We won’t have these kinds of ideas.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

385. “We all lose when we think that everything people in our party do and say is right and everything people in another party do and say is wrong. This is simply not true. If we think, speak, and act only along party lines, we operate like a machine without insight, without understanding, without compassion.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

386. “Life is real; it’s not a dream when mindfulness is there.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

387. “Our practice is to water the flower in our loved one, and not bring them more garbage.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

388. “The best position for practicing this is lying down. You focus your attention on a part of your body, such as your heart. As you breathe in, you become aware of your heart, and as you breathe out, you smile towards it. You send it your love, your tenderness.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

389. “Enlightenment is when the wave realizes that it is the ocean.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

390. “In the process of meditation, fetters are undone; internal blocks of suffering such as resentment, fear, anger, despair, and hatred are transformed; relationships with humans and nature become easier; freedom and joy can penetrate us. We become aware of what is inside and around us;.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

391. “Sorrow, fear, and depression are all a kind of garbage. These bits of garbage are part of real life, and we must look deeply into their nature. You can practice in order to turn these bits of garbage into flowers. It is not only your love that is organic; your hate is, too. So you should not throw anything out. All you have to do is learn how to transform your garbage into flowers.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

392. “Each morning when we wake up to life we see that we have a gift of twenty-four brand new hours. If.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

393. “As a culture, we place great stock in external appearance. Our attachment to physical beauty is something that we need to let go of, yet it seems that the majority of people are racing toward it.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

394. “Our appointment with life is in the present moment.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

395. “To be in the here and the now – solid and fully alive – is a very positive contribution to our collective situation.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

396. “If monks and nuns do not cherish their time of practice, they will have nothing to offer the world.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

397. “We must practice living deeply, loving, and acting with charity if we wish to truly honor Jesus.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

398. “Why wander all over the world looking for something you already have?”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

399. “When you wake up and you see that the Earth is not just the environment, the Earth is us, you touch the nature of interbeing.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

400. “We can look around and see that a person who lives with happiness and compassion has the capacity to make others happy.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh