Top 500 Thich Nhat Hanh Quotes (2025 Update)
Page 9 of 10

401. “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

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

— Thich Nhat Hanh

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

— Thich Nhat Hanh

404. “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

405. “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

406. “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

407. “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

408. “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

409. “When conditions are sufficient, we manifest in a particular way. When conditions are no longer sufficient, we no longer manifest in that way. This doesn’t mean that we don’t exist. If we’re afraid of death, it’s because we don’t understand that things do not really die.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

410. “1. Tell the truth. Don’t lie or turn the truth upside down. 2. Don’t exaggerate. 3. Be consistent. This means no double-talk: speaking about something in one way to one person and in an opposite way to another for selfish or manipulative reasons. 4. Use peaceful language. Don’t use insulting or violent words, cruel speech, verbal abuse, or condemnation.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

411. “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

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

— Thich Nhat Hanh

413. “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

414. “When you feel tired or irritated, you can lie down with your arms at your sides, allowing all your muscles to relax, maintaining awareness of just your breath and your smile.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

415. “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

416. “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

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

— Thich Nhat Hanh

418. “True love gives us beauty, freshness, solidity, freedom, and peace. True love includes a feeling of deep joy that we are alive. If we don’t feel this way when we feel love, then it’s not true love.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

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

— Thich Nhat Hanh

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

— Thich Nhat Hanh

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

— Thich Nhat Hanh

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

— Thich Nhat Hanh

423. “Creating happiness is an art. Living together is an art. Even with a lot of goodwill, you can still make the other person very unhappy. Goodwill is not enough. We need to know the art of making the other person happy. Art is the essence of life. Try to be artful in your speech and actions. The substance of art is mindfulness. When you are mindful, you are more artful.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

424. “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

425. “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

426. “If we accept life and everything that belongs to life – the moments of happiness, joy, and peace, but also sickness, old age, and death – then we don’t suffer anymore. So suffering is okay. Not only is suffering okay, but thanks to suffering we have an opportunity to experience well-being.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

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

— Thich Nhat Hanh

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

— Thich Nhat Hanh

429. “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

430. “You should have a chance to observe him when he sleeps. Look deeply, and see the tenderness that is revealed, the suffering, the hope, the despair that can be expressed during sleep. Sit there for fifteen minutes or half an hour, and just look. Understanding and compassion will arise in you, and you will know how to be there for your partner.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

431. “You can arrange your schedule so you have enough time to eat. The place and teh food should be appropriate. Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are. Tell me where you eat, and I will tell you who you are.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

432. “Whether you can see the Buddha or not depends on you, on the state of your being.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

433. “I stopped committing acts that cause suffering to other living beings. All living beings want to live. All fear death. We must nurture a heart of compassion and protect the lives of all beings.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

434. “We have millions of ways to lose this precious time – we turn on the TV, or pick up the telephone, or start the car and go somewhere. We are not used to being with ourselves, and we act as if we don’t like ourselves and are trying to escape from ourselves. Meditation.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

435. “Many years ago, I recognized that by understanding your own tradition better, you also develop increased respect, consideration, and understanding for others. I had had a naive thought, a kind of prejudice inherited from my ancestors. I thought that because Buddha had taught for forty-five years and Jesus for only two or three, that Buddha must have been a more accomplished teacher. I had that thought because I did not know the teachings of the Buddha well enough. One.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

436. “If you have enough spiritual strength, you will give birth to a spiritual child, and through your life and practice, you continue giving birth, even after you die.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

437. “You cannot take the mind out of the body, and you cannot take the body out of the mind.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

438. “True love gives us a lot of space. Because you are connected spiritually and emotionally as well as physically, you do not need to always be in the same place or doing the same thing. You do not worry if your beloved is over here today and you are over there.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

439. “If you are really joyful and your joy is healthy, then that benefits other people. If you’re not joyful, not fresh, or not smiling, then that doesn’t benefit anyone. If you’re inhabited by joy and freshness, even if you do nothing, we profit from you.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

440. “If we want the lotus bud to appear, it will appear. If we want it to grow, it will grow. When the lotus flower in our heart has grown, wherever we walk the Pure Land appears.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

441. “The sea is either calm or stormy. If one wants a calm sea one cannot get it by suppressing the stormy sea. One must wait for this same sea to become calm.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

442. “Refrain from discussing subjects that can destroy your awareness of the people around you and the food. If someone is thinking about something other than the good food on the table, such as his difficulties in the office or with friends, it means he is losing the present moment and the food. You can help by returning his attention to the meal.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

443. “Don’t look outside yourself for happiness. Let go of the idea that you don’t have it. It is available within you.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

444. “There is no distinction between means and ends. There is no way to happiness, happiness is the way. There is no way to enlightenment, enlightenment is the way.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

445. “Mindfulness makes you and the other person happy and free. The other person may be caught in her worries, anger, and forgetfulness, but with mindfulness you can save her and yourself.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

446. “Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the whole earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future. Live the actual moment. Only this actual moment is life. Don’t be attached to the future. Don’t worry about things you have to do. Don’t think about getting up or taking off to do anything. Don’t think about “departing.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

447. “Beginning anew” means being determined not to repeat the negative things we have done in the past. A new era begins when we commit ourselves to living in mindfulness. When we vow to ourselves, “I am determined not to behave as I did in the past,” transformation occurs immediately.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

448. “When we can see our partner as not separate from us, not better or worse or even equal to ourselves, then we have the wisdom of nondiscrimination. We see the happiness of others as our happiness, their suffering as our suffering.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

449. “Buddhist meditation is based on the principle of nonduality. This means that if we are mindfulness, if we are love, we are also ignorance, we are also suffering, and there is no reason to suppress anything at all.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

450. “If one’s perceptions were accurate, reality revealed itself with ease; but if one’s perceptions were erroneous, reality was veiled. People were caught in endless suffering because of their erroneous perceptions: they believed that which is impermanent is permanent, that which is without self contains self, that which has no birth and death has birth and death, and they divided that which is inseparable into parts.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh