An Open Heart Quotes

“If we analyze or dissect a flower, looking for the flower among its parts, we shall not find it ... And yet, we cannot deny the existence of flowers and of their sweet scent.”
― Dalai Lama XIV, An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life

“Initially, the positive emotions derived from cultivating our higher natures may be weak, but we can enhance them through constant familiarity, making our experiences of happiness and inner contentment far more powerful than a life abandoned to purely impulsive emotions.”
― Dalai Lama XIV, An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life

“It is only natural that difficulties arise if we must fight day by day in order to survive while another human being, equal to us, is effortlessly living a luxurious life. This is an unhealthy situation; as a result, even the wealthy — the billionaires and millionaires — remain in constant anxiety.”
― Dalai Lama XIV, An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life

“If we have a positive mental attitude, then even when surrounded by hostility, we shall not lack inner peace. On the other hand, if our mental attitude is more negative, influenced by fear, suspicion, helplessness, or self-loathing, then even when surrounded by our best friends, in a nice atmosphere and comfortable surroundings, we shall not be happy. So, mental attitude is very important: it makes a real difference to our state of happiness.”
― Dalai Lama XIV, An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life

“I find that because of modern technological evolution and our global economy, and as a result of the great increase in population, our world has greatly changed: it has become much smaller. However, our perceptions have not evolved at the same pace; we continue to cling to old national demarcations and the old feelings of “us” and “them.”
― Dalai Lama XIV, An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life