don Miguel Ruiz's Little Book of Wisdom Quotes

“Ultimately you can never change yourself enough to live up to the judgments and opinions of others. It's impossible. There are too many judgments and they are always changing, not to mention that you can never satisfy their image of you. If you continue to try to do so, you will judge yourself for failing, and you will no longer like yourself. If these self-judgments get bad enough, you may even try to escape from yourself by turning to things like alcohol, drugs, shopping, overeating, or whatever makes you forget, because you don't like to be yourself. This is the way accepting the judgments of others will lead to a habit of self-judgment. To break this habit takes unconditional love for yourself. That is my hope and wish for you—that you stop judging yourself and love yourself exactly the way you are. Everything in this world is perfect, and that includes you.”
― Miguel Ruiz Jr., don Miguel Ruiz's Little Book of Wisdom: The Essential Teachings

“We can see the various problems in the world, and it's fine to want to help solve those problems, as long as you remember that they are not your problems. No problem is your problem, so don't take it personally. I am talking about all problems, even the ones that you think are yours. They are not. When you remember this you can simply do your best and you know that any outcome is perfect. The outcome isn't up to you.”
― Miguel Ruiz Jr., don Miguel Ruiz's Little Book of Wisdom: The Essential Teachings

“You become your authentic self by letting go of who you think you should be.”
― Miguel Ruiz Jr., don Miguel Ruiz's Little Book of Wisdom: The Essential Teachings

“The goal of all this work is to love yourself exactly as you are, and to live your life the way you want to live it. That is what will make you happy.”
― Miguel Ruiz Jr., don Miguel Ruiz's Little Book of Wisdom: The Essential Teachings

“Many people try to change the world by changing the secondary characters in their story. They try to control everybody around them. How do they do that? It's easy to understand. They love people the way they themselves were loved: they love with conditions. Which means, “I love you if you let me control you. If you do what I want you to do, we can be so happy.” We learn to love everybody with conditions, because everybody loves us with conditions. The problem is that we can't change the secondary characters; we can only change the world by changing the main character of our story—ourselves. The biggest way you can change yourself is by learning to love yourself unconditionally. So, to be clear, you can help me to change the world by changing your own world, through unconditional love for yourself. And when you do, it's like magic, because everyone around you will also change.”
― Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz's Little Book of Wisdom: The Essential Teachings

“Put your attention on your dreams rather than your dramas.”
― Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz's Little Book of Wisdom: The Essential Teachings

“love is nothing but a perfect balance between gratitude and generosity.”
― Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz's Little Book of Wisdom: The Essential Teachings

“Even though I cannot accurately explain who or what I am through knowledge, I still know that I am. I exist and I am alive, and life is eternal. The Angel of Death is really teaching us to be alive, and to live as if this is the last day of our life. We can certainly plan for the future, as long as we remember that whatever we plan may happen or it may not. What exists for certain is this present moment. That's why the main thing to do is to enjoy life the best we can and not to be afraid to die.”
― Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz's Little Book of Wisdom: The Essential Teachings