Quotes

Collection of inspiring quotes related to Zen, mindfulness, motivation, fitness, etc…

The following is a collection of quotes we’ve found inspring or motivational over the years. Hopefully you will find something that brings you a new way of looking at things, motvation or a unique perspective you hadn’t thought of before.

Obstacles are the cost of greatness.

— Robin Sharma

Nothing happens next, this is it

— Grahan Wilson

No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place.

— Zen Proverb

The object of your desire is not an object

— Jack Gardner

The resistance to the unpleasant situation is the root of suffering.

— Ram Dass

Do not seek the truth, only cease to cherish your opinions.

— Seng-ts’an

The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.

— Alan Watts

A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.

— Lao Tzu

When you catch yourself slipping into a pool of negativity, notice how it derives from nothing other than resistance to the current situation.”

— Donna Quesada

It’s not about approving or liking, but just being able to allow the world to be the way it is without resenting, hating, or judging it

— Buddhism Now

Joy is being willing for things to be as they are.

— Charlotte Joko Beck

Only when you can be extremely pliable and soft can you be extremely hard and strong.

— Zen Proverb

Treat every moment as your last. It is not preparation for something else.

— Shunryu Suzuki

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.

— Lao Tzu

Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.

— Shunryu Suzuki

Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.

— Thich Nhat Hanh

Let your mind wander in the pure and simple. Be one with the infinite. Let all things take their course.

— Chuang Tzu

Think with your whole body.

— Taisen Deshimaru

Zen has no business with ideas.

— D.T. Suzuki

In a mind clear as still water, even the waves, breaking, are reflecting its light.

— Dogen Zenji

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.

— Lao Tzu

Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.

— Buddha

You cannot travel the path until you have become the path itself.

— Buddha

Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future; live the actual moment. Only this moment is life.

— Thich Nhat Hanh

Still water has no mind to receive the image of the migrating geese.

— Zen Proverb

To follow the path, look to the master, follow the master, walk with the master, see through the master, become the master.

— Zen Proverb

Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.

— Lao Tzu

In today’s rush, we all think too much — seek too much — want too much — and forget about the joy of just being.

— Eckhart Tolle

Be soft in your practice. Think of the method as a fine silvery stream, not a raging waterfall. Follow the stream.

— Sheng-yen

Not till your thoughts cease all their branching here and there, not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on the right road to the Gate.

— Huang Po

If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.”

— Lao Tzu

Each morning we are born again, what we do today matters most.

— Buddha

All the things that truly matter, beauty, love, creativity, joy and inner peace arise from beyond the mind.

— Eckhart Tolle

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

— Lao Tzu

To understand everything is to forgive everything.

— Gautama Siddhartha

If you are unable to find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?

— Dōgen

The only Zen you can find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there.

— Robert M. Pirsig

In the stillness of the mind I saw myself as I am – unbound.

— Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
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