75 Thich Nhat Hanh Quotes on Love, Peace and Success

As a Zen Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh spent most of his life spreading love and compassion. He was born in Vietnam as Nguyễn Xuân Bảo before changing names several times. Thich Nhat Hanh's quotes about love, life, peace and success aren’t just sayings; they’re little spurts of inspiration to be happier and carefree. Doesn’t everyone need that?

Not only was he a monk, Hanh was a calligraphy artist, poet, teacher, author and activist. His introduction to living peacefully came as a child when he saw a drawing of Buddha . Then, on a school trip, he observed a hermit on a mountain sitting quietly and felt refreshed after drinking from a natural well. It was then that he found inspiration to become a Buddhist monk. By the time he was 12, he told his parents that he wanted to train to become a monk. At 16 years old, he entered the monastery.

Hanh understood the human condition, which made him able to connect seamlessly with others in simple, universal language. To help spread peace, happiness and love, he formed mindfulness centers around the world, a grassroots organization and a university. His teachings inspired leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr ., who nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967.

In a time with so many personal and professional stressors, words have power and influence. Check out 75 impactful quotes from Thich Nhat Hanh about embracing the moment and living a fuller life. Hopefully, these words can help us all approach life with a bit more of an open heart.

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75 Thich Nhat Hanh Quotes

1. "Life is available only in the present moment."
2. "Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand-new hours are before me.I vow to live them deeply and learn to look at everything around me with the eyes of compassion."

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3. "Because you are alive, everything is possible."
4. "The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it."
5. "Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy."
6. "The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers."

7. "Our own life has to be our message."
8. "Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy, and serenity."
9. "Life is a miracle, and being aware of simply this can already make us very happy."
10. "Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out, I smile."
11. "Root out the violence in your life, and learn to live compassionately and mindfully. Seek peace. When you have peace within, real peace with others is possible."
12. "People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar."
13. "To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself."
14. "When you say something really unkind, when you do something in retaliation your anger increases. You make the other person suffer, and he will try hard to say or to do something back to get relief from his suffering. That is how conflict escalates."

15. "Smile, breathe, and go slowly."
16. "My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground on which I stand."
17. "When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help."
18. "We are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness."
19. "When you love someone, the best thing you can offer is your presence. How can you love if you are not there?"

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20. "Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet."
21. "There is no way to happiness - happiness is the way."
22. "Keeping your body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the whole cosmos — the trees, the clouds, everything."
23. "The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms."
24. "Peace can exist only in the present moment. It is ridiculous to say 'Wait until I finish this, then I will be free to live in peace.' What is 'this'? A di­ploma, a job, a house, the payment of a debt? If you think that way, peace will never come. There is always another 'this' that will follow the present one. If you are not living in peace at this moment, you will never be able to. If you truly want to be at peace, you must be at peace right now. Otherwise, there is only 'the hope of peace some day.'"
25. "Understanding means throwing away your knowledge."
26. "You carry Mother Earth within you. She is not outside of you. Mother Earth is not just your environment."
27. "The kingdom of God is available to you in the here and the now. But the question is whether you are available to the kingdom. Our practice is to make ourselves ready for the kingdom so that it can manifest in the here and the now. You don't need to die in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. In fact, you have to be truly alive in order to do so."
28. "The wave does not need to die to become water. She is already water."
29. "The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions."
30. "Anger is like a storm rising up from the bottom of your consciousness. When you feel it coming, turn your focus to your breath."
31. "Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today."
32. "To live in the present moment is a miracle. The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green Earth in the present moment, to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now."
33. "Do not say that I’ll depart tomorrow — even today I am still arriving."
34. "When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don’t blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce. Yet if we have problems with our friends or family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like the lettuce. Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason and argument. That is my experience. No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding. If you understand, and you show that you understand, you can love, and the situation will change."
35. "I promise myself that I will enjoy every minute of the day that is given me to live."
36. "Until there is peace between religions, there can be no peace in the world."

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37. "The essence of nonviolence is love."
38. "There is no enlightenment outside of daily life."
39. "A human being is like a television set with millions of channels.... We cannot let just one channel dominate us. We have the seed of everything in us, and we have to recover our own sovereignty."
40. "In mindfulness one is not only restful and happy, but alert and awake. Meditation is not evasion; it is a serene encounter with reality."
41. "We are all the leaves of one tree. We are all the waves of one sea."
42. "The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms."

43. "In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change."
44. "Remember that there is only one important time and that is now. The present moment is the only time over which we have dominion. The most important person is always the person you are with, who is right before you, for who knows if you will have dealings with any other person in the future? The most important pursuit is making the person standing at your side happy, for that alone is the pursuit of life."
45. "Your true home is in the here and the now."
46. "Many people are alive but don't touch the miracle of being alive."
47. "If we are not fully ourselves, truly in the present moment, we miss everything."
48. "Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor."
49. "Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves."
50. "Many people think excitement is happiness. But when you are excited, you are not peaceful. True happiness is based on peace."
51. "Every thought you produce, anything you say, any action you do, it bears your signature."
52. "Our notions about happiness entrap us. We forget that they are just ideas. Our idea of happiness can prevent us from actually being happy. We fail to see the opportunity for joy that is right in front of us when we are caught in a belief that happiness should take a particular form."
53. "If you love someone but rarely make yourself available to him or her, that is not true love."
54. "To think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth. The problem is to see reality as it is."
55. "We have more possibilities available in each moment than we realize."
56. "Enlightenment is when a wave realizes it is the ocean."
57. "At any moment, you have a choice that either leads you closer to your spirit or further away from it."
58. "Letting go gives us freedom , and freedom is the only condition for happiness."

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59. "If, in our heart, we still cling to anything - anger, anxiety, or possessions - we cannot be free."
60. "If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all generations of your ancestors. All of them are alive in this moment. Each is present in your body. You are the continuation of each of these people."
61. "Freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves. It is a daily practice... No one can prevent you from being aware of each step you take or each breath in and breath out."
62. "It is possible to live happily in the here and now. So many conditions of happiness are available—more than enough for you to be happy right now. You don't have to run into the future in order to get more."
63. "The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life."
64. "Enlightenment is always there. Small enlightenment will bring great enlightenment. If you breathe in and are aware that you are alive—that you can touch the miracle of being alive—then that is a kind of enlightenment. Many people are alive but don't touch the miracle of being alive."
65. "Thanks to impermanence, everything is possible."
66. "We have to continue to learn. We have to be open. And we have to be ready to release our knowledge in order to come to a higher understanding of reality."
67. "Love is the capacity to take care, to protect, to nourish. If you are not capable of generating that kind of energy toward yourself — if you are not capable of taking care of yourself, of nourishing yourself, of protecting yourself — it is very difficult to take care of another person."
68. "You must love in such a way that the person you love feels free."
69. "To dwell in the here and now does not mean you never think about the past or responsibly plan for the future."
70. "The present moment is the only time over which we have dominion."
71. "Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today."
72. "Be yourself. Life is precious as it is. All the elements for your happiness are already here. There is no need to run, strive, search, or struggle. Just be."
73. "The seed of suffering in you may be strong, but don't wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy ."
74. "You are not an observer, you are a participant."
75. "Words and thoughts concerning compassionate action that are not put into practice are like beautiful flowers that are colorful but have no fragrance."

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