Matthieu Ricard, PhD, is a French Buddhist monk, author, translator, humanitarian, and photographer. He’s best known for his work on happiness, altruism, veganism, and the link between ancient wisdom and science.
CLEAR ALL
We meet no ordinary people in our lives.
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Life’s work is to wake up, to let the things that enter into the circle wake you up rather than put you to sleep. The only way to do this is to open, be curious, and develop some sense of sympathy for everything that comes along, to get to know its nature and let it teach you what it will.
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I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.
Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.
It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for a bird to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.
Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’
Stay a verb—don’t become a noun.
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Empathetic listening is an awesome medication for the hurting heart.
. . . it is almost always the case that whatever has wounded you will also be instrumental in your healing.
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A bird was lying on his back in the road with his feet in the air. A horse saw him and asked, “What’re you doing?” The sparrow said, “I’m helping hold back the darkness.” The horse sneered and said, “Yeah, right,” and the sparrow said, “One does what one can.”
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