Dalai Lama Inner Quotations

Compassion instills a sense of calm, inner strength, and a deep confidence and satisfaction

Everybody loves to talk about calmness and peace, whether in a family, national, or international context, but without inner peace how can we make real peace? World peace through hatred and force is impossible.

Suffering increases your inner strength. Also, the wishing for suffering makes the suffering disappear.

The greatest antidote to insecurity & sense of fear is compassion. It brings one back to the basis of one's inner strength.

Peace in the world relies on individuals finding inner peace.

Wisdom and inner peace must be created by yourself.

If you practice in accord with your individual capacity, little by little you will find more pleasure and joy in it. As you gain inner strength, your positive actions will gain in profundity and scope.

All religion teaches the virtues of love, altruism and patience, while showing us how to discipline and transform ourselves to achieve inner peace and a kind heart. Therefore, they are worthy of our respect.

World peace must develop from inner peace.

I have found that the greatest degree of inner peace comes from cultivating love and compassion.

A Compassionate state of mind brings inner peace, and therefore a healthier body.

By developing a sense of concern for others' well-being, then no matter what others' attitudes are, you can keep inner peace.

If your mental attitude is positive, even when threats abound, you won’t lose your inner peace. On the other hand, if your mind is negative, marked by fear, suspicion and feelings of helplessness, even among your best friends, in a pleasant atmosphere and comfortable surroundings, you won’t be happy.

Calm mind brings inner strength and self-confidence, so that's very important for good health.

World peace begins with inner peace.

In order to lead a meaningful life, you need to cherish others, pay attention to human values and try to cultivate inner peace.

The real destroyer of inner peace is fear and distrust. Fear develops frustration, frustration develops anger, anger develops violence.

It is worth remembering that the time of greatest gain in terms of wisdom and inner strength is often that of greatest difficulty.

Peace isn't the mere absence of violence; peace must come from inner peace. And inner peace comes from taking others’ interests into account.

I often tease young people about their concern for how they look; more important is inner beauty - compassion, affection and respect.

If we have a positive mental attitude, then even when surrounded by hostility, we shall not lack inner peace.

Genuine peace is based on inner peace, because you cannot build peace on the basis of anger

If you become more concerned for the welfare of others, you will experience a sense of calm, inner-strength, and self confidence.

Whether we consider the individual, family, local, national or international level, peace must arise from inner peace. For example, making prayers for peace while continuing to harbor anger is futile. Training the mind and overcoming your anger is much more effective than mere prayer. Anger, hatred and jealousy never solve problems, only affection, concern and respect can do that.

Great changes start with individuals; the basis of world peace is inner peace in the hearts of individuals.

The most important benefit of patience consists in the way it acts as a powerful antidote to the affliction of anger - the greatest threat to our inner peace, and therefore our happiness. The mind, or spirit, is not physical, it cannot be touched or harmed directly. Only negative thoughts and emotions can harm it. Therefore, only the corresponding positive quality can protect it.

Material development alone does not yield genuine inner peace.

Compassion is a mental quality that can bring us true lasting inner peace and inner strength.

If we have no inner peace, we deceive ourselves into thinking that comfort and prosperity will bring happiness.

Peace starts within each one of us. When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us. When our community is in a state of peace, it can share peace with neighboring communities, and so on. When we feel love and kindness towards others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace.

Religion is like going out to dinner with friends. Everyone may order something different, but everyone can still sit at the same table.

Hardship, in forcing us to exercise greater patience and forbearance in daily life, actually makes us stronger and more robust. From the daily experience of hardship comes a greater capacity to accept difficulties without losing our sense of inner calm. Of course, I do not advocate seeking out hardship as a way of life, but merely wish to suggest that, if you relate to it constructively, it can bring greater inner strength and fortitude.

True happiness comes from having a sense of inner peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved by cultivating altruism, love and compassion, and by eliminating anger, selfishness and greed.

If you have peace of mind, when you meet with problems and difficulties they won’t disturb your inner peace. You’ll be able to employ your human intelligence more effectively. But, if your mental state is disturbed, full of emotion, it is very difficult to cope with problems, because the mind that is full of emotion is biased, unable to see reality. So whatever you do will be unrealistic and naturally fail.

As human beings we all want to be happy and free from misery we have learned that the key to happiness is inner peace. The greatest obstacles to inner peace are disturbing emotions such as anger, attachment, fear and suspicion, while love and compassion and a sense of universal responsibility are the sources of peace and happiness.