Ram Dass

The quieter you become, the more you can hear.

Once you have drunk from the water of unconditional love, no other well can satisfy your thirst. The pangs of separation may become so intense that seeking the affection of the Beloved becomes an obsession.

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

Unconditional love really exists in each of us. It is part of our deep inner being. It is not so much an active emotion as a state of being. It’s not ‘I love you’ for this or that reason, not ‘I love you if you love me.’ It’s love for no reason, love without an object.

I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.

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

Thou shalt not commit adultry is a command which makes no distinction between the following persons. They are all required to obey it: children at birth. Children in the cradle. School children. Youths and maidens. Fresh adults. Older ones. Men and women of 40. Of 50. Of 60. Of 70. Of 80. Of 100. The command does not distribute its burden equally, and cannot. It is not hard upon the three sets of children.

Buddha means awareness, the awareness of body and mind that prevents evil from arising in either.

The Kingdom of God is Within You,

[On religion:] Wasn’t it invented by man for a kind of solace? It’s as though he had said, ‘I’ll make me a nice comfortable garment to shut out the heat and the cold,’ and then it ends by becoming a strait-jacket.

I prayed for your peace even if you started this whole war in me.

Christianity is the highest perfection of humanity.

The essence of Buddhism is, if you can, to help others. If not, then at least refrain from hurting others.

Who would then deny that when I am sipping tea in my tearoom I am swallowing the whole universe with it and that this very moment of my lifting the bowl to my lips is eternity itself transcending time and space?

An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.

To give pleasure to a single heart by a single kind act is better than a thousand head-bowings in prayer.

[on enlightenment] Body and mind dropped off.

The Bible may be the truth, but it is not the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

One who conquers himself is greater than another who conquers a thousand times a thousand on the battlefield.