Henepola Gunaratana Quotes

It's surprising how many persons go through life without ever recognizing that their feelings toward other people are largely determined by their feelings toward themselves, and if you're not comfortable within yourself, you can't be comfortable with others.

I am convinced we do not only love ourselves in others but hate ourselves in others too.

Every single human being is trying his best. We're all doing the best we can. But when we believe what we think, we have to live out those thoughts. When there's chaos in our heads, there's chaos in our lives. When there's hurt in our thinking, there's hurt in our lives. Love thy neighbor as thyself? I always have. When I hated me, I hated you. That's how it works. If I hate someone, I'm mistaking them for me, and solutions remain hidden.

I feel like the vast majority of the world's problems would disappear if suddenly everyone on the planet were relatively self-aware and capable of honest self-love and compassion.

Forgive many things in others; nothing in yourself.

I started to like my voice - the sound of it. So then I started to listen to it as something separate. To me, it sounded good that way as well.

Hopefully I don't annoy people too much.

I can consider myself my audience, and I'm not that weird. I'm fortunate in the things that I like, most people like.

I'm not 100% nice all the time, so I find it quite hard to be really pleasant.

Depression is a surfeit of empathy - a killing empathy - that makes depressives great friends to everyone but themselves. Having a self is a rough business, and depressives can empathize with others who have to deal with it, but not with themselves.

Some people are more fluid than others at just being themselves and recognizing what's good about themselves.

If you can't be with yourself, you'll never learn to be with anyone else.

If you don't like your sister or don't get along with your father, let's find out if you like yourself. Let's not sugarcoat anything about it.

I think we all have our demons and our various shortcomings, and it would be nice if people felt more gently about other people, but also about themselves.

When someone says to you, 'Oh, I don't take a good picture,' what they mean is they haven't come to terms with how they look. They take a fine picture, it's just that their image of how they think they look is not in touch with the reality.

I think a lot of us have some form of body dysmorphia... You're looking in the mirror, and you're kind of disassociated in some way. I think a good reminder is to actually, physically touch yourself. 'Ah, okay, this is what my arm feels like. It's not what I'm mutating in my head. I'm not some sort of scary monster.'

Self-esteem, the kind that comes from finding the sweet spot between a healthy fondness for yourself and healthy self-skepticism, tends to get harder to come by the older we get.

I really want to understand the mind so I can be more comfortable with the way people are. Being comfortable with people is incredibly important.

I always feel like I'm so boring, but I don't get bored with me.

I just don't take myself as seriously anymore. But as a result of that, I am taking myself more seriously. My ego has gone on holiday, and it can't get a flight back home.

I was a solipsist and a narcissist and much too arrogant. I have a lot more compassion now, but it took a long time.

Examining other people's motivations, other people's language and other people's way of interacting is much more fascinating to me than spending a lot of time worrying about my own. I've said, 'What other people think of me is none of my business.'

When we have ceased to love the stench of the human animal, either in others or in ourselves, then are we condemned to misery, and clear thinking can begin.

If you don't understand yourself you don't understand anybody else.

I think generally I'm a pretty good person if I had to grade myself. Or toot my own horn.