“Your greatest weakness lies in your demotivated mindset, mostly created by the opinions of others, not in your abilities.”
“You probably have your own scenes you ve lived through---scenes where you think that if only people knew what was really going on, they might cut you some slack and help you.”
“We either build walls between each other through our misunderstandings, Or we build bridges to reach other through our compassion.”
“The difference between selfish people and generous people is like the difference between day and night. While selfish people think about getting everything for themselves, take things for granted, and harm others by their greediness and non stop desires, generous people are the ones who keep this life going, they are generous with their time, money, health, knowledge, skills, and emotions, they are the sun that keeps life warm and thriving. Try to be one of the generous; and remember no one ever likes a selfish person.”
“The world needs not new governments - the world needs not new parties - the world needs not new dictators masquerading as leaders or entrepreneurs - what the world needs is thought, punned in the flames of reason, courage and humaneness.”
“The life of a human has meaning only and only if that life comes to the aid of others.”
“It is a dangerous business to compare sufferings, and generally an unproductive enterprise. Yet compare we must, because most people assume that anymal suffering is somehow lesser—or of less importance—than the suffering of human beings. Why would human suffering be of greater moral or spiritual importance than anymal suffering?”
“Not one of the world’s largest religious traditions teaches that anymals are of lesser importance, or that their suffering might be overlooked while we remedy problems that are more central to human needs and wants. On the contrary—religious traditions hold human beings accountable for their actions with regard to anymals.”
“That said, protecting anymals protects human beings: There are four other critical reasons that the world’s largest religions rightly pay particular attention to anymals—and particular attention to what we eat. Aside from respect for life and compassion for anymals, we ought to choose a vegan diet for the sake of the environment, to alleviate world hunger, to protect laborers, and on behalf of our own health. The consequences of our dietary choices are monumental.”
“Hindu religious traditions hold nature to be sacred and offer a philosophy of ahimsa, karma, reincarnation, and oneness that [points to] a vegan diet. . . . Gods, humans, and anymals are sometimes indistinguishable: A Hindu god might manifest as human, tortoise, man-lion, or elephant-headed human; a small, playful monkey might turn out to be the powerful god Hanuman. As gods, and through their own special powers, anymals are spiritually powerful in the Hindu tradition, and provide innumerable lessons and worthy examples for human beings. Humans are obligated to live a life of ahimsa, which requires Hindus to speak up in defense of those who are exploited.”
“Flash: Last time we saw Black Hand he was obsessed with causing the death of every living thing, Hal. What the hell did they do to him? Indigo-1: We gave him compassion, Flash. Green Lantern: And how did you do that? Black Hand: The ring. My life have been returned by the white light, Green Lantern, but it is this indigo ring that allowed me to truly be born again. Green Lantern: Born again? You can t erase your crimes by putting on a ring. If you can feel any kind of compassion right now, you d be haunted by the guilt for all the evil you ve done and the people you ve killed. Black Hand: As you are because of Parallax? You are not the same man. I am not. William Hand no longer exists. He was without empathy. He was deeply disturbed. This ring has rid the universe of him. It is my salvation. Green Lantern: You brainwashed him. Indigo-1: No. The indigo light ignited a change within. He has converted to our way.”
“The most effective way to show compassion to another is to listen, rather than talk.”
“I would sit with him until he was all right again. I knew that I would sit with him for as long as it took. That s all I could do. That was my only job in the world that day - to sit with a good man. To watch over him from the other side...until he was steadied.”
“Can your guilt satisfy your conscience? Can your hatred vanquish your compassion?”
“The unification of mind in śamatha is temporary and conditioned. However, the unification around Insight is far more profound, and it’s permanent. When temporary unification around a shared intention fades, each sub-mind operates as a separate entity, constrained by and at the mercy of the mind-system as a whole. Therefore, individual sub-minds strive to preserve their autonomy and, as much as possible, direct the resources of the mind-system toward their individual goals. Yet after Insight, the various sub-minds become unified around a shared Insight into impermanence, emptiness, suffering, no-Self, and interconnectedness. From this flow a corresponding set of shared values: harmlessness, compassion, and loving-kindness. Now each sub-mind operates as an independent part of a much greater whole, working for the good of that whole. This allows each sub-mind to do its job effectively, without running into fundamental conflicts with other sub-minds. When enough of the mind-system has undergone this transformation, we’re able to function as an individual person while simultaneously perceiving ourselves as part of an indivisible and inconceivably greater whole.”
“The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate action of its members.”
“Gross compassion quotient (GCQ) of a country is the measure of the level of compassion of the country as whole.”