Leo Buscaglia Quotes

A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world.

Life is our greatest possession and love its greatest affirmation.

Listening is love in action.

Love creates an "us" without destroying the "me".

To place your ideas and your dreams before the crowd is to risk being called naive.

"To be is to do," says the existentialist. "One only becomes real (human) at the point of action."

I've learned that you learn best by modeling. If you want people to learn, do it!

We all need each other.

A loving relationship is one in which the loved one is free to be himself -- to laugh with me, but never at me; to cry with me, but never because of me; to love life, to love himself, to love being loved. Such a relationship is based upon freedom and can never grow in a jealous heart

I just saw an ad the other day that I couldn't believe. There was this woman-and I think it's degrading to womankind-she was going out of her mind over a new product called "A Thousand Flushes." Here she was in her toilet, saying, "Oh, I love this product!" and, "My life is complete!" Good God-if your joy depends on "A Thousand Flushes," you're sick!

You are the only you ... You are the best you. You will always be the second best anyone else.

One does not fall "in" or "out" of love. One grows in love.

When we sit at the table, there is more going on than satisfying hunger. It is sad to think of those who eat simply to satisfy their hunger and who do not permit themselves to linger under the many spells offered by a good meal - the satisfaction of our hearts, our minds and our spirits.

I think we need to teach children the importance of others, and that they cannot grow in this world without taking in others. The more worlds they take in, these unique worlds, the more they can become. We need to teach them to trust others again, because we're all frightened to death of each other. We're building higher and higher walls, stronger and stronger locks. Tear down the walls! Every day I see how we're distrusting and it hurts.

The best students come from homes where education is revered: where there are books, and children see their parents reading them.

Happiness is intrinsic, it's an internal thing. When you build it into yourself, no external circumstances can take it away.

You can't imagine the joy I feel when I hear that something I've said or done or written has helped others to regain their sense of dignity, to motivate them to develop their uniquepotential, to encourage them to reach out to others in love.

It's not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something.

We created time, and now we have become the slave of time.

If you're an advocate of gentleness, you're simplistic and naive. If you're an advocate of despair and hate, you're sophisticated.

There is nothing wrong with making mistakes and not having all the answers, so long as we are willing to admit this and strive for personal betterment. Those who think they know it all have no way of finding out that they don't.

Ninety per-cent of what we worry about never happens, yet we worry and worry. What a horrible way to go through life! What a horrible thing to do to your colon!

Man is happiest when he is creating. In fact, the highest state of which man is capable lies in the creative act.

I get so sick and tired of hearing people gripe about what their parents did to them. You know what your parents did to you? The best thing they could do. The best thing they knew how, the only thing in many cases that they knew how. Nobody has set out maliciously to hurt their child, unless they were psychotic.

The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow or love. Chained by his certitude, he is a slave; he has forfeited his freedom. Only the person who risks is truly free.

Nine times out of ten, when you extend your arms to someone, they will step in, because basically they need precisely what you need.

A wife says to her husband (or vice versa), "Do you love me?""Of course," he replies. "I've been married to you for twenty years, haven't I?"How satisfied would we be if we presented someone with a vintage wine and, upon asking his opinion of it, he replied, "I'm drinking it, aren't I?"Love still needs expression between those who share it.

Love is not some complex, mystical abstraction. It is something accessible and human that we learn through our everyday experience, as often at times of failure as in moments of ecstasy.

I have a very strong feeling that the opposite of love is not hate - it's apathy. It's not giving a damn.

Don't look over people's shoulders. Look in their eyes. Don't talk at your children. Take their faces in your hands and talk to them. Don't make love to a body, make love to a person.

Strong emotions are present in all people. Without feeling, we would not be human. It's unnatural for man to hide what he's feeling, though if taught to do so, he can learn. Love teaches a man to show what he is feeling. Love never presupposes that it can be discerned or felt without expression.

Let go. Why do you cling to pain? There is nothing you can do about the wrongs of yesterday. It is not yours to judge. Why hold on to the very thing which keeps you from hope and love?

To love oneself is to struggle to rediscover and maintain your uniqueness

I was lucky to have such a loving, crazy family. I learned to give and share.

The heart is the place where we live our passions. It is frail and easily broken, but wonderfully resilient. There is no point in trying to deceive the heart. It depends upon our honesty for its survival.

Joy is always an integral part of loving. There is joy in every act of life, no matter how menial or repetitive. To work in love is to work in joy. To live in love is to live in joy... Why not choose joy?... Why not live in joy?

When it comes to giving love, the opportunities are unlimited, and we are all gifted.

Everybody is teaching Everybody to Love at every moment.

We need to learn to let go as easily as we grasp and we will find our hands full and our minds empty.

You have choice. You can select joy over despair. You can select happiness over tears. You can select action over apathy. You can select growth over stagnation. You can select you. And you can select life. And it's time that people tell you you're not at the mercy of forces greater than yourself. You are, indeed, the greatest force for you.

Love is a dynamic interaction, lived every second of our lives, all of our lives.

We all fear what we don't know - it's natural.

The minute we stop learning, we begin death, the process of dying. We learn from each other with every action we perform. We are teaching goodness or evil every time we step out of the house and into the street.

This loving person is a person who abhors waste - waste of time, waste of human potential. How much time we waste. As if we were going to live forever.

To love others you must first love yourself.

If you don't like the scene you're in, if you're unhappy, if you're lonely, if you don't feel that things are happening, change your scene. Paint a new backdrop.

Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt,but it is the only way to live life completely.

Education should be the process of helping everyone to discover his uniqueness." -Leo Buscaglia (1924-1998)

You have the choice. You can choose joy over despair, happiness over tears, action over apathy, growth over stagnation.

Don't over analyze your relationships.

Don't spend your precious time asking "Why isn't the world a better place?" It will only be time wasted. The question to ask is "How can I make it better?" To that there is an answer.

Time has no meaning in itself unless we choose to give it significance

Education should be the process of helping everyone to discover his uniqueness, to teach him how to develop that uniqueness, and then to show him how to share it because that’s the only reason for having anything.

Life lived for tomorrow will always be just a day away from being realized.

I got the copyright for love!

Learn to bend. It's better than breaking.

Love is always bestowed as a gift - freely, willingly and without expectation. We don't love to be loved; we love to love.

The lover must often say, "I love because I must, because I will it. I love for myself, not for others. I love for the joy it gives me - and incedentally, only - for that joy it gives to others. If they reinforce me it will be good. If they do not, it also will be good, for I will to love."

No one gets out of this world alive, so the time to live, learn, care, share, celebrate, and love is now.

If I don't have wisdom, I can teach you only ignorance.