Leo Buscaglia Quotes

“I've always thought that people need to feel good about themselves and I see my role as offering support to them, to provide some light along the way.”

“The oppposite of Love is not Hate - it's apathy.”

“The only thing of value we can give kids is what we are, not what we have.”

“My rule is always, People first and things second.”

“We live in a small world. Not a leaf falls that doesn't affect a myriad of things. When we reach out to someone in love and the effect is made - everyone, everything which comes in contact with the person we've effected is better for it. Of course, the converse is true, too.”

“We need others. We need others to love and we need to be loved by them. There is no doubt that without it, we too, like the infant left alone, would cease to grow, cease to develop, choose madness and even death.”

“Change is the end result of all true learning.”

“Man seldom questions the fact that ugliness and evil are to be found in the world. But he's never as ready to accept that life also offers unlimited beauty and potential for joy as well as endless opportunities for pleasure.”

“After all, the wrong is done. It is past and cannot be changed. We have only the present and the future upon which to move forward.”

“A wonderful realization will be the day you realize that you are unique in all the world. There is nothing that is an accident. You are a special combination for a purpose -- and don't let them tell you otherwise, even if they tell you that purpose is an illusion. (Live an illusion if you have to). You are that combination so that you can do what is essential for you to do. Don't ever believe that you have nothing to contribute. The world is an incredibly unfulfilled tapestry. And only you can fulfill that tiny space that is yours.”

“Each man lives love in his limited fashion and does not seem to relate the resultant confusion and loneliness to his lack of knowledge about love.”

“I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things... I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind.”

“When we cling to pain, we end up punishing ourselves.”

“People are not here to meet your expectations.”

“I am often accused of being childish. I prefer to interpret that as child-like. I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things. I tend to exaggerate and fantasize and embellish. I still listen to instinctual urges. I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind. I never water my garden without soaking myself. It has been after such times of joy that I have achieved my greatest creativity and produced my best work.”

“To this day I cannot see a bright daffodil, a proud gladiola, or a smooth eggplant without thinking of Papa. Like his plants and trees, I grew up as a part of his garden.”

“In the end you have only you.”

“In a crazy world, it's only your insanity that will keep you sane”

“We want to gently remind people that we don't have forever. In my work, I hear parents complain all the time that their children grow up so fast. But they don't take the time to sit down and talk to each other. The last bastion of getting together is around the table.”

“If we wish to free ourselves from enslavement, we must choose freedom and the responsibility this entails.”

“Life is a paradise for those who love many things with a passion.”

“Love is life. And if you miss love, you miss life.”

“Life is uncharted territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time.”

“Man has no choice but to love. For when he does not, he finds his alternatives lie in loneliness, destruction and despair.”

“We need others. We need others to love and we need to be loved by them.”