Leo Buscaglia Quotes

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

“It is the foregiver who is freed in foregiving.”

“Life is meant to be a celebration! It shouldn't be necessary to set aside special times to remind us of this fact. Wise is the person who finds a reason to make every day a special one.”

“Knowing that one is always capable of change, the second step lies in making the decision to change. Change does not occur by merely willing it anymore than behavior changes simply through insight.”

“If one wishes to know love, one must live love, in action.”

“Those who think they know it all have no way of finding out they don't.”

“Each of our acts makes a statement as to our purpose.”

“Love and the self are one and the discovery of either is the realization of both.”

“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.”

“There is only the moment. The now. Only what you are experiencing at this second is real.”

“Love yourself-accept yourself-forgive yourself-and be good to yourself, because without you the rest of us are without a source of many wonderful things.”

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

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

“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.”

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

“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.”

“As soon as the love relationship does not lead me to me, as soon as I in a love relationship do not lead another person to himself, this love, even if it seems to be the most secure and ecstatic attachment I have ever experienced, is not true love. For real love is dedicated to continual becoming.”

“That's love. That's all it means. It means sharing joy with people.”

“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.”

“The only lasting trauma is the one we suffer without positive change.”

“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 are not for everyone and everyone is not for us. The question is, 'If we cannot be with another, can we at least not hurt them? Can we, at least, find a way to coexist?'”

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

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

“It doesn't matter who you have hurt, if you've learned not to hurt again. It doesn't matter what mistakes you've made as long as you don't make them again. As long as you learn, as long as you're willing to take your life in your hands, and kiss it and go from there. Then there is growth. There there is life!”

“We are born for love, but it will die if not nurtured.”

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

“When we give ourselves in love we become our most vulnerable. We are never safe. We become open to disappointment and hurt.”

“I have been a teacher myself all my life. I have an intense passion to share with people. Our only salvation is in knowledge, in learning.”

“I got the copyright for love!”

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

“I am a teacher. And I think I am a serious one who happens to be enjoying life.”

“Love requires that we overcome the traditional and self-defeating fears that place distance between ourselves and others.”

“Learn to bend. It's better than breaking.”

“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.”

“Love always creates, it never destroys. In this lie's man's only promise.”

“If one wishes to know love, one must live love, in action. Thoughts, readings and discourse on love are of value only as they present questions to be acted upon.”

“Never idealize others. They will never live up to your expectations. Don't over-analyze your relationships. Stop playing games. A growing relationship can only be nurtured by genuineness.”

“Why do some people always see beautiful skies and grass and lovely flowers and incredible human beings, while others are hard-pressed to find anything or any place that is beautiful?”

“Like any other living, growing thing, love requires effort to keep it healthy.”

“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.”

“To live in love is to live in life, and to live in life is to live in love”

“Every day we are offered new means for learning and growing in love.”

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

“To that there is an answer.”

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

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

“The way to anybody's heart is through a thoughtfully-prepared, beautifully-executed, lovingly-presented meal.”

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