Speaker Quotes

“No one knows enough to be a pessimist”

“With empathy you know in your heart that it's not a sign of weakness to attempt to understand that the people we call terrorists have placed the same label on us, and that the use of force will create a counter force, a never-ending saga of killing and hate. Ending war involves cultivating empathy in our policies and the love of God in our hearts. As the Native Americans reminded us: No tree has branches so foolish as to fight among themselves.”

“Authentic freedom is actually the freedom of knowing who you are, why you are here, your purpose in life and where you are going when you leave here.”

“If others hurt you, let the injury go. This is your test. If you let it go, you will find serenity.”

“Enjoy the moment, because that is all you have. You never are going to arrive someplace else. You are in a constant state of living in this moment, and that is the only arrival there is. In fact, you will arrive when you stop trying to get someplace else.”

“You have everything you need for complete peace and total happiness right now.”

“When I sit down to write a book, I don't ask myself, "How many am I going to sell?"”

“Everything in the universe has a purpose.”

“The mere presence of PASSION within you is all you need to fulfill your DREAMS.”

“Judgment means that you view the world as you are, rather than as it is.”

“The purpose of dancing isn't to end up at a particular spot on the floor. The purpose of dancing - and of life - is to enjoy every moment and every step, regardless of where you are when the music ends.”

“you don't need to be better than any one else you just need to be better than you used to be”

“You cannot fail, you can only produce results.”

“If you have anything in your heart other than love, you've got to get it out.”

“There's a part of you that you can get a hold of, and there's a part of you that you can never get a hold of, and those are opposite things. Who are you? Which one are you? You are combinations of opposites.”

“When you're at peace, there's no counterfeit freedom.”

“Anything inside that immobilizes me, gets in my way, keeps me from my goals, is all mine.”

“...this moment... is the only physical reality you have.”

“We can sit here and talk about all the negativity, which we've done a little bit, but for every act of evil in the world, there are a million acts of kindness. Basically, our nature is to love each other and care about each other, and most of us do that. Most of us have no quarrel with anybody who's living on another side of the planet and who might have a different religious persuasion. It's just these small minorities to the far right and the far left who get all of the news time and print space.”

“Hindsight provides new eyes.”

“Irving Wallace wrote a bestselling novel, The Man, in the 1960s about a black man becoming president of the United States. We thought that such a possibility was thousands of years in the future. Some people may still have some difficulty with the idea, but that's a major cultural meme shift.”

“Everyone in Life does Exactly what they Know How to Do Given the Conditions of their Lives”

“Discarding doubt is a decision to reconnect to your original self.”

“Highly functioning self-actualized people simply never imagine what it is that they don't wish to have as their reality.”

“As I look back at the entire tapestry of my life, I can see from the perspective of the present moment that every aspect of my life was necessary and perfect. Each step eventually led to a higher place, even though these steps often felt like obstacles or painful experiences.”