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Quotes by Vietnamese Authors
"Understanding is the other name of love. If you don't understand, you can't love."
"The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms."
"Each one of us has to take responsibility for reality, and present it so that kids will grow up familiar with that and say, OK. I've seen that before. I'm not afraid of it."
"Henceforth, we shall be happy to be a free citizen in an independent country."
"We asked Jane Fonda if she would like to meet American pilots in Hanoi, but she refused, she didn't want to."
"You will kill 10 of our men, and we will kill 1 of yours, and in the end it will be you who tire of it."
"Our inner space and our peace of mind are affected by our outer space."
"Don't wait for tomorrow. Tomorrow may be too late. If we know how to live according to the insight of impermanence, we will not make many mistakes. We can be happy right now. We can love our beloved, care for her, and make her happy today. And we won't run toward the future, losing our life, which is available only in the present moment."
"We all know that in war the political and military factors have to complement each other."
"Guarding knowledge is not a good way to understand. Understanding means to throw away your knowledge."
"Fearlessness is not only possible, it is the ultimate joy. When you touch nonfear, you are free."
"I believe firmly in reconciliation among Vietnamese to avoid unnecessary shedding of the blood of Vietnamese."
"The world's people all share the earnest aspiration to have peace, stability, justice and cooperation."
"In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change."
"We are too undemanding, too ready to watch whatever is on the screen, too lonely, lazy, or bored to create our own lives. We turn on the TV and leave it on, allowing someone else to guide us."
"Fear, separation, hate and anger come from the wrong view that you and the Earth are two separate entities, the Earth is only the environment. You are in the centre and you want to do something for the Earth in order for you to survive. That is a dualistic way of seeing."
"The best way to take care of the future is to take care of the present moment."
"The present moment is the only time over which we have dominion. The most important person is always the person you are with, who is right before you."
"The energy of mindfulness has the element of friendship and loving kindness in it."
"We need enlightenment, not just individually but collectively, to save the planet. We need to awaken ourselves. We need to practice mindfulness if we want to have a future, if we want to save ourselves and the planet."
"To see a doll of yourself is very weird and very neat at the same time."
"While practicing mindfulness, don't be dominated by the distinction between good and evil, thus creating a battle within oneself."
"Remember, the storm is a good opportunity for the pine and the cypress to show their strength and their stability."
"If we think we have twenty-four hours to achieve a certain purpose, today will become a means to attain an end. The moment of chopping wood and carrying water is the moment of happiness. We do not need to wait for these chores to be done to be happy. To have happiness in this moment is the spirit of aimlessness. Otherwise, we will run in circles for the rest of our life. We have everything we need to make the present moment the happiest in our life, even if we have a cold or a headache. We don't have to wait until we get over our cold to be happy. Having a cold is a part of life."
"No argument, no reasoning, no blame, just understanding. If you understand, and you show that you understand, you can love, and the situation will change."
"When you love someone, the best thing you can offer is your presence. How can you love if you are not there?"
"That is why I don't believe much in what Mr. Descartes said: "I think, therefore I am." I think, therefore I'm lost in my thinking. I'm not there."
"The United States did not keep its promise to help us fight for freedom and it was in the same fight that the United States lost 50,000 of its young men."
"Compassion is a verb."
"Through leadership of the fight against French colonialism, Ho Chi Minh had made a name for himself in the international political arena."
"Lynda Carter, I think the reason I liked her was because she was so down to earth. Even though she was a big star and she was Miss America, she was very approachable."
"We have negative mental habits that come up over and over again. One of the most significant negative habits we should be aware of is that of constantly allowing our mind to run off into the future. Perhaps we got this from our parents. Carried away by our worries, we're unable to live fully and happily in the present. Deep down, we believe we can't really be happy just yet-that we still have a few more boxes to be checked off before we can really enjoy life. We speculate, dream, strategize, and plan for these "conditions of happiness" we want to have in the future; and we continually chase after that future, even while we sleep. We may have fears about the future because we don't know how it's going to turn out, and these worries and anxieties keep us from enjoying being here now."
"Don't chase after your thoughts as a shadow follows its object. Don't run after your thoughts. Find joy and peace in this very moment ."
"You know that your happiness and suffering depend on the happiness and suffering of others. That insight helps you not to do wrong things that will bring suffering to yourself and to other people."
"All countries, big or small, strong or weak, are equal members of the United Nations."
"Meditation consists of generating three kinds of energy: mindfulness, concentration, and insight. These three energies give us power to nourish happiness and take care of our suffering. Suffering may be there. But with the energy of mindfulness, concentration, and insight, we can embrace and take care of that suffering and nourish happiness at the same time."
"Whether we are in the city, the countryside, or the wilderness, we need to sustain ourselves by choosing our surroundings carefully and nourishing our awareness in each moment."
"We do so much, we run so quickly, the situation is difficult, and many people say, "Don't just sit there, do something." But doing more things may make the situation worse. So you should say, "Don't just do something, sit there." Sit there, stop, be yourself first, and begin from there."
"People normally cut reality into compartments, and so are unable to see the interdependence of all phenomena. To see one in all and all in one is to break through the great barrier which narrows one's perception of reality, a barrier which Buddhism calls the attachment to the false view of self.Attachment to the false view of self means belief in the presence of unchanging entities which exist on their own."
"South Vietnam had to be built from scratch and, from the very beginning, depended far too much on the Western superpowers. As in the case of a person on public welfare, this dependency, which became greater with each day, was quite difficult to shake."
"By the mid-sixties, the United States had poured more than half a million troops into South Vietnam."
"Mindful observation is based on the principle of "non-duality: our feeling is not separate from us or caused merely by something outside us; our feeling is us, and for the moment we are that feeling. We are neither drowned in nor terrorized by the feeling, nor do we reject it. Our attitude of not clinging to or rejecting our feelings is the attitude of letting go."
"Well, we think the broadcasts did have some effect, because we see the antiwar movement in the U.S. building up, growing and so we think that our broadcast is a support to this antiwar movement."
"We have been waiting for you so that we could turn over the government."
"The seed of suffering in you may be strong, but don't wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy."
"Only this actual moment is life."
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