Quote

We all have the ability to study the causes of suffering and gradually to free ourselves from them....it is not the magnitude of the task that matters, it's the magnitude of our courage.

Matthieu Ricard

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Matthieu Ricard
Age: 78
Born: 1946
Born: February 15
Bhikkhu
Geneticist
Monk
Philosopher
Photographer
Translator
Writer
Matters
Courage
Study
Causes
Magnitude
Suffering
Gradually
Ability
Task
Free
Matter
Tasks

More quotes by Matthieu Ricard

Image
Negative emotions like hatred destroy our peace of mind.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
I don't often get into a bad mood, since it does not help anything and clouds my judgment, but I can certainly see that sometimes things go terribly wrong. We need to understand the reasons for this and work towards building new conditions that will bring about better circumstances.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
Happiness is a skill, emotional balance is a skill, compassion and altruism are skills, and like any skill they need to be developed. That's what education is about.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
If there is a remedy or a cure, a solution to a problem or difficulty, why worry?
Matthieu Ricard
Image
We try to fix the outside so much, but our control of the outer world is limited, temporary, and often, illusory.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
Mind training is based on the idea that two opposite mental factors cannot happen at the same time. You could go from love to hate. But you cannot, at the same time - toward the same object, the same person - want to harm and want to do good.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
Meditation gives you more inner strength and confidence, and if you don't feel vulnerable, you can put that to the service of others. So it's not just about sitting and cultivating caring mindfulness. It's building up a way of being and then using it for the service of others.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
To love oneself is to love life. It is essential to understand that we make ourselves happy in making others happy.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
The way you experience [pain] can change so much depending on your attitude.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
It's not the magnitude of the task that matters, it's the magnitude of our courage.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
When hearing a door creak, the optimist thinks it's opening and the pessimist thinks it's closing.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
You're not insensitive or indifferent, but you're also not vulnerable to the upheavals that cause emotional stress because you can buffer that... So that's the result of meditation you could call that emotional balance.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
Peace is not weak. Standing up to a tank is harder than dropping a suicide bomb
Matthieu Ricard
Image
Genuine fearlessness arises with the confidence that we will be able to gather the inner resources to deal with any situation that comes our way.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
I think if your direction in life is clear and if you develop the wish to accomplish/have a fulfilled life and to contribute something to others, I think that definitely gives you such a strength to want to be alive, that that would be the best placebo.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
Envy and jealousy stem from the fundamental inability to rejoice at someone else's happiness or success
Matthieu Ricard
Image
The ultimate reason for meditating is to transform ourselves in order to be better able to transform the world or, to put it another way, to transform ourselves so we can become better human beings in order to serve others in a wiser and more efficient way. It gives your life the noblest possible meaning.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
When the mind is full of memories and preoccupied by the future, it misses the freshness of the present moment. In this way, we fail to recognize the luminous simplicity of mind that is always present behind the veils of thought.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
In the freshness of the present moment, past is gone, future is not yet born, and—if one remains in pure mindfulness and freedom—disturbing thoughts arise and go without leaving a trace. That is basic meditation.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
The Dalai Lama has been extremely interested in science since his childhood.
Matthieu Ricard