Miguel Angel Ruiz

Respect is one of the greatest expressions of love. If other people try to write your story, it means they don't respect you. They consider that you're not a good artist who can write your own story, even though you were born to write your own story.

Also, go inside and listen to your body, because your body will never lie to you. Your mind will play tricks, but the way you feel in your heart, in your guts, is the truth.

Wherever you go you will find people lying to you, and as your awareness grows, you will notice that you also lie to yourself. Do not expect people to tell you the truth because they also lie to themselves. You have to trust yourself and choose to believe or not to believe what someone says to you.

When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.

Whatever life takes away from you, let it go.

We don't need to justify love; it is there or not there. Real love is accepting other people the way they are without trying to change them.

Perhaps you're not finished with your story, and who knows if you'll ever finish it or not. Honestly, it's not that important.

Don't make assumptions. Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want.

Letting go of the past means that you can enjoy the dream that is happening right now.

If others tell us something we make assumptions, and if they don't tell us something we make assumptions to fulfill our need to know and to replace the need to communicate. Even if we hear something and we don't understand we make assumptions about what it means and then believe the assumptions. We make all sorts of assumptions because we don't have the courage to ask questions.

Whenever we hear an opinion and believe it, we make an agreement, and it becomes part of our belief system.

Happiness begins with impeccability of the word. The way to measure the impeccability of my word is to ask, "Am I happy or am I suffering?" If I'm suffering, then I'm not being impeccable with my word.

Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive - the risk to be alive and express what we really are.

The word is not just a sound or a written symbol. The word is a force; it is the power you have to express and communicate, to think, and thereby to create the events in your life. The word is the most powerful tool you have as a human; it is a tool of magic.

Whatever happens around you, don't take it personally... Nothing other people do is because of you. It is because of themselves.

Just imagine becoming the way you used to be as a very young child, before you understood the meaning of any word, before opinions took over your mind. The real you is loving, joyful, and free. The real you is just like a flower, just like the wind, just like the ocean, just like the sun.

Life is very, very simple and easy to understand, but we complicate it with the beliefs and ideas that we create.

Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.

Your life is the manifestation of your dream; it is an art. You can change your life anytime if you aren't enjoying the dream.

Children are born innocent. Before they are domesticated they live in the moment, love without fear, and don't even think about the opinions of others.

We have the need to be accepted and to be loved by others, but we cannot accept and love ourselves. The more self-love we have, the less we will experience self-abuse. Self-abuse comes from self-rejection, and self-rejection comes from having an image of what it means to be perfect and never measuring up to that ideal. Our image of perfection is the reason we reject ourselves the way we are, and why we don't accept others the way they are.