It is possible to live happily in the here and the now. So many conditions of happiness are available - more than enough for you to be happy right now. You don't have to run into the future in order to get more.
Thich Nhat HanhRead
Nothing can be by itself alone, no one can be by himself or herself alone, everyone has to inter-be with every one else. That is why, when you look outside, around you, you can see yourself.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the interconnectedness of all beings and the idea that we cannot exist in isolation.
Thich Nhat Hanh's quote reflects a fundamental understanding of interdependence in the human experience. It suggests that our identities are formed in connection with others, and solitude is an illusion because we are all part of a larger whole. The statement encourages us to see that our relationships with others are what shape us, and that understanding this interconnectedness can lead to deeper self-awareness and compassion.
Themes
InterdependenceCommunityConnectionSelfTogetherness
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about teamwork and collaboration in the workplace.
More from Thich Nhat Hanh
All quotes →When you have peace in yourself and accept, then you are calm enough to do something, but if you are carried by despair, there is no hope.
Thich Nhat HanhRead
It's normal for human beings to identify with their own separate self. The problem is that we get caught in that notion of ourself as a separate individual and caught in that individual self's agenda.
Thich Nhat HanhRead
When you learn about the teaching and the practice of another tradition, you always have a chance to understand your own teaching and practice.
Thich Nhat HanhRead
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.
Thich Nhat HanhRead
When you have enough understanding and compassion in you, then that amount of understanding and compassion will try to express itself in action. And your practice should help you to cultivate more understanding and compassion.
Thich Nhat HanhRead
Similar quotes
Men have always shown a dim knowledge of their better potentialities by paying homage to those purest leaders who taught the simplest and most inclusive rules for an undivided mankind.
Erik EriksonRead
...mathematics is distinguished from all other sciences except only ethics, in standing in no need of ethics. Every other science, even logic, especially in its early stages, is in danger of evaporating into airy nothingness, degenerating, as the Germans say, into an arachnoid film, spun from the stuff that dreams are made of. There is no such danger for pure mathematics; for that is precisely what mathematics ought to be.
Charles Sanders PeirceRead
The goal of fasting is inner unity.
Thomas MertonRead
When goals go, meaning goes. When meaning goes, purpose goes. When purpose goes, life goes dead on our hands.
Carl JungRead
We - what we need is a dialogue among civilizations. And we need multiculturalism, respect for diversity, tolerance, respect for diverse faiths.
Manmohan SinghRead
...if there is a widely shared concept of intentional action... a philosophical analysis of intentional action that is wholly unconstrained by that concept runs the risk of having nothing more than a philosophical fiction as its subject matter.
Alfred MeleRead