Huston Smith Quotes

Anyone who is practicing understanding and compassion can exemplify true power. Anyone can be a Buddha.

Compassion is a spiritual technology.

Art is not necessary at all. All that is necessary to make this world a better place to live in is to love - to love as Christ loved, as Buddha loved.

Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom.

I, for one, am profoundly grateful to feel the hand of God at work in my life. But at the beginning and end of the day, when my default setting is to show kindness and love to others, I never regret it. And to me, that is what faith is all about.

There are words which are worth as much as the best actions, for they contain the germ of them all.

Love and compassion don't at all have to make us weak, or lead us to losing discernment and vision. We just have to learn how to find them. And see, in truth, what they bring us.

Most people are not good people. In business, in art, in almost every 'world' I've been in, most people I've meet are pretty gray to black. It takes practice to be the person who is a source of compassion and honesty.

The gods do not need sacrifices, so what might one do to please them? Acquire wisdom, it seems to me, and do all the good in one's power to those humans who deserve it.

Speak the truth, do not yield to anger; give, if thou art asked for little; by these three steps thou wilt go near the gods.

Good nature is worth more than knowledge, more than money, more than honor, to the persons who possess it.

I often write about nonreligious people, and I try to find situations where their sense of humanity is restored or discovered. I think you can be a good person in many ways. And I think you often have to be careful that prayer can seem superficial, because it's a very complicated thing to love your neighbor as yourself.

Compassion enables you to reach to the heavens and look through the heart of God.

Compassion in evangelical churches is out of balance. When I talk about it, I get a lot of glazed expressions.

When you close your eyes to tragedy, you close your eyes to greatness.

Happiness is a great power of holiness. Thus, kind words, by their power of producing happiness, have also a power of producing holiness, and so of winning men to God.

You don't need a religious background to strive for something good, for genuine compassion and love for others.

Christianity taught men that love is worth more than intelligence.

A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.

Through love one acquires renunciation and discrimination naturally.

We experience God to the extent to which we love, forgive, and focus on the good in others and ourselves.

I prefer to be a good human being rather than a good character on screen.

If you care about people, then you're willing to act not just with compassion, but you're also willing to act with courage.

I believe that you have to live a life that involves both courage and compassion.

Humility and patience are the surest proofs of the increase of love.