Thich Nhat Hanh Quotes

No problems are ever resolved by violence. It only aggravates the pain and the hurt on every side.

Only through loving and supporting one another, even in the face of unbearable pain and suffering, will this cycle of violence end.

What I learned is, we have to listen to each other, even when we don't agree, even when we think we hate each other. We have to listen to each others narratives. Not interrupt defensively, or with hostility, but really try to open our hearts and listen with empathy. I learned so much from that meeting. It was a very difficult thing to do and it was one of the best things that I ever did in my life. Look what scares you in the face, and try to understand it. Empathy, I have learned, is revolutionary.

Do you think you can cure the hatreds and the maladjustments of the world by hanging them? You simply show your ignorance and your hate when you say it. You may here and there cure hatred with love and understanding, but you can only add fuel to the flames by cruelty and hate.

If you hit a Talib with your shoe, then there would be no difference between you and the Talib. You must not treat others with cruelty and that much harshly, you must fight others but through peace and through dialogue and through education.

War is not the answer, because only love can conquer hate.

When I recall my own path of life I cannot but speak of the violence, hatred and lies. A lesson drawn from such experiences, however, was that we can effectively oppose violence only if we ourselves do not resort to it.

When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.

Forgiveness is not always easy. At times, it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness.

It is not easy to talk about peace to people who are mourning every day.

Speech, not violence, is how we will bridge the divides between us.

Empathy is a necessary step for truth and reconciliation.

Hate does not produce love, and by hate one cannot remake the world.

It is not enough to know that love and forgiveness are possible. We have to find ways to bring them to life.

I pray for all of us, oppressor and friend, that together we succeed in building a better world through human understanding and love, and that in doing so we may reduce the pain and suffering of all sentient beings.

Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians, because these Christians are talking where they should be listening.

To reconcile conflicting parties, we must have the ability to understand the suffering of both sides. If we take sides, it is impossible to do the work of reconciliation. And humans want to take sides. That is why the situation gets worse and worse. Are there people who are still available to both sides? They need not do much. They need do only one thing: Go to one side and tell all about the suffering endured by the other side, and go to the other side and tell all about the suffering endured by this side. This is our chance for peace. But how many of us are able to do that?

Hatred is never ended by hatred but by love.

I firmly believe that usually, the person who hurt you doesn't realize what they've done or how much it hurt you. So, continue to pray for the person or situation that caused your pain and anger. Ask God to give you understanding about why they did what they did.

How I wish that all men and women of good will would look to the Cross if only for a moment! There, we can see God’s reply: violence is not answered with violence, death is not answered with the language of death. In the silence of the Cross, the uproar of weapons ceases and the language of reconciliation, forgiveness, dialogue, and peace is spoken.

We do not need guns and bombs to bring peace, we need love and compassion.

I think we pray, we make a clear-headed decision, and then we quit being so mean to each other. We've got to stop that.

Empathy may be the single most important quality that must be nurtured to give peace a fighting chance.

It is not violence that best overcomes hate -- nor vengeance that most certainly heals injury.

'Whale Talk' is a tough book, but it is also a compassionate book about telling the truth and about redemption. I didn't draw the tough parts out of thin air; they are stories handed to me by people in pain.