Matthieu Ricard Quotes

Ever since then I have known that if all the values in this world are more or less questionable, the most important thing in life is kindness.

All too rarely do I hear people asking just what it is that we've done to make so many children's hearts so hard, or what collectively we might do to right their moral compass - what values we must live by.

He can kill anything for need but he could not even hurt a feeling for pleasure.

Being in humaneness is good. If we select other goodness and thus are far apart from humaneness, how can we be the wise?

You do not like to suffer yourself. How can you inflict suffering on others?

Good character consists of recognizing the selfishness that inheres in each of us and trying to balance it against the altruism to which we should all aspire. It is a difficult balance to strike, but no definition of goodness can be complete without it.

If people use common sense and their own guiding moral compass, I think they'll generally stay out of trouble.

Intelligence alone does not get us where we need to go or even necessarily where we want to go. For that, the human creature must exercise harder-won capacities of wisdom, and wise action.

The sturdiest pillars of human morality are compassion and a sense of justice.

Compassion is the key to living outside the confines of your lower self.

More by example than by word, my father taught me logical reasoning, compassion, love of others, honesty, and discipline applied with understanding.

In the governing of souls, we need a cup of science, a barrel of wisdom, and a sea of patience.

I believe that people generally want to be what we call good. They want to cooperate with people. They don't want to steal; they don't want to cheat. But everybody has a price. Everybody has an incentive.

In contrast to the path of selfishness, there is no room for road rage on the straight and narrow way.

I know the books that I need to help me to be wiser than my years and be kinder and more compassionate and more patient than I really am.

Argument cannot be answered with insults. Kindness is strength; anger blows out the lamp of the mind.

Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy-they're given after all. Choices can be hard.

One should never do wrong in return, nor mistreat any man, no matter how one has been mistreated by him.

The man who foolishly does me wrong, I will return to him the protection of my most ungrudging love; and the more evil comes from him, the more good shall go from me.

Kindness is not something that we put on for certain occasions, like a piece of jewelry; rather, it is an attribute of God's that He desires to reproduce in us.

I always wondered if those WWJD bracelets worked, so I bought one the other day. Well, a few minutes later, I was on a plane and this little kid was kicking my seat repeatedly, while his sister sang along with her walkman and their mother just sat there. I almost turned around and went off, and then I caught sight of my bracelet. What would Jesus do? So I lit them on fire and sent them all to Hell.

There's only one rule that I know of, babies—God damn it, you've got to be kind.

I think kindness is a sort of gateway virtue - having that simple aspiration can get you into deep water very quickly - in a good way.

The challenge today is to convince people of the value of truth, honesty, compassion and a concern for others.

In the collective psyche it is being understood... that we can cultivate wisdom and compassion.