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According to Buddhism, individuals are masters of their own destiny. And all living beings are believed to possess the nature of the Primordial Buddha Samantabhadra, the potential or seed of enlightenment, within them. So our future is in our own hands. What greater free will do we need?

— Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

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Spirituality

More quotes by Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

I am convinced that everyone can develop a good heart and a sense of universal responsibility with or without religion.

Nobel acceptance speech (1989)

I am a simple Buddhist monk — no more, no less.

Nobel Prize Winners (1991)

Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn't anyone who doesn't appreciate kindness and compassion.

The Dalai Lama: A Policy of Kindness (1990)

Time is always moving on; nothing can stop it. We can’t change the past, but we can shape the future. The more compassionate you are, the more you will find inner peace.

The Great Vehicle path requires the vast motivation of a Bodhisattva, who, not seeking just his or her welfare, takes on the burden of bringing about the welfare of all sentient beings.

The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace (1988)

All Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama quotes →

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Reason is Life's sole arbiter, the magic Laby'rinth's single clue:
Worlds lie above, beyond its ken; what crosses it can ne'er be true.

Richard Francis Burton The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî (1870)

In imitating the exemplary acts of a god or of a mythic hero, or simply by recounting their adventures, the man of an archaic society detaches himself from profane time and magically re-enters the Great Time, the sacred time.

Mircea Eliade Myths, Dreams and Mysteries (1967)

Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.

Thomas Jefferson

The superior man loves his soul; the inferior man loves his property.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.