As meditation deepens, compulsions, cravings and fits of emotion begin to lose their power to dictate our behavior. We see clearly that choices are possible; we can say yes or we can say no. It is profoundly liberating.

Nothing really worth having comes quickly and easily. If it did, I doubt that we would ever grow.

Do not feed your ego and your problems with your attention. ...Slowly, surely, the ego will lose weight, until one fine day it will be nothing but a thin ghost of its former self. You will be able to see right through it, to the divine presence that shines in each of us.

As we get deeper, we move closer and closer to other people; we feel closer to life as a whole.

It is not action or effort that we must surrender; it is self-will, and this is terribly difficult. You must do your best constantly, yet never allow yourself to become involved in whether things work out the way you want.

The spiritual life is a call to action. But it is a call to ... action without any selfish attachment to the results.

Everything beautiful has to be worked for.