But for the first time, I had a religious identity. I had come home. And so I called myself a Zen Buddhist at the age of 18.

Since [narcissists] deep down, feel themselves to be faultless, it is inevitable that when they are in conflict with the world they will invariably perceive the conflict as the world's fault. Since they must deny their own badness, they must perceive others as bad. They project their own evil onto the world. They never think of themselves as evil, on the other hand, they consequently see much evil in others.

I believe it would be considerably healthier for us to dare to live without a reason for many things than with reasons that are simplistic.

Going into the unknown is invariably frightening, but we learn what is significantly new only through adventures.

Listening well is an exercise of attention and by necessity hard work. It is because they do not realize this or because they are not willing to do the work that most people do not listen well.

Problems are the cutting edge that distinguishes between success and failure. Problems ... create our courage and wisdom.

Let me simply state that it is wrong to regard any other human being, a priori, as an object, or an 'It.' This is so because each and every human being - you, every friend, every stranger, every foreigner - is precious.