A smile can relax hundreds of muscles in your face, and relax your nervous system. A smile makes you master of yourself. - Thích Nhất Hạnh

Our appointment with life is in the present moment. If we do not have peace and joy right now when will we have peace and joy — tomorrow, or after tomorrow? What is presenting us from being happy right now?

The teachings of the Buddha could be summarized in four short sentences. ... [The Buddha] said ...
The bad things, don't do them.
The good things, try to do them.
Try to purify, subdue your own mind.
That is the teaching of all buddhas.

When we get angry, we suffer. If you really understand that, you also will be able to understand that when the other person is angry, it means that she is suffering. When someone insults you or behaves violently towards you, you have to be intelligent enough to see that the person suffers from his own violence and anger. But we tend to forget. We think that we are the only one that suffers, and the other person is our oppressor. This is enough to make anger arise, and to strengthen our desire to punish. We want to punish the other person because we suffer. Then, we have anger in us; we have violence in us, just as they do. When we see that our suffering and anger are no different from their suffering and anger, we will behave more compassionately. So understanding the other is understanding yourself, and understanding yourself is understanding the other person. Everything must begin with you.