Before I went to jail, I was active in politics as a member of South Africa's leading organizations - and I was generally busy from 7 A.M. until midnight. I never had time to sit and think.

I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly. 

Great teachers emanate out of knowledge, passion and compassion.

The Jacques Cousteau shows actually got me very excited about the fact that there's an alien world here on Earth.

Prayer is a confession of one's own unworthiness and weakness.

Important principles may, and must, be inflexible.

Your idol is shattered in the dust to prove that God's dust is greater than your idol.

Even when a person has all of life's comforts - good food, good shelter, a companion - he or she can still become unhappy when encountering a tragic situation.

It is best to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken.

I felt we must separate political responsibility. The Dalai Lama should not carry that burden. So that is my selfish reason - to protect the old Dalai Lama tradition. It is safer without political involvement.

Men are swayed more by fear than by reverence.

The purpose of our lives is to be happy.