The Chinese government wants me to say that for many centuries Tibet has been part of China. Even if I make that statement, many people would just laugh. And my statement will not change past history. History is history.

Wherever I go meeting the public... spreading a message of human values, spreading a message of harmony, is the most important thing.

It is our duty to pay for our liberty with our own blood. The freedom that we shall win through our sacrifice and exertion, we shall be able to preserve with your own strength.

Success achieved throught manipulation is short-lived.

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

The things that we use today are products of our cultural heritage and economic development.

I am never going to have anything more to do with politics or politicians. When this war is over I shall confine myself entirely to writing and painting. 

He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.

On the first day of school, my teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave each of us an English name and said that from thenceforth that was the name we would answer to in school. This was the custom among Africans in those days and was undoubtedly due to the British bias of our education.

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. 

Non-violence, which is the quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain.

As a human being, anger is a part of our mind. Irritation also part of our mind. But you can do - anger come, go. Never keep in your sort of - your inner world, then create a lot of suspicion, a lot of distrust, a lot of negative things, more worry.