The water in a vessel is sparkling; the water in the sea is dark. The small truth has words which are clear; the great truth has great silence.

If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law.

Communists have always played an active role in the fight by colonial countries for their freedom, because the short-term objects of Communism would always correspond with the long-term objects of freedom movements.

The best and noblest gifts of humanity cannot be the monopoly of a particular race or country; its scope may not be limited nor may it be regarded as the miser's hoard buried underground.

As long as I am alive, I am fully committed to amity between Tibetans and Chinese. Otherwise there is no use. 

Without surprises life could be boring.

If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.

We win justice quickest by rendering justice to the other party.

Real education enhances the dignity of a human being and increases his or her self-respect. If only the real sense of education could be realized by each individual and carried forward in every field of human activity, the world will be so much a better place to live in.

The will is not free - it is a phenomenon bound by cause and effect - but there is something behind the will which is free.

Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.

One thing I want to make clear, as far as my own rebirth is concerned, the final authority is myself and no one else, and obviously not China's Communists.