Without suffering, there's no happiness. So we shouldn't discriminate against the mud. We have to learn how to embrace and cradle our own suffering and the suffering of the world, with a lot of tenderness.

Thich Nhat Hanh
About This Quote

This quote is an allegory about the rising of the Buddha after he attained enlightenment. The Buddha saw that suffering was all around him, and he used his experience to guide people through their own suffering. He said, "Without suffering there can be no happiness." Or as it is often put, "Happiness comes from the inside out." We learn how to deal with our own suffering—and then we can help others deal with theirs.

Source: No Mud, No Lotus: The Art Of Transforming Suffering

Some Similar Quotes
  1. If pain must come, may it come quickly. Because I have a life to live, and I need to live it in the best way possible. If he has to make a choice, may he make it now. Then I will either wait for him... - Paulo Coelho
  2. What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love. - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  3. The whole image is that eternal suffering awaits anyone who questions God's infinite love. That's the message we're brought up with, isn't it? Believe or die! Thank you, forgiving Lord, for all those options. - Bill Hicks
  4. Perhaps watching someone you love suffer can teach you even more than suffering yourself can. - Dodie Smith
  5. It is that we are never so defenseless against suffering as when we love, never no helplessly unhappy as when we have lost our loved object of its love. - Sigmund Freud
More Quotes By Thich Nhat Hanh
  1. Daily dance uplift the soul to spiritual realms.
  2. A revived spirit, a renewed soul.
  3. God is our great Master.
  4. Life is a dancing dream.
  5. When the spirit is happy, the soul is full of smiles.
Related Topics