Leo Buscaglia quotes:

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another's, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises.

A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world.

I have a very strong feeling that the opposite of love is not hate - it's apathy. It's not giving a damn.

Love is always open arms. If you close your arms about love you will find that you are left holding only yourself.

Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.

Only the weak are cruel. Gentleness can only be expected from the strong.

I believe that you control your destiny, that you can be what you want to be. You can also stop and say, 'No, I won't do it, I won't behave his way anymore. I'm lonely and I need people around me, maybe I have to change my methods of behaving,' and then you do it.

Love is life. And if you miss love, you miss life.

Love yourself-accept yourself-forgive yourself-and be good to yourself, because without you the rest of us are without a source of many wonderful things.

The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don't let them put you in that position.

If we wish to free ourselves from enslavement, we must choose freedom and the responsibility this entails.

I've always thought that people need to feel good about themselves and I see my role as offering support to them, to provide some light along the way.

A loving relationship is one in which the loved one is free to be himself -- to laugh with me, but never at me; to cry with me, but never because of me; to love life, to love himself, to love being loved. Such a relationship is based upon freedom and can never grow in a jealous heart

Don't hold to anger, hurt or pain. They steal your energy and keep you from love.

Ancient Egyptians believed that upon death they would be asked two questions and their answers would determine whether they could continue their journey in the afterlife. The first question was, 'Did you bring joy?' The second was, 'Did you find joy?

We are no longer puppets being manipulated by outside powerful forces: we become the powerful force ourselves.

Love withers with predictability; its very essence is surprise and amazement. To make love a prisoner of the mundane is to take its passion and lose it forever.

What love we've given, we'll have forever. What love we fail to give, will be lost for all eternity.

Love always creates, it never destroys. In this lies man's only promise.

Child development: Most damaging course of action is attempting to keep children from experience or protect them from pain, for it is this time that children learn that life is a magic thing, if "not a rose garden." The parent's role is primarily to stand by with a good supply of band-aids.

We seem to gain wisdom more readily through our failures than through our successes. We always think of failure as the antithesis of success, but it isn't. Success often lies just the other side of failure.

Labels are distancing phenomena. They push us away from each other.

One must never be satisfied with his ability to love. No matter where he is, it is always just a beginning.

To love is to risk not being loved in return.

Change is the end result of all true learning.

We all need each other.

Why do some people always see beautiful skies and grass and lovely flowers and incredible human beings, while others are hard-pressed to find anything or any place that is beautiful?

If I don't have wisdom, I can teach you only ignorance.

.though modern Marriage is a tremendous laboratory, its members are often utterly without preparation for the partnership function. How much agony and remorse and failure could have been avoided if there had been at least some rudimentary learning before they entered the partnership.And that statement is equally valid for all relationships.

It's not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of personkind, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely.

As long as you are free, you are free to select and choose alternatives, provided that you are willing to accept the responsibility for being free. And after you've tried your alternatives, and they don't work as you would wish, don't blame me. Blame your choice. Try another alternative.

The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow or love. Chained by his certitude, he is a slave; he has forfeited his freedom. Only the person who risks is truly free.

Change is the end result of all true learning. Change involves three things: First, a dissatisfaction with self - a felt void or need; second, a decision to change to fill the void or need; and third, a conscious dedication to the process of growth and change - the willful act of making the change, doing something.

What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life.

In a crazy world, it's only your insanity that will keep you sane

Death is a challenge. It tells us not to waste time... It tells us to tell each other right now that we love each other.

Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.

A wife says to her husband (or vice versa), "Do you love me?""Of course," he replies. "I've been married to you for twenty years, haven't I?"How satisfied would we be if we presented someone with a vintage wine and, upon asking his opinion of it, he replied, "I'm drinking it, aren't I?"Love still needs expression between those who share it.

Value yourself. The only people who appreciate a doormat are people with dirty shoes.

It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still differentiate between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing the vital connection between them.

To this day I cannot see a bright daffodil, a proud gladiola, or a smooth eggplant without thinking of Papa. Like his plants and trees, I grew up as a part of his garden.

Find the person who will love you because of your differences and not in spite of them and you have found a lover for life.

I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things... I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind.

The most painful thing to experience is not defeat but regret

"To be is to do," says the existentialist. "One only becomes real (human) at the point of action."

There are two big forces at work, external and internal. We have very little control over external forces such as tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, disasters, illness and pain. What really matters is the internal force. How do I respond to those disasters? Over that I have complete control.

God made mud, God made dirt, God made boys so girls could flirt.

Don't brood. Get on with living and loving. You don't have forever.

Love can never grow old. Looks may lose their brown and gold. Cheeks may fade and hollow grow. But the hearts that love will know, never winter's frost and chill, summer's warmth is in them still....

Don't smother each other. No one can grow in the shade.

There are many miracles in the world to be celebrated and, for me, garlic is the most deserving.

Never idealize others. They will never live up to your expectations. Don't over-analyze your relationships. Stop playing games. A growing relationship can only be nurtured by genuineness.

A growing relationship can only be nurtured by genuineness.

There are scores of people waiting for someone just like us to come along; people who will appreciate our compassion, our encouragement, who will need our unique talents. Someone who will live a happier life merely because we took the time to share what we had to give.

Happiness and love are just a choice away.

The hardest battle you are ever going to have to fight is the battle to be just you.

...the opposite of love is not hate - it's apathy. It's not giving a damn. If somebody hates me, they must "feel" something ... or they couldn't possibly hate. Therefore, there's some way in which I can get to them.

Risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

Happiness comes only when we push our brains and hearts to the farthest reaches of which we are capable. The purpose of life is to matter-to count, to stand for something, to have it make so difference that we lived at all.

Only when we give joyfully, without hesitation or thought of gain, can we truly know what love means.

Let go. Why do you cling to pain? There is nothing you can do about the wrongs of yesterday. It is not yours to judge. Why hold on to the very thing which keeps you from hope and love?

Everybody needs a hug. It changes your metabolism.

A total immersion in life offers the best classroom for learning to love.

We need others. We need others to love and we need to be loved by them. There is no doubt that without it, we too, like the infant left alone, would cease to grow, cease to develop, choose madness and even death.

I was one of those fortunate individuals who grew up in a large, passionate, demonstrative Italian family where we were taught to love as naturally as we breathed and ate giant bowls of pasta!

Those who think they know it all have no way of finding out they don't..

Each man lives love in his limited fashion and does not seem to relate the resultant confusion and loneliness to his lack of knowledge about love.

We need to learn to let go as easily as we grasp and we will find our hands full and our minds empty.

Every day we are offered new means for learning and growing in love.

A life without love, no matter how many other things we have, is an empty, meaningless one.

Life lived for tomorrow will always be just a day away from being realized.

If one wishes to know love, one must live love, in action.

If one wishes to know love, one must live love, in action. Thoughts, readings and discourse on love are of value only as they present questions to be acted upon.

To live in love is life's greatest challenge. It requires more sublety, flexibility, sensitivity, understanding, acceptance, tolerance, knowledge and strength than any other human endeavor.

Relish love in your old age! Aged love is like aged wine; it becomes more satisfying, more refreshing, more valuable, more appreciated and more intoxicating!

To love oneself is to struggle to rediscover and maintain your uniqueness

Forgive others, forgive yourself, forgive yourself for not being perfect, and accept responsibility for your own life.

I know for certain that we never lose the people we love, even to death. They continue to participate in every act, thought and decision we make. Their love leaves an indelible imprint in our memories. We find comfort in knowing that our lives have been enriched by having shared their love.

It's amazing - you may not realize it, but so much of what you are not is because you are literally standing in your own way of becoming. And what I'm pleading with you about is, get the hell out of your own way.

Don't spend your precious time asking "Why isn't the world a better place?" It will only be time wasted. The question to ask is "How can I make it better?" To that there is an answer.

Love always creates, it never destroys. In this lie's man's only promise.

There comes a time in some relationships when no matter how sincere the attempt to reconcile the differences or how strong the wish to recreate a part of the past once shared, the struggle becomes so painful that nothing else is felt and the world and all its beauty only add to the discomfort by providing cruel contrast.

Tact is rubbing out another's mistake instead of rubbing it in.

...the opposite of love is not hate -- it's apathy. It's not giving a damn. If somebody hates me, they must "feel" something ... or they couldn't possibly hate. Therefore, there's some way in which I can get to them.

Definition of a relationship - an enduring, mutually-agreed upon connection or union, which fulfills certain needs of the individuals involved and the society in which they live.

....though modern Marriage is a tremendous laboratory, its members are often utterly without preparation for the partnership function. How much agony and remorse and failure could have been avoided if there had been at least some rudimentary learning before they entered the partnership....And that statement is equally valid for all relationships.

Don't walk in my head with your dirty feet.

When man has love he is no longer at the mercy of forces greater than himself, for he, himself, becomes the powerful force

Live,love and learn

You are the only you ... You are the best you. You will always be the second best anyone else.

Life is a paradise for those who love many things with a passion.

Love is not a thing, it is not lost when given. You can offer your love completely to hundreds of people and still retain the same love you had originally.

You have choice. You can select joy over despair. You can select happiness over tears. You can select action over apathy. You can select growth over stagnation. You can select you. And you can select life. And it's time that people tell you you're not at the mercy of forces greater than yourself. You are, indeed, the greatest force for you.

Love is trusting, accepting, and believing, without guarantee. Love is patient and waits, but it's an active waiting, not a passive one. For it is continually offering itself in a mutual revealing, a mutual sharing. Love is spontaneous and craves expression through joy, through beauty, through truth, even through tears.

A wonderful realization will be the day you realize that you are unique in all the world. The world is an incredible unfulfilled tapestry, and only you can fulfill that tiny space that is yours.

Life is uncharted territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time.

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch...

The most unfortunate thing that happens to a person who fears failure is that he limits himself by becoming afraid to try anything new.

Love is spontaneous and craves expression through joy, through beauty, through truth, even through tears. Love lives the moment; it's neither lost in yesteryear nor does it crave for tomorrow. Love is NOW!

We all need to be recognized for what we're doing, for our work. Every once in a while we need someone to come up to us and say, 'You're beautiful. That was well done. That's nice.'

Love is always bestowed as a gift - freely, willingly and without expectation. We don't love to be loved; we love to love.

Never idealize others. They will never live up to your expectations.

A life lived in love will never be dull.

A life of love is one of continualgrowth, where the doors and windows of experience are always open to thewonder and magic that life offers. To love is to risk living fully.

A life without passion is not living, it's merely existing

A loving relationship is a wanting to celebrate, communicate, and know another's heart and soul.

A wonderful realization will be the day you realize that you are unique in all the world. There is nothing that is an accident. You are a special combination for a purpose -- and don't let them tell you otherwise, even if they tell you that purpose is an illusion. (Live an illusion if you have to). You are that combination so that you can do what is essential for you to do. Don't ever believe that you have nothing to contribute. The world is an incredibly unfulfilled tapestry. And only you can fulfill that tiny space that is yours.

After all, the wrong is done. It is past and cannot be changed. We have only the present and the future upon which to move forward.

As soon as the love relationship does not lead me to me, as soon as I in a love relationship do not lead another person to himself, this love, even if it seems to be the most secure and ecstatic attachment I have ever experienced, is not true love. For real love is dedicated to continual becoming.

Assume that people are good until you actually and specifically learn differently. And even then, know that they have potential for change and that you can help them out.

Based on a string of bad breakups, I was forced to examine my choice of partners. Surely, that must have abolished me from any wrongdoing.

Because you are human, you do have magic. Get in touch with it. When you feel the insanity rising, don't push it down. Let it come out. Just once-and then let me know what happens!

But man has other needs as well: emotional needs. These, too, are few, but every bit as important as his physical requirements, yet not so simple. If they aren't met, they can be as devastating as physical hunger, as uncomfortable as a lack of shelter, as incapacitating as thirst. The frustration, isolation and anxiety brought about by unmet emotional needs can, like physical privation, produce death or a degree of living death - neurosis and psychosis.

Catch the beauty of the moment!

Celebrate your humanness, celebrate your craziness, celebrate your inadequacies, celebrate your loneliness ... but celebrate YOU!

Change. It has the power to uplift, to heal, to stimulate, surprise, open new doors, bring fresh experience and create excitement in life. Certainly it is worth the risk.

Choose the way of life. Choose the way of love. Choose the way of caring. Choose the way of goodness. It's up to you. It's your choice.

Compassion is an act of tolerance where kindness and forgiveness reign. When we make the compassionate choice, we enhance the dignity of each individual, which is the very essence of loving them.

Don't ever believe that you are going to be peaceful-life is not like that. When you are changing all the time, you've got to continue to keep adjusting to change, which means that you are going to be constantly facing new obstacles. That's the joy of living. And once you are involved in the process of becoming, there is no stopping. You're doomed! You're gone! But what a fantastic journey! Every day is new. Every flower is new. Every face is new. Everything in the world is new, every morning of your life. Stop seeing it as a drag!