Causing harm is never just a one-way street.

— Sharon Salzberg

Clinging to our ideas of perfection isolates us from life and is a barrier.

— Sharon Salzberg

Compassion grows in us when we know how the energy of love is available all around us.

— Sharon Salzberg

Compassion has more to do with the attitude we bring to our encounters with other people than with any quantifiable metric of giving.

— Sharon Salzberg

Compassion is born out of loving kindness. It is born of knowing our oneness, not just thinking about it or wishing it were so. It is born out of the wisdom of seeing things exactly as they are.

— Sharon Salzberg

Concepts such as loving kindness should never be used as weapons against our real feelings.

— Sharon Salzberg

Consider how the sky is unharmed by the clouds that pass through it, whether they are light and fluffy-looking or dark and formidable. A mountain is not moved by the winds blowing over it, whether gentle or fierce. The ocean is not destroyed by the waves moving on its surface, whether high or low. In just that way, no matter what we experience, some aspect of ourselves remains unharmed. This is the innate happiness of awareness.

— Sharon Salzberg

Contemplating the goodness within ourselves is a classical meditation, done to bring light, joy, and rapture to the mind. In contemporary times this practice might be considered rather embarrassing, because so often the emphasis is on all the unfortunate things we have done, all the disturbing mistakes we have made. Yet this classical reflection is not a way of increasing conceit. It is rather a commitment to our own happiness, seeing our happiness as the basis for intimacy with all life. It fills us with joy and love for ourselves and a great deal of self-respect. Significantly, when we do Etta practice, we begin by directing Etta toward ourselves. This is the essential foundation for being able to offer genuine love to others

— Sharon Salzberg

Cultivating loving kindness for ourselves is the foundation of real love for our friends and family, for new people we encounter in our daily lives, for all beings and for life itself.

— Sharon Salzberg

Cultivation of positive emotions, including self-love and self-respect, strengthens our inner resources and opens us to a broader range of thoughts and actions.

— Sharon Salzberg