-- H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard:
Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey
Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Without an acute awareness of our personal suffering and a deep, heartfelt
+determination to be completely rid of both this suffering and its causes,
+there is no way to begin the spiritual quest authentically. For just as
+Prince Siddhartha's sudden and unexpected visions of old age, sickness and
+death shocked him out of mistaking the world to be a pleasure palace, so too
+must all spiritual seekers confront the unsatisfactory nature of their lives
+so directly that they become thoroughly disenchanted with the ordinary human
+condition.
+ If we do not take a long, hard look at the uncomfortable truths of our
+impermanent existence, we can easily waste the time between now and our
+inevitable death in essentially worthless pursuits, never taking advantage of
+this precious opportunity to do something truly meaningful with our life.
+Like the foolish prisoner who becomes so accustomed to the confines of his
+cell that he turns a blind eye to all chances of escape, we shall be
+condemning ourselves to spiritual stagnation and the endlessly recurring
+miseries of cyclic existence.
+ Yet it is not enough merely to become discontent with our present condition;
+everyone experiences discontent at one time or another but very few do
+anything of real significance about it. In fact, the usual ways of dealing
+with problems and disappointment--blaming them on someone else or drowning
+them in forgetfulness--only bind us tighter to the wheel of suffering. What
+we must do is recognize that the true causes of all our misery lie rooted in
+our own ignorant misconceptions and that these can only be eradicated through
+the development of a clear, penetrating insight into the nature of reality.
+Only through the continued cultivation of such penetrating wisdom will it
+eventually be possible to attain liberation from all states of existence
+conditioned by ignorance and be free of suffering.(p.45)
+ -- "Images of Enlightenment: Tibetan Art in Practice", by Jonathan Landaw
+ and Andy Weber, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ We must distinguish between pride and self-confidence. Self-confidence is
+necessary. It is what enables us, in certain situations, not to lose courage
+and to think with some justification, 'I am capable of succeeding.' Self-
+confidence is quite different from excessive self-assurance based on a false
+appreciation of our capacities or circumstances.
+ If you feel able to accomplish a task that other people cannot manage, then
+you cannot be called proud as long as your assessment is well founded. It is
+as if someone tall came across a group of short people who wanted to get
+something too high for them to reach, and said to them, 'Don't exert
+yourselves, I can do it.' This would simply mean that he was more qualified
+than the others to carry out a particular task, but not that he is superior to
+them or that he wants to crush them.(p.259)
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "365 Dalai Lama: Daily Advice from the
+ Heart", edited by Matthieu Ricard, translated by Christian Bruyat,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
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