Top 54 Pema Chödrön Quotes on Hope (LOVE)

Top 10 Most Famous Pema Chödrön Quotes (BEST)

Gloriousness and wretchedness need each other. One inspires us, the other softens us. They go together.

You are the sky. Everything else – it’s just the weather.

If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.

We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. — We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the **truth** is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart.

To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.

To live fully is to be always in no-man’s land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh.

This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it’s with us wherever we are. — This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, **lucky** for us, it’s with us wherever we are.

Life is like that. We don't know anything. We call something bad; we call it good. But really we just don't know. — Life is like that. We don’t know anything. We call something bad; we call it good. But really we just don’t know.

The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy. — The **healing** comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.

We don't set out to save the world; we set out to wonder how other people are doing and to reflect on how our actions affect other people's hearts. — We don’t set out to save the world; we set out to wonder how other people are doing and to reflect on how our **actions** affect other people’s hearts.

20 Inspirational Pema Chödrön Quotes on Fear and Uncertainties (SUFFERING)

“If someone comes along and shoots an arrow into your heart, it’s fruitless to stand there and yell at the person. It would be much better to turn your attention to the fact that there’s an arrow in your heart.”
Pema Chödrön

Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth. — **Fear** is a natural reaction to moving closer to the **truth**.

We cannot be in the present moment and run our story lines at the same time!

When there's a big disappointment, we don't know if that's the end of the story. It may just be the beginning of a great adventure. — When there’s a big **disappointment**, we don’t know if that’s the end of the story. It may just be the beginning of a great **adventure**.

The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves.

Rather than letting our negativity get the better of us, we could acknowledge that right now we feel like a piece of shit and not squeamish about taking a good look.

Life is glorious, but life is also wretched. It is both.

A further sign of health is that we don't become undone by fear and trembling, but we take it as a message that it's time to stop struggling and look directly at what's threatening us. — A further sign of **health** is that we don’t become undone by fear and trembling, but we take it as a message that it’s time to stop struggling and look directly at what’s threatening us.

Knowing pain is a very important ingredient of being there for another person.

When you are feeling a lot of grief, you can look right into somebody's eyes because you feel you haven't got anything to lose -- you're just there. — When you are feeling a lot of grief, you can look right into somebody’s eyes because you feel you haven’t got anything to lose — you’re just there.

Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible in us be found.

The way to dissolve our resistance to life is to meet it face to face.

We habitually erect a barrier called blame that keeps us from communicating genuinely with others, and we fortify it with our concepts of who's right and who's wrong. — We habitually erect a barrier called blame that keeps us from communicating genuinely with others, and we fortify it with our concepts of who’s right and who’s wrong.

Most of us do not take these situations as teachings. We automatically hate them. We run like crazy.

It was all about letting go of everything.

Without giving up hope — that there’s somewhere better to be, that there’s someone better to be—we will never relax with where we are or who we are. — Without giving up **hope** — that there’s somewhere better to be, that there’s someone better to be—we will never relax with where we are or who we are.

Hope and fear come from feeling that we lack something they come from a sense of poverty. We can’t simply relax with ourselves. — **Hope** and **fear** come from feeling that we lack something: they come from a sense of poverty. We can’t simply relax with ourselves.

Do I prefer to grow up and relate to life directly, or do I choose to live and die in fear — Do I prefer to grow up and relate to life directly, or do I choose to live and die in **fear**?

We can make ourselves miserable or we can make ourselves strong. The amount of effort is the same.

“Death and hopelessness provide proper motivation — proper motivation for living an insightful, compassionate life. But most of the time, warding off death is our biggest motivation.”
Pema Chödrön

24 Pema Chödrön Quotes on Love and Compassion (MEDITATON)

“To the degree that we have compassion for ourselves, we will also have compassion for others. Having compassion starts and ends with having compassion for all those unwanted parts of ourselves, all those imperfections that we don’t even want to look at.”
Pema Chödrön

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals. — **Compassion** is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals.

Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others.

Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity. — **Compassion** becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.

The idea of karma is that you continually get the teachings that you need to open your heart. — The idea of **karma** is that you continually get the teachings that you need to open your heart.

“Now is the only time. How we relate to it creates the future. In other words, if we’re going to be more cheerful in the future, it’s because of our aspiration and exertion to be cheerful in the present.”
Pema Chödrön

What we do accumulates; the future is the result of what we do right now.

We don’t sit in meditation to become good meditators. We sit in meditation so that we’ll be more awake in our lives. — We don’t sit in **meditation** to become good meditators. We sit in meditation so that we’ll be more awake in our lives.

In practicing meditation, we’re not trying to live up to some kind of ideal—quite the opposite. We’re just being with our experience, whatever it is. — In practicing **meditation**, we’re not trying to live up to some kind of ideal—quite the opposite. We’re just being with our experience, whatever it is.

How sad it is that we become so expert at causing harm to ourselves and others. The trick then is to practice gentleness and letting go.

If we find ourselves unworkable and give up on ourselves, then we’ll find others unworkable and give up on them. What we hate in ourselves, we’ll hate in others.

We think that by protecting ourselves from suffering we are being kind to ourselves. The truth is, we only become more fearful, more hardened, and more alienated.

Times are difficult globally; awakening is no longer a luxury or an ideal. It’s becoming critical. — Times are difficult globally; awakening is no longer a **luxury** or an ideal. It’s becoming critical.

Nothing will ever change through aggression.

We don’t need to add more depression, more discouragement, or more anger to what’s already here.

It’s never too late or too early to practice loving-kindness. — It’s never too late or too early to practice loving-**kindness**.

When we become more insightful and compassionate about how we ourselves get hooked, we spontaneously feel more tenderness for the human race. — When we become more insightful and **compassionate** about how we ourselves get hooked, we spontaneously feel more tenderness for the human race.

All the time our warmth and brilliance are right here. This is who we really are. We are one blink of an eye away from being fully awake.

Letting there be room for not knowing is the most important thing of all.

When we want to complain about the rain, we could feel its wetness instead.

Everything that ends is also the beginning of something new. Pain is not a punishment, pleasure is not a reward.

Being able to appreciate, being able to look closely, being able to open our minds—this is the core of maitri [loving-kindness]. — Being able to **appreciate**, being able to look closely, being able to open our minds—this is the core of maitri [loving-kindness].

“Somehow, in the process of trying to deny that things are always changing, we lose our sense of the sacredness of life. We tend to forget that we are part of the natural scheme of things.”
Pema Chödrön

Pema Chödrön Short Biography

Born on 14 July 1936 in New York, New York, United States, Pema Chödrön (born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown) is a Tibetan Buddhist, author, and ordained nun.

Chödrön was a student at Sarah Lawrence College, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in English literature. Chödrön also obtained her master’s in education at the University of California.

In 1974, Chödrön became a novice Buddhist nun in London. Seven years later, she became the first American to be a fully ordained nun in the Vajrayana tradition.

In 1984, Chödrön moved to Nova Scotia and became the first director of Gampo Abbey in 1986. She released her first book entitled The Wisdom of No Escape in 1991.

Three years later, she released her second book entitled Start Where You Are. Chödrön was known for teaching the “Yarne” retreat at Gampo Abbey.

In 2016, she was awarded the Global Bhikkhuni Award, and she has also established the Pema Chödrön Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps support her teachings.

Chödrön retired in 2020 at the age of 84.

Further Reading:

Tibetan Buddhist Nun and Teacher Pema Chödrön on Transformation Through Difficult Times – Brainpickings
Oprah Talks to Pema Chödrön – Oprah.com
Pema Chödrön: The Woman Who Convinced Me That Everything Bad Is Actually Good – The Cut

Here are the best Pema Chödrön quotes so you can slow down, appreciate and cherish every moment of your life.

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**When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times**

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Pema Chödrön Short Biography

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