Daisaku Ikeda Quotes

#1. The course of our lives is determined by how we react
what we decide and what we do
at the darkest of times. The nature of that response determines a person's true worth and greatness. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#2. Just as a diamond can only be polished by another diamond, it is only through genuine, all-out engagement with others that people can polish their character, and help each other to reach greater heights. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#3. Instead of engaging in cutthroat competition, we should strive to create value. In economic terms, this means a transition from a consumer economy - the mad rush for ownership and consumption - to a constructive economy where all human beings can participate in the act of creating lasting worth. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#4. No matter how healthy, intelligent or affluent we may be, if our minds are weak, then our happiness will also be frail and brittle. Our minds of faith, moreover, enable us to bring out the full potential in all things and situations, so it is crucial that we strive to forge our minds of faith. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#5. People who are rooted in the here and now, who are not defeated by their limitations, who don't compare themselves to others, who confidently advance along their chosen path-such people are happy, such people are truly great. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#6. Hope transforms pessimism into optimism. Hope is invincible. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#7. Victory lies in not getting defeated. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#8. When we change, the world changes. The key to all change is in our inner transformation- a change of our hearts and minds. This is human revolution. We all have the power to change. When we realize this truth, we can bring forth that power anywhere, anytime, and in any situation. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#9. People can only live fully by helping others to live. When you give life to friends you truly live. Cultures can only realize their further richness by honoring other traditions. And only by respecting natural life can humanity continue to exist. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#10. The role of humankind is to use the cultural and social environment it has created to devise new global values ... Human relations with nature are intimately bound up in interpersonal relations and with the relation of the self and its inner life. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#11. A truley heroic way of life lies in squarely confronting and courageously overcoming the pounding vicissitudes that life always throws in our paths - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#12. Having lived through the transition from totalitarianism, I am acutely mindful of the need to never take for granted the basic freedoms of thought, expression and belief that democracy brings. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#13. Rather than becoming discouraged, know that encountering a wall is proof of the progress that you have made so far. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#14. Humanity has experienced many revolutionary changes over the course of history: revolutions in agriculture, in science, industrial production, as well as numerous political revolutions. But these have all been limited to the external aspects of our individual and collective lives. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#15. Leave behind the passive dreaming of a rose-tinted future. The energy of happiness exists in living today with roots sunk firmly in reality's soil. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#16. One thing is certain: That is that the power of belief, the power of thought, will move reality in the direction of what we believe and conceive of it. If you really believe you can do something, you can. That is a fact. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#17. I firmly believe that the mission of religion in the 21st century must be to contribute concretely to the peaceful coexistence of humankind. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#18. Human rights will be a powerful force for the transformation of reality when they are not simply understood as externally defined norms of behavior but are lived as the spontaneous manifestation of internalized values. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#19. No matter how complex global problems may seem, it is we ourselves who have given rise to them. They cannot be beyond our power to resolve - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#20. The person who lives life fully, glowing with life's energy, is the person who lives a successful life. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#21. Lack of wisdom does not make a fool. A fool, in the truest sense, is the man who regards his own misfortunes or those of others as a source of doubt or criticism of the infinite mercy of the Gohonzon.-Josei Toda - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#22. In other words, that works of history are mere collections of facts. It is fiction alone that can show us the true nature of human beings - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#23. Envying another's beauty will diminish your own. But when you praise beauty in others your own beauty deepens. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#24. Women are, in my view, natural peacemakers. As givers and nurturers of life, through their focus on human relationships and their engagement with the demanding work of raising children and protecting family life, they develop a deep sense of empathy that cuts through to underlying human realities. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#25. Strength is Happiness. Strength is itself victory. In weakness and cowardice there is no happiness. When you wage a struggle, you might win or you might lose. But regardless of the short-term outcome, the very fact of your continuing to struggle is proof of your victory as a human being. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#26. I cannot say this too strongly: Do not compare yourselves to others. Be true to who you are, and continue to learn with all your might. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#27. So long as nuclear weapons continue to exist, so will the temptation to threaten others with overwhelming military force. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#28. A commitment to human rights cannot be fostered simply through the transmission of knowledge. Action and experience play a crucial role in the learning process. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#29. The place where you are now is vital. The path toward victory opens from where you stand. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#30. Those who give up dreams, do injury to their own hearts and cannot possibly enjoy a profound sense of fulfillment in the end. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#31. It is by fighting and triumphing over the enemies of the Buddha that we ourselves become Buddhas. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#32. Health is not simply the absence of illness. Real health is the will to overcome every form of adversity and use even the worst of circumstances as a springboard for new growth and development. Simply put, the essence of health is the constant renewal and rejuvenation of life. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#33. Extreme poverty threatens people's right to life itself and makes impossible the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms essential to a humane way of life. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#34. The heart is what is important. There is nothing more vulnerable, nothing more corruptible than the human mind; nor is there anything as powerful, steadfast and ennobling. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#35. The reactions of the human heart are not mechanical and predictable but infinitely subtle and delicate. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#36. It's important to resolve to yourself, 'I will absolutely win!' Then this firm commitment will serve as the wellspring of great wisdom and courage that surges forth from within. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#37. The gratification of desire is not happiness. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#38. Life can unfold unlimitedly as long as we have a heart of appreciation and an undefeated mind. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#39. Salute to the Smiling Faces of the 21st Century. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#40. To communicate the truths of history is an act of hope for the future. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#41. Keep moving forward, even one or two steps, in your own way. Those who live out their lives to the fullest, unperturbed by the noisy clamor around them, are the true winners. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#42. A healthy vision of the future is not possible without an accurate knowledge of the past. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#43. Faced with stress, too many people feel they have nowhere to turn to, that they don't have access to the kind of friendships or communities where they can easily and openly share their problems and worries. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#44. When human beings live together, conflict is inevitable. War is not. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#45. Have the depth of faith to regard everything as a source for creating happiness and value. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#46. A person, who no matter how desperate the situation, gives others hope, is a true leader. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#47. The eyes of a poet discover in each person a unique and irreplaceable humanity. While arrogant intellect seeks to control and manipulate the world, the poetic spirit bows with reverence before its mysteries. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#48. Every war, when viewed from the undistorted perspective of life's sanctity, is a "civil war" waged by humanity against itself. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#49. A Great Work of Art is one that truly moves and inspires you. You yourself must be moved. Don't look at art with others' eyes. Don't listen to music with others' ears. You must react to art with your own feelings, your own heart and mind. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#50. When we have a genuine sense that,
no matter how difficult our present
circumstances, we are not alone-that
we are vitally connected with others
and with the world-we will, without
fail, rise up to the challenge of living
again. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#51. I have for some time urged that a nuclear abolition summit to mark the effective end of the nuclear era be convened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the 70th anniversary of the bombings of those cities, with the participation of national leaders and representatives of global civil society. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#52. A great revolution in just one single individual will help achieve a change in the destiny of a society and, further, will enable a change in the destiny of humankind. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#53. When one takes action for others, one's own suffering is transformed into the energy that can keep one moving forward; a light of hope illuminating a new tomorrow for oneself and others is kindled. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#54. The power of art can break the shackles that bind and divide human beings. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#55. Faith is to fear nothing, to stand unswayed, the power to surmount any obstacle. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#56. Before comparing yourself with others, win the battle with yourself. Strive to be better today than yesterday, and better tomorrow than today. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#57. Our hopes, desires and ambitions are powerful forces existing within us for the shaping of the future. They are the generating forces that create the future. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#58. Leadership that exploits and sacrifices young people on the altar of its goals is nothing more than raw, demonic power. Genuine leadership is found in ceaseless efforts to foster young people, to pave the way forward for them. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#59. In life when we feel we have reached a limit, that is when the true battle begins. Just when you despair and think it is impossible to go any further, will you become apathetic, or will you say it's not over and stand up with an unyielding spirit? The battle is decided by this single determination. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#60. Ultimately, all human activities have as their goal the realization of happiness. Why, then, have we ended up producing the opposite result? Could the underlying cause be our failure to correctly understand the true nature of happiness? - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#61. You must not for one moment give up the effort to build up new lives for yourself. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#62. It is natural for us, as human beings, to look forward. Our eyes naturally look ahead. In this sense, we are made for moving toward a goal. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#63. It is crucial that we develop real awareness of ourselves as citizens of Earth, linked by mutual and indissoluble bonds. When we clearly recognize this reality and ground ourselves in it, we are compelled to take a strict accounting of our way of life. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#64. The economy is after all driven by people. No matter how dire the situation may be, as long as people are firm, a turnaround, revival and progress can be possible. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#65. Hardships make us strong. Problems give birth to wisdom. Sorrows cultivate compassion. Those who have suffered the most will become the happiest. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#66. While it is important to win, it's even more important to remain undefeated no matter what happens. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#67. Being sincere, dedicated and honest is the key. People of integrity triumph in the end. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#68. It is important that we have the inner richness to be able to look up at the stars or the moon and compose a poem once in a while. When we open wide our minds and fix our gaze on the universe, we fix our gaze on our own life. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#69. By changing our inner state of mind, we can change any suffering or hardship into a source of joy, regarding it as a means for forging and developing our lives. To turn even sorrow into a source of creativity - this is the way of life of a Buddhist - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#70. The idea of interdependence is central to Buddhism, which holds that all things come into being through the mutual interactions of various causes and conditions. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#71. A genuinely happy person is one who has rendered others happy. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#72. No matter what kind of difficult situation one may find oneself in, some opening, some opportunity to fight one's way out, can always be found. What's most important is to hold fast to Hope, to face the future with courage. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#73. Whatever your circumstances, whatever your past, the forces that determine your future are nowhere but within your own heart and mind. It is here that the star of your destiny shines. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#74. Ideal love is fostered only between two sincere, mature and independent people. Real love is not two people clinging to each other; it can only be fostered between two strong people secure in their individuality. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#75. In the past, human society provided encouragement and opportunity for people to extend support to each other, especially in highly stressful situations. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#76. Sometimes we complain without thinking much of it, but the frightening thing about complaining is that every time we do, a cloud descends over our heart, and our hope, appreciation and joy gradually wane. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#77. Dig beneath your feet, there you will find a spring. The place where you are now is crucial. Never try to avoid that which you must do. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#78. Buhhdism is wisdom. As long as we have wisdom, we can put all things to the best use, we can turn everything in the direction of happiness. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#79. The willingness to challenge hardships taps the power within human beings to transform even a place of tragedy into a stage for fulfilling one's mission. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#80. Genuine happiness can only be achieved when we transform our way of life from the unthinking pursuit of pleasure to one committed to enriching our inner lives, when we focus on 'being more' rather than simply having more. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#81. Let us join our efforts toward building the unshakable foundations for a culture of peace. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#82. If we look at the world with a love of life, the world will reveal its beauty to us. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#83. Likewise, education can direct people toward good or evil ends. When education is based on a fundamentally distorted worldview, the results are horrific. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#84. Embrace your dreams and advance as far as they can take you. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#85. Men and women who know the brutal reality of war, who know that war strips people of their very humanity, must unite in a new global partnership for peace. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#86. There are no greater treasures than the highest human qualities such as compassion, courage and hope. Not even tragic accident or disaster can destroy such treasures of the heart. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#87. Rather than turning away from the staggering scale and depth of misery caused by war, we must strive to develop our capacity to empathize and feel the sufferings of others. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#88. It is impossible to build one's own happiness on the unhappiness of others. This perspective is at the heart of Buddhist teachings. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#89. A person fully awakened to the jewel-like dignity of their own life is capable of truly respecting that same treasure in others. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#90. Bravely overcoming one small fear gives you the courage to take on the next. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#91. Divorced from the cosmos, from nature, from society and from each other, we have become fractured and fragmented. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#92. It is senseless to blame others or your environment for your miseries. Change begins from the moment you muster the courage to act. When you change, the environment will change. The power to change the world is found nowhere but within our own life. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#93. I believe that a culture of peace must be the essential foundation of our efforts for peace. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#94. It is only through such real-life daily struggles and challenges that a genuine sensitivity to human rights can be inculcated. This is a truth that is not limited to school education: it applies to all of us. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#95. A truly beautiful person is one who is good at discovering beauty. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#96. We have both a weak self and a strong self; the two are completely different. If we allow our weak side to dominate, we will be defeated. The thought ,"I am still young and have a lot of time, so I can relax and take life easy" is a function of our own weakness. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#97. People who cease to grow can't inspire others. Leadership begins with challenging
oneself. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#98. The crucial thing is to arouse the awareness that as a matter of human conscience we can never permit the people of any country to fall victim to nuclear weapons, and for each individual to express their refusal to continue living in the shadow of the threat they pose. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#99. Within the heart of every person exists the flame of wisdom that transforms all suffering into kindling for the fire of creative energy. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda

#100. If you lose today, win tomorrow. In this never-ending spirit of challenge is found the heart of a victor. - Author: Daisaku Ikeda