We usually appreciate only half of the cycle of impermanence. We can accept birth but not death, accept gain but not loss, or the end of exams but not the beginning. True liberation comes from appreciating the whole cycle and not grasping onto those things that we find agreeable. By remembering the changeability and impermanence of causes and conditions, both positive and negative, we can use them to our advantage. Wealth, health, peace, and fame are just as temporary as their opposites.

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

from the book What Makes You Not a Buddhist

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Further quotes from the book What Makes You Not a Buddhist:

• Corrosion begins as soon as creation begins
• What is life?
• Like a child at the cinema
• Fearlessness
• Change is inevitable
• Where will they scatter my ashes
• Being a Buddhist
• Pride and pity
• Eventually we are disappointed
• Our true nature is like a wineglass
• The cup that holds the teachings
• Enlightened beings may seem insane
• Happily ever after
• The habit of self
• Clinging to our hopes and fears
• Today is the death of yesterday
• The real enemy
• Nonviolence
• Like moths to the flame