Your own interests and your own life will be balanced only when they include both the well-being of yourself and others. Any wholesome undertaking necessarily includes a desire to benefit others. If an undertaking is egocentric and full of self-cherishing, then that balance will be extremely difficult to find and maintain.

17th Karmapa

from the book The Heart Is Noble: Changing the World from the Inside Out

translated by Ngodup Tsering Burkhar & Damchö Diana Finnegan


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Further quotes from the book The Heart Is Noble:

• Boxed limitless potential
• Nothing is intrinsically bad
• Protective Inner Wisdom
• Taking delight in your inner nature
• Reality is your teacher
• Healthy relationships
• There are no fixed starting points
• A noble vision
• Disconnected from our own noble heart
• Authentic love toward others
• Capacity for Change
• Finding our nobility of heart
• Loving Responsibility
• Difference without Division
• Our relationship to the material world
• Open-minded
• There are no fixed starting points
• Just Love
• My trust is a gift
• Our life is vast