114 Mindfulness Quotes for Work, Life, and Love

Looking for inspirational mindfulness quotes to raise your consciousness?

Mindfulness is the practice of being truly present.

It helps to ground us, keep us focused on the present, and can help us appreciate what and who is around us. 

It also has powerful healing effects.

Mindful people are more present in their relationships, in their time to themselves, and in their goal setting and motivational thoughts and behaviors.

Below, I have compiled a list of mindfulness quotes that apply to your work, life, and love.

I hope that they will resonate well with you.

Don’t forget to check out our collection of yoga quotes that will inspire your life.

Check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily inspiration. 

If you enjoy this collection, check out our inspirational quotes category page.

Mindfulness Quotes About Daily Life

1. “When you realize nothing is lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” ― Lao Tzu

2. “Do not ruin today with mourning tomorrow.” ― Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

3. “Don’t believe everything you think. Thoughts are just that – thoughts.” ― Allan Lokos, Pocket Peace: Effective Practices for Enlightened Living

4. “Mindfulness isn’t difficult, we just need to remember to do it.” ― Sharon Salzberg

5. “As soon as we wish to be happier, we are no longer happy.” ― Walter Landor

6. “Be happy in the moment, that’s enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.” ― Mother Teresa

7. “This isn’t just “another day, another dollar.” It’s more like “another day, another miracle.” (213)” ― Victoria Moran, Lit From Within: Tending Your Soul For Lifelong Beauty

8. “Looking at beauty in the world, is the first step of purifying the mind.” ― Amit Ray, Meditation: Insights and Inspirations

9. “Everything is created twice, first in the mind and then in reality.” – Robin S. Sharma

10. “If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.” ― Amit Ray, Om Chanting and Meditation

Mindfulness Quotes About Our Emotions

11. “Maybe,” he said, rubbing her forehead. “But don’t worry about it. You need to be a little bit crazy. Crazy is the price you pay for having an imagination. It’s your superpower. Tapping into the dream. It’s a good thing not a bad thing.” ― Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being

12. “It’s only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth – and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up – that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had.” ― Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

13. “Mindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different; enjoying the pleasant without holding on when it changes (which it will); being with the unpleasant without fearing it will always be this way (which it won’t).” ―James Baraz

14. “Whatever you eye falls on – for it will fall on what you love – will lead you to the questions of your life, the questions that are incumbent upon you to answer, because that is how the mind works in concert with the eye. The things of this world draw us where we need to go.” ― Mary Rose O’Reilley, The Barn at the End of the World: The Apprenticeship of a Quaker, Buddhist Shepherd

15. “We are awakened to the profound realization that the true path to liberation is to let go of everything.” ― Jack Kornfield

16. “Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretense.” ― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

17. “If one were truly aware of the value of human life, to waste it blithely on distractions and the pursuit of vulgar ambitions would be the height of confusion.” ― DilgoKhyentse Rinpoche

18. “You have to remember one life, one death–this one! To enter fully the day, the hour, the moment whether it appears as life or death, whether we catch it on the inbreath or outbreath, requires only a moment, this moment. And along with it all the mindfulness we can muster, and each stage of our ongoing birth, and the confident joy of our inherent luminosity. (24)” ― Stephen Levine, A Year to Live: How to Live This Year as If It Were Your Last

19. “Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened. Don’t open the door to the study and begin reading.Take down a musical instrument.” ― Rumi

Also check out these Osho quotes on love, mindfulness, and more.

Mindfulness Quotes About Inner Peace

20. “You might be tempted to avoid the messiness of daily living for the tranquility of stillness and peacefulness. This of course would be an attachment to stillness, and like any strong attachment, it leads to delusion. It arrests development and short-circuits the cultivation of wisdom.” ― Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life

21. “One is a great deal less anxious if one feels perfectly free to be anxious, and the same may be said of guilt.” ― Alan W. Watts, Psychotherapy East and West

22. “True compassion is undirected and holds no conceptual focus. That kind of genuine, true compassion is only possible after realizing emptiness.” ― Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Carefree Dignity: Discourses on Training in the Nature of Mind

23. “To diminish the suffering of pain, we need to make a crucial distinction between the pain of pain, and the pain we create by our thoughts about the pain. Fear, anger, guilt, loneliness, and helplessness are all mental and emotional responses that can intensify pain.” ― Howard Cutler

24. “Vipassana meditation is an ongoing creative purification process. Observation of the moment-to-moment experience cleanses the mental layers, one after another.” ― Amit Ray, Yoga, and Vipassana: An Integrated Life Style3

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of meditation quotes about the power of daily meditation.

25. “Do every act of your life as though it were the very last act of your life.” ― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

26. “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” ― Dalai Lama

27. “It stands to reason that anyone who learns to live well will die well. The skills are the same: being present in the moment, and humble, and brave, and keeping a sense of humor. (361)”
― Victoria Moran, Younger by the Day: 365 Ways to Rejuvenate Your Body and Revitalize Your Spirit

28. “Feelings, whether of compassion or irritation, should be welcomed, recognized, and treated on an absolutely equal basis; because both are ourselves. The tangerine I am eating is me. The mustard greens I am planting are me. I plant with all my heart and mind.

I clean this teapot with the kind of attention I would have were I giving the baby Buddha or Jesus a bath. Nothing should be treated more carefully than anything else. In mindfulness, compassion, irritation, mustard green plant, and teapot are all sacred.” ― ThichNhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation

29. “Mindfulness is the aware, balanced acceptance of the present experience. It isn’t more complicated than that. It is opening to or receiving the present moment, pleasant or unpleasant, just as it is, without either clinging to it or rejecting it.” ― Sylvia Boorstein

Don’t forget to also read these soothing breathe quotes to help you relax.

Mindfulness Quotes About Fear and Love

31. “I wish that life should not be cheap, but sacred. I wish the days to be as centuries, loaded, fragrant.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

32. “Respond; don’t react. Listen; don’t talk. Think; don’t assume.” ― RajiLukkoor

33. “Diversity is an aspect of human existence that cannot be eradicated by terrorism or war or self-consuming hatred. It can only be conquered by recognizing and claiming the wealth of values it represents for all.” ― Aberjhani, Splendid Literarium: A Treasury of Stories, Aphorisms, Poems, and Essays

34. “There are two types of seeds in the mind: those that create anger, fear, frustration, jealousy, hatred and those that create love, compassion, equanimity and joy. Spirituality is germination and sprouting of the second group and transforming the first group.” ― Amit Ray

35. “Knowledge does not mean mastering a great quantity of different information, but understanding the nature of mind. This knowledge can penetrate each one of our thoughts and illuminate each one of our perceptions.” ― Matthieu Ricard
If you’re enjoying these quotes, you’ll love our collection of perception quotes about truth and reality.

36. “The mind in its natural state can be compared to the sky, covered by layers of cloud which hide its true nature.” ― Kalu Rinpoche

37. “The best way to capture moments is to pay attention. This is how we cultivate mindfulness. Mindfulness means being awake. It means knowing what you are doing.” ― Jon Kabat-Zinn

38. “I am grateful for all those dark years, even though in retrospect they seem like a long, bitter prayer that was answered finally.” ― Marilynne Robinson

39. “Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” – Buddha

Don’t forget to also check out these Wednesday quotes for hump day motivation & inspiration.

Mindfulness Quotes About Suffering and Depression

40. “Suffering usually relates to wanting things to be different from the way they are.” ― Allan Lokos, Pocket Peace: Effective Practices for Enlightened Living

41. “Don’t believe everything you think. Thoughts are just that – thoughts.” ―Allan Lokos

42. “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The latter procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular.” ― C.G. Jung

43. “Why, if we are as pragmatic as we claim, don’t we begin to ask ourselves seriously: where does our real future lie?” – Sogyal Rinpoche

44. “If you think you are beaten, you are

If you think you dare not, you don’t,

If you like to win, but you think you can’t

It is almost certain you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost

For out of the world we find,

Success begins with a fellow’s will

It’s all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are

You’ve got to think high to rise,

You’ve got to be sure of yourself before

You can ever win a prize.

Life’s battles don’t always go

To the stronger or faster man,

But soon or late the man who wins

Is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!”

― Walter D. Wintle

45. “Life is a dance. Mindfulness is witnessing that dance.” ― Amit Ray, Mindfulness : Living in the Moment – Living in the Breath
If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of living life in the moment quotes that will remind you to enjoy life today.

46. “The basic root of happiness lies in our minds; outer circumstances are nothing more than adverse or favorable.” – Matthieu Ricard

47. “In today’s rush, we all think too much — seek too much — want too much — and forget about the joy of just being.” – Eckhart Tolle

48. “I don’t need anyone else to distract me from myself anymore, like I always thought I would.” ― Charlotte Eriksson

Mindfulness Quotes About Awareness and Expectations

50. “Mindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different; enjoying the pleasant without holding on when it changes (which it will); being with the unpleasant without fearing it will always be this way (which it won’t).” – James Baraz

51. “Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future; live the actual moment. Only this moment is life.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh

52. “As we encounter new experiences with a mindful and wise attention, we discover that one of three things will happen to our new experience: it will go away, it will stay the same, or it will get more intense. whatever happens does not really matter.” ― Jack Kornfield, A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life

53. “Envy and jealousy stem from the fundamental inability to rejoice at someone else’s happiness or success.” – Matthieu Ricard

54. “Let go of your mind and then be mindful. Close your ears and listen!” ― Rumi, Love’s Ripening: Rumi on the Heart’s Journey
If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of Rumi quotes from the iconic poet.

55. “The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.” ― ThichNhat Hanh

56. “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 (see more quotes by Pema Chödrön)

57. “Impermanence is a principle of harmony. When we don’t struggle against it, we are in harmony with reality.” – Pema Chodron

58. “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” – Dalai Lama

59. “If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.” – Pema Chodron

Mindfulness Quotes On Love and Healing

60. “Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing.” ― Pema Chodron

61. “In this moment, there is plenty of time. In this moment, you are precisely as you should be. In this moment, there is infinite possibility. (17)” ― Victoria Moran, Younger by the Day: 365 Ways to Rejuvenate Your Body and Revitalize Your Spirit

62. “The way to live in the present is to remember that ‘This too shall pass.’ When you experience joy, remembering that ‘This too shall pass’ helps you savor the here and now. When you experience pain and sorrow, remembering that ‘This too shall pass’ reminds you that grief, like joy, is only temporary.” – Joey Green

64. “Don’t let a day go by without asking who you are…each time you let a new ingredient to enter your awareness.” ― Deepak Chopra, The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Your Life

65. “By breaking down our sense of self-importance, all we lose is a parasite that has long infected our minds. What we gain in return is freedom, openness of mind, spontaneity, simplicity, altruism: all qualities inherent in happiness.” – Matthieu Ricard
If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of simplicity quotes to encourage a positive mindset.
66. “Do not speak about anyone who is not physically present.” ― Allan Lokos, Pocket Peace: Effective Practices for Enlightened Living

67. “Am I crazy?” she asked. “I feel like I am sometimes.”

68. “As long as we have practiced neither concentration nor mindfulness, the ego takes itself for granted and remains its usual normal size, as big as the people around one will allow.” – Ayya Khema

69. “Suffering usually relates to wanting things to be different than they are.” – Allan Lokos

Mindfulness Quotes About Living Your Best Life

70. “There are a thousand reasons to live this life, every one of them sufficient” ― Marilynne Robinson

71. “If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.” ―Rabbi Harold Kushner

72. “In a true you-and-I relationship, we are present mindfully, nonintrusively, the way we are present with things in nature.We do not tell a birch tree it should be more like an elm. We face it with no agenda, only an appreciation that becomes participation: ‘I love looking at this birch’ becomes ‘I am this birch’ and then ‘I and this birch are opening to a mystery that transcends and holds us both.” ― David Richo, When the Past Is Present: Healing the Emotional Wounds that Sabotage our Relationships

73. “When even one virtue becomes our nature, the mind becomes clean and tranquil. Then there is no need to practice meditation; we will automatically be meditating always. (151)” ― Swami Satchidananda, The Yoga Sutras’

74. “Our lives are lived in an intense and anxious struggle, in a swirl of speed and aggression, in competing, grasping, possessing and achieving, forever burdening ourselves with extraneous activities and preoccupations.” – Sogyal Rinpoche

75. “Breath is the finest gift of nature. Be grateful for this wonderful gift.” ― Amit Ray, Beautify your Breath – Beautify your Life

76. “The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.” ― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times

78. “Mind is a flexible mirror, adjust it, to see a better world.” ― Amit Ray, Mindfulness: Living in the Moment – Living in the Breath

79. “There’s only one reason why you’re not experiencing bliss at this present moment, and it’s because you’re thinking or focusing on what you don’t have…. But, right now you have everything you need to be in bliss.” – Anthony de Mello

Mindfulness Quotes About Personal Freedom

80. “Mindful and creative, a child who has neither a past, nor examples to follow, nor value judgments, simply lives, speaks and plays in freedom.” – Arnaud Desjardins

81. “In meditation we discover our inherent restlessness. Sometimes we get up and leave. Sometimes we sit there but our bodies wiggle and squirm and our minds go far away. This can be so uncomfortable that we feel’s it’s impossible to stay. Yet this feeling can teach us not just about ourselves but what it is to be human…we really don’t want to stay with the nakedness of our present experience. It goes against the grain to stay present. These are the times when only gentleness and a sense of humor can give us the strength to settle down…so whenever we wander off, we gently encourage ourselves to “stay” and settle down. Are we experiencing restlessness? Stay! Are fear and loathing out of control? Stay! Aching knees and throbbing back? Stay! What’s for lunch? Stay! I can’t stand this another minute! Stay!””
― Pema Chödrön, The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times

82. “Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh, Stepping into Freedom: Rules of Monastic Practice for Novices

83. “The practice of mindfulness begins in the small, remote cave of your unconscious mind and blossoms with the sunlight of your conscious life, reaching far beyond the people and places you can see.” – Earon Davis

84. “If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.” – William Blake

85. “True happiness, we are told, consists in getting out of one’s self; but the point is not only to get out – you must stay out; and to stay out you must have some absorbing errand.” ― Henry James, Roderick Hudson

86. “Our own worst enemy cannot harm us as much as our unwise thoughts. No one can help us as much as our own compassionate thoughts.” – Buddha

87. “Restore your attention or bring it to a new level by dramatically slowing down whatever you’re doing.” ― Sharon Salzberg, Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation

88. ”Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

89. “If you’re reading these words, perhaps it’s because something has kicked open the door for you, and you’re ready to embrace change. It isn’t enough to appreciate change from afar, or only in the abstract, or as something that can happen to other people but not to you. We need to create change for ourselves, in a workable way, as part of our everyday lives.” ― Sharon Salzberg, The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Programme for Real Happiness

91. “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.” ― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult

92. “Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

93. “Observe the space between your thoughts, then observe the observer.” – Hamilton Boudreaux

Don’t forget to also check out our collection of Thursday quotes to inspire the end of your week.

Other mindfulness quotes

94. “Be mindful. Be grateful. Be positive. Be true. Be kind.” – Roy T. Bennett

95. “The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

97. “Mindless fear is greater than mindful fear.” – Idowu Koyenikan

98. “It’s a funny thing about life, once you begin to take note of the things you are grateful for, you begin to lose sight of the things that you lack.” – Germany Kent

99. “When you open your mind, you open new doors to new possibilities for yourself and new opportunities to help others.” – Roy T. Bennett

100. “It’s good to have an end in mind but in the end what counts is how you travel.” – Orna Ross

101. “Mindful leadership keeps you cool and energetic in any situation, so that you can make the best possible decisions.” – Amit Ray

102. “Mindfulness, also called wise attention, helps us see what we’re adding to our experiences, not only during meditation sessions but also elsewhere.” – Sharon Salzberg

103. “Mindfulness has never met a cognition it didn’t like.” – Daniel J. Siegel

104. “We use mindfulness to observe the way we cling to pleasant experiences & push away unpleasant ones.” – Sharon Salzberg

Mindfulness Quotes About Work, Life and Love To Change Your Perspective

105. “Mindfulness allows us to watch our thoughts, see how one thought leads to the next, decide if we’re heading down an unhealthy path, and, if so, let go and change directions.” — Sharon Salzberg

106. “Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.” — Jon Kabat-Zinn

107. If you are doing mindfulness meditation, you are doing it with your ability to attend to the moment.” — Daniel Goleman

108. “Mindfulness is the miracle by which we master and restore ourselves.” — Nhat Hanh

109.  “Mindfulness is a mental activity that in due course eliminates all suffering.” — Ayya Khema

110. “Two thoughts cannot coexist at the same time: if the clear light of mindfulness is present, there is no room for mental twilight.” — Nyanaponika Thera

111. “Mindfulness is a pause – the space between stimulus and response: that’s where choice lies.” — Tara Brach

112. Generosity is another quality which, like patience, letting go, non-judging, and trust, provides a solid foundation for mindfulness practice.” — Jon Kabat-Zinn

113. “The great benefit of practicing mindfulness… is presence of mind within a storm of emotions.” — Phillip Moffitt

114. “In mindfulness one is not only restful and happy, but alert and awake. Meditation is not evasion; it is a serene encounter with reality.” — Nhat Hanh

Do you plan on reading these mindfulness quotes daily?

Individuals who develop their mindfulness are able to heal and detach from emotional pain, as well as inspire and motivate themselves to be incredibly productive and successful in the present moment.

If you liked these quotes, share them with someone OR write them down to read every day!

Which ones did you like best?