Leo Buscaglia has most certainly made an impact on my life through his all too uncommon wisdom as well as his uncanny ability to convey it in a very powerful and meaningful way to those who were fortunate enough to be drawn to it.

Although Leo has left the physical realm his words as well as his wisdom continue to inspire and bless countless people from around the globe.

The following Leo Buscaglia quotes leave a lasting and profoundly enlightening perspective regarding life and the immense blessings derived through choosing to consciously convey love to all of humanity.

A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world. - Leo Buscaglia

“The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live.” - Leo Buscaglia

Change is the end result of all true learning. - Leo Buscaglia

“A loving relationship is one in which the loved one is free to be himself -- to laugh with me, but never at me; to cry with me, but never because of me; to love life, to love himself, to love being loved. Such a relationship is based upon freedom and can never grow in a jealous heart.” - Leo Buscaglia

Death is a challenge. It tells us not to waste time... It tells us to tell each other right now that we love each other. - Leo Buscaglia

“Love yourself—accept yourself—forgive yourself—and be good to yourself, because without you the rest of us are without a source of many wonderful things.” - Leo Buscaglia

Don't brood. Get on with living and loving. You don't have forever. - Leo Buscaglia

“We seem to gain wisdom more readily through our failures than through our successes. We always think of failure as the antithesis of success, but it isn't. Success often lies just the other side of failure.” - Leo Buscaglia

Don't smother each other. No one can grow in the shade. - Leo Buscaglia

“We need others. We need others to love and we need to be loved by them. There is no doubt that without it, we too, like the infant left alone, would cease to grow, cease to develop, choose madness and even death.” - Leo Buscaglia

I believe that you control your destiny, that you can be what you want to be. You can also stop and say, No, I won't do it, I won't behave his way anymore. I'm lonely and I need people around me, maybe I have to change my methods of behaving and then you do it. - Leo Buscaglia

“The hardest battle you're ever going to fight is the battle to be just you.” - Leo Buscaglia

I have a very strong feeling that the opposite of love is not hate - it's apathy. It's not giving a damn. - Leo Buscaglia

“Risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.” - Leo Buscaglia

“Only the weak are cruel. Gentleness can only be expected from the strong.” - Leo Buscaglia

“Time has no meaning in itself unless we choose to give it significance.” - Leo Buscaglia

I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things... I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind. - Leo Buscaglia

“Happiness and love are just a choice away.” - Leo Buscaglia

I've always though that people need to feel good about themselves and I see my role as offering support to them, to provide some light along the way. - Leo Buscaglia

If I don't have wisdom, I can teach you only ignorance. - Leo Buscaglia

“A single rose can be my garden...a single friend, my world.” - Leo Buscaglia

If we wish to free ourselves from enslavement, we must choose freedom and the responsibility this entails. - Leo Buscaglia

“Like any other living, growing thing, love requires effort to keep it healthy.” - Leo Buscaglia

“There are two big forces at work, external and internal. We have very little control over external forces such as tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, disasters, illness and pain. What really matters is the internal force. How do I respond to those disasters? Over that I have complete control.” - Leo Buscaglia

“What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life.” - Leo Buscaglia

“Love withers with predictability; its very essence is surprise and amazement. To make love a prisoner of the mundane is to take its passion and lose it forever.” - Leo Buscaglia

It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still differentiate between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing the vital connection between them. - Leo Buscaglia

“Most of us are pawns in a game of love we don't understand.” - Leo Buscaglia

Life lived for tomorrow will always be just a day away from being realized. - Leo Buscaglia

“Never idealize others. They will never live up to your expectations. Don't over-analyse your relationships. Stop playing games. A growing relationship can only be nurtured by genuineness.” - Leo Buscaglia

Love always creates, it never destroys. In this lie's man's only promise. - Leo Buscaglia

“When we cling to pain we end up punishing ourselves.” - Leo Buscaglia

“Life is uncharted territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time.” - Leo Buscaglia

“We need to learn to let go as easily as we grasp and we will find our hands full and our minds empty.” - Leo Buscaglia

Love is always bestowed as a gift - freely, willingly and without expectation. We don't love to be loved; we love to love. - Leo Buscaglia

Love is always open arms. If you close your arms about love you will find that you are left holding only yourself. - Leo Buscaglia

Love is life. And if you miss love, you miss life. - Leo Buscaglia

Never idealize others. They will never live up to your expectations. - Leo Buscaglia

Only the weak are cruel. Gentleness can only be expected from the strong. - Leo Buscaglia

The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don't let them put you in that position. - Leo Buscaglia

“Love is not some complex, mystical abstraction. It is something accessible and human that we learn through our everyday experience, as often at times of failure as in moments of ecstasy.” - Leo Buscaglia

The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another's, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises. - Leo Buscaglia

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. - Leo Buscaglia

We all need each other. - Leo Buscaglia

We are no longer puppets being manipulated by outside powerful forces: we become the powerful force ourselves. - Leo Buscaglia

What love we've given, we'll have forever. What love we fail to give, will be lost for all eternity. - Leo Buscaglia

What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life. - Leo Buscaglia

Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy. - Leo Buscaglia

Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God. - Leo Buscaglia