BUDDHIST INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES

Buddha Quotes 

Give thanks

For what had been given to you,

However little.

Be pure, never falter.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

How easily the wind overturns a frail tee.

Seek happiness in the senses,

Indulge in food and sleep,

And you too will be uprooted.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

The wind cannot overturn a mountain.

Temptation cannot touch the man

Who is awake, strong and humble,

Who masters hiself and minds the law.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

See the false as false,

The true as true.

Look into your heart.

Follow your nature.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

In every trial

Let understanding fight for you.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Free yourself from attachment.

Know the sweet joy of the way.

How joyful to look upon the awakened

And to keep company with the wise.

How long the road to the man

Who travels the road with the fool.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

However many holy words you read,

However many you speak,

What good will they do you

If you do not act upon them?

Buddha

Dhammapada.

If a man’s thoughts are muddy,

If he is reckless and full of deceit,

How can he wear the yellow robe?

Whoever is master of his own nature,

Bright, clear and true,

He may indeed wear the yellow robe.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Your worst enemy cannot harm you

As much as your own thoughts, unguarded.

But once mastered,

No one can help you as much,

Not even your father or your mother.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Health, contentment and trust

Are your greatest possessions,

And freedom your greatest joy.

Look within.

Be still.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Understand that the body

Is merely the foam of a wave,

The shadow of a shadow.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Desire never crosses the path

Of virtuous and wakeful men.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Whoever follows impure thoughts

Suffers in this world and the next.

In both worlds he suffers

And how greatly.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

The true master lives in truth,

In goodness and restraint,

Non-violence, moderation and purity.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

The ignorant man is an ox.

He grows in size, not in wisdom.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

How easy it is to see your brother’s faults,

How hard it is to face your own.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

There is pleasure

And there is bliss.

Forgo the first to possess the second.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Fresh milk takes time to sour.

So a fool’s mischief

Takes time to catch up with him.

Like the embers of a fire

It smoulders within him.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Do what you have to do

Resolutely, with all your heart.

The traveller who hesitates

Only raises dust on the road.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

The wise man tells you

Where you have fallen

And where you yet may fall – Invaluable secrets!

Follow him, follow the way.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

By your own folly

You will be brought as low

As you worst enemy wishes.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

By your own efforts

Waken yourself, watch yourself.

And live joyfully.

You are the master.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Awake.

Be the witness of your thoughts.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Look not for recognition

But follow the awakened

And set yourself free.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Why do what you will regret?

Why bring tears upon yourself?

Do only what you do not regret,

And fill yourself with joy.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

For a while the fool’s mischief

Tastes sweet, sweet as honey.

Bit in the end it turns bitter.

And how bitterly he suffers!

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Can you hide from your own mischief.

Not in the sky,

Not in the midst of the ocean,

Nor deep in the mountains,

Nowhere.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Do not let pleasure distract you

From meditation, from the way.

Free yourself from pleasure and pain.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

The fool is his own enemy.

The mischief is his undoing.

How bitterly he suffers!

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Turn away from mischief.

Again and again, turn away.

Before sorrow befalls you.

Set your heart on doing good.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Do not look for bad company

Or live with men who do not care.

Find friends who love the truth.

Drink deeply.

Live in serenity and joy.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Beware of the anger of the body.

Master the body.

Let it serve truth.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Beware of the anger of the mouth.

Master your words.

Let them serve truth.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Beware of the anger of the mind.

Master your thoughts.

Let them serve truth.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

We are what we think.

All that we are arises with our thoughts.

With our thoughts we make the world.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Speak or act with an impure mind

And trouble will follow you.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Speak or act with an pure mind

And happiness will follow you

As your shadow, unshakable.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

In this world

Hate never yet dispelled hate.

Only love dispels hate.

This is the law,

Ancient and inexhaustible.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Better than a thousand hollow words

Is one word that brings peace.

Better than a thousand hollow verses

Is one verse that brings peace.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

There is no fire like passion

No crime like hatred,

No sorrow like separation,

No sickness like hunger,

And no joy like the joy of freedom.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

You too shall pass away.

Knowing this, how can you quarrel?

Buddha

Dhammapada.

It is better to conquer yourself

Than to win a thousand battles.

Then the victory is yours.

It cannot be taken from you,

Not by angels or by demons,

Heaven or hell.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

You are the source

Of all purity and impurity.

No one purifies another.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

It is better to do nothing

Than to do what is wrong.

For whatever you do, you do to yourself.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

To share happiness.

And to have done something good

Before leaving this life is sweet

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Master your words.

Master your thoughts.

Never allow your body to do harm.

Follow these three roads with purity

And you will find yourself upon the one way,

The way of wisdom.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

The fragrance of sandalwood and rosebay

Does not travel far.

But the fragrance of virtue

Rises to the heavens.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.

Buddha

Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.

Buddha

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.

Buddha

The mind is everything; what you think you become.

Buddha

Therefore, be ye lamps unto yourselves, be ye a refuge to yourselves. Hold fast to Truth as a lamp; hold fast to the truth as a refuge. Look not for a refuge in anyone beside yourselves. And those, who shall be a lamp unto themselves, shall betake themselves to no external refuge, but holding fast to the Truth as their lamp, and holding fast to the Truth as their refuge, they shall reach the topmost height.

Buddha

Mahaparinibbana Sutta.

Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.

Buddha

Neither fire nor wind, birth nor death can erase our good deeds.

Buddha

On a long journey of human life, faith is the best of companions; it is the best refreshment on the journey; and it is the greatest property.

Buddha

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

Buddha

The greatest prayer is patience.

Buddha

With gentleness overcome anger.

With generosity overcome meanness.

With truth overcome deceit.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

For in craving pleasure or in nursing pain

There is only sorrow.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Never speak harsh words

For they will rebound upon you.

Angry words hurt

And the hurt rebounds.

Like a broken gong.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Let go of anger.

Let go of pride.

When you are bound by nothing

You go beyond sorrow.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

The wise have mastered

Body, word and mind.

They are the true masters.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

Buddha

Kalama Sutta.

Think: Happy, at rest,

may all beings be happy at heart.

Whatever beings there may be,

weak or strong, without exception,

long, large,

middling, short,

subtle, blatant,

seen & unseen,

near & far,

born & seeking birth:

May all beings be happy at heart.

Buddha

Karaniya Metta Sutta.

Let no one deceive another

or despise anyone anywhere,

or through anger or irritation

wish for another to suffer.

Buddha

Karaniya Metta Sutta.

As a mother would risk her life

to protect her child, her only child,

even so should one cultivate a limitless heart

with regard to all beings.

With good will for the entire cosmos,

cultivate a limitless heart:

Above, below, & all around,

unobstructed, without hostility or hate.

Whether standing, walking,

sitting, or lying down,

as long as one is alert,

one should be resolved on this mindfulness.

This is called a sublime abiding

here & now.

Buddha

Karaniya Metta Sutta.

The greatest impurity is ignorance.

Free yourself from it.

Be pure.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Free from passion and desire,

You have stripped the thorns from the stem.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Happiness or sorrow -

Whatever befalls you, Walk on

Untouched, unattached.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Be quick to do good.

If you are slow,

The mind, delighting in mischief,

Will catch you.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Does the spoon taste the soup?

A fool may live all his life

In the company of a master

And still miss the way.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Cross over to the father shore,

Beyond life and death.

Do your thoughts trouble you?

Does passion disturb you?

Beware of this thirstiness

Lest your wishes become desires

And desire binds you.

Quieten your mind.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Your work is to discover your work

And then with all your heart

To give yourself to it.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Do not live in the world,

In distraction and false dreams.

Outside the dharma.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

How long the night to the watchman,

How long the road to the weary traveller,

How long the wandering of many lives

To the fool who misses the way.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

You are far from the end of your journey.

The way is not in the sky.

The way is in the heart.

See how you love.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

It is not iron that imprisons you

Nor rope nor wood,

But the pleasure you take in gold and jewels,

In sons and wives.

Soft fetters,

Yet they hold you down.

Can you snap them?

Buddha

Dhammapada.

The rain could turn to gold

And still your thirst would not be slaked.

Desire is unquenchable

Or it ends in tears, even in heaven.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

If the traveller cannot find

Master or friend to go with him,

Let him travel alone

Rather than with a fool for company.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Few cross over the river.

Most are stranded on this side.

On the riverbank they run up and down.

But the wise man, following the way,

Crosses over, beyond the reach of death.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Follow the way of virtue.

Follow the way joyfully

Through this world and on beyond!

Buddha

Dhammapada.

The fool laughs at generosity.

The miser cannot enter heaven.

But the master finds joy in giving

And happiness is his reward.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

If you are happy

At the expense of another man’s happiness,

You are forever bound.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

You are a seeker.

Delight in the mastery

Of your hands and your feet,

Of your words and your thoughts.

Delight in meditation

And in solitude.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

It is you who must make the effort.

Masters only point the way.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

If you are filled with desire

Your sorrows swell

Like the grass after the rain.

But if you subdue desire

Your sorrows shall fall from you

Like drops of water from a lotus flower.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

If you kill, lie or steal,

Commit adultery or drink,

You dig up your own roots.

And if you cannot master yourself,

The harm you do turns against you Grievously.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

If he is a good man,

A man of faith, honoured and prosperous,

Wherever he goes he is welcome.

Like the Himalayas

Good men shine from afar.

But bad men move unseen

Like arrows in the night.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Thirty-six streams are rushing toward you!

Desire and pleasure and lust…

Play in your imagination with them

And they will sweep you away.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

While a man desires a woman,

His mind is bound

As closely as a calf to its mother.

As you would pluck an autumn lily,

Pluck the arrow of desire.

For he who is awake

Has shown you the way of peace.

Give yourself to the journey.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

One man denies the truth.

Another denies his own actions.

Both go into the dark.

And in the next world suffer

For they offend truth.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

If desires are not uprooted,

Sorrows grow again in you.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

The wise man delights in the truth

And follows the law of the awakened.

The farmer channels water to his land.

The fletcher whittles his arrows.

And the carpenter turns his wood.

So the wise man directs his mind.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Master your senses,

What you taste and smell,

What you see, what you hear.

In all things be a master.

Of what you do and say and think.

Be free.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

He who goes naked,

With matted hair, mud-bespattered,

Who fasts and sleeps on the ground

And smears his body with ashes

And sits in endless meditation-

So long as he is not free from doubts,

He will not find freedom.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

He who lives purely and self-assured,

In quietness and virtue,

Who is without harm or hurt or blame,

Even if he wears fine clothes,

So long as he also has faith,

He is a true seeker.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Live joyfully,

Without desire.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure.

Buddha

The Teachings of Buddha, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai.

A wise man, recognizing that the world is but an illusion, does not act as if it is real, so he escapes the suffering.

Buddha

The Teachings of Buddha, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai.

An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.

Buddha

The Teachings of Buddha, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai.

Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes.

Buddha

The Teachings of Buddha, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai.

Good men and bad men differ radically. Bad men never appreciate kindness shown them, but wise men appreciate and are grateful. Wise men try to express their appreciation and gratitude by some return of kindness, not only to their benefactor, but to everyone else.

Buddha

The Teachings of Buddha, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai.

The world, indeed, is like a dream and the treasures of the world are an alluring mirage! Like the apparent distances in a picture, things have no reality in themselves, but they are like heat haze.

Buddha

The Teachings of Buddha, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai.

To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one’s own in the midst of abundance.

Buddha

The Teachings of Buddha, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai.

Wherever there is light, there is shadow; wherever there is length, there is shortness; wherever there is white, there is black. Just like these, as the self-nature of things can not exist alone, they are called non-substantial.

Buddha

The Teachings of Buddha, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai.

Do not speak harshly to any one; those who are spoken to will answer thee in the same way. Angry speech is painful: blows for blows will touch thee.

Buddha

Wisdom of the Buddha: The Unabridged Dhammapada.

Let a man avoid evil deeds as a man who loves life avoids poison.

Buddha

Wisdom of the Buddha: The Unabridged Dhammapada.

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Do not rely upon what has been acquired by repeated tradition; nor upon lineage; nor upon rumour; nor upon what is handed down in the teachings; nor upon logic; nor upon inference; nor upon a consideration of reasons; nor upon a delight in speculation; nor upon appearances; nor upon respect for your teacher. Kalmas, when you know for yourselves: These things are unskilful; these things are blameable; these things are censured by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to harm and suffering, then abandon them.

Buddha

Kalama Sutta.

His success may be great, but be it ever so great the wheel of fortune may turn again and bring him down into the dust.

Buddha

The Gospel of Buddha by Paul Carus.

Nothing is permanent or sanatan. Everything is subject to change. Being is always Becoming.

Buddha

Buddha or Karl Marx by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar.

Nothing is infallible. Nothing is binding forever. Every thing is subject to inquiry and examination.

Buddha

Buddha or Karl Marx by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar.

This is to be done by one skilled in aims

who wants to break through to the state of peace:

Be capable, upright, & straightforward,

easy to instruct, gentle, & not conceited,

content & easy to support,

with few duties, living lightly,

with peaceful faculties, masterful,

modest, & no greed for supporters.

Do not do the slightest thing

that the wise would later censure.

Buddha

Karaniya Metta Sutta.

Ye must leave righteous ways behind, not to speak of unrighteous ways.

Buddha

Majjhima-Nikaya.

This Ariyan Eightfold Path, that is to say: Right view, right aim, right speech, right action, right living, right effort, right mindfulness, right contemplation.

Buddha

Buddhism and Indian Civilization by R. K. Pruthi.

He who for the sake of happiness hurts others who also want happiness, shall not hereafter find happiness.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

He who destroys life, who utters lies, who takes what is not given to him, who goes to the wife of another, who gets drunk with strong drinks — he digs up the very roots of his life.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

The wise who hurt no living being, and who keep their body under self-control, they go to the immortal Nirvana, where once gone they sorrow no more.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

A man is not a great man because he is a warrior and kills other men; but because he hurts not any living being he in truth is called a great man.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

All beings fear before danger, life is dear to all. When a man considers this, he does not kill or cause to kill.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Like a fish which is thrown on dry land, taken from his home in the waters, the mind strives and struggles to get free from the power of Death.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Overcome anger by peacefulness: overcome evil by good. Overcome the mean by generosity; and the man who lies by truth.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

The thought manifests as the word;

The word manifests as the deed;

The deed develops into habit;

And habit hardens into character.

So watch the thought and its ways with care,

And let it spring from love

Born out of concern for all beings.

As t he shadow follows the body,

As we think, so we become.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

There is no fire like passion, there is no shark like hatred, there is no snare like folly, there is no torrent like greed.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Let a man overcome anger by love.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

We are shaped by our thoughts;

We become what we think.

When the mind is pure, joy follows

Like a shadow that never leaves.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

What we think, we become.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

No one saves us but ourselves,

No one can and no one may.

We ourselves must walk the path,

But Buddhas clearly show the way.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Can there be joy and laughter

When always the world is ablaze?

Enshrouded in darkness

Should you not seek a light?

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Yet the Teaching is simple.

Do what is right.

Be pure.

At the end of the way is freedom.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Do not what is evil. Do what is good. Keep your mind pure. This is the teaching.

Buddha

Dhammapada

To cease from evil, to do good, and to purify the mind yourself, this is the teaching of all the Buddhas.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

He who lives only for pleasures, and whose soul is not in harmony, who considers not the food he eats, is idle, and has not the power of virtue — such a man is moved by mara (evil one), is moved by selfish temptations, even as a weak tree is shaken by the wind.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

The glorious chariots of kings wear out, and the body wears out and grows old; but the virtue of the good never grows old.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

If he makes himself as good as he tells others to be, then he in truth can teach others. Difficult indeed is self-control.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

But truly, Ananda, it is nothing strange that human beings should die.

Buddha

Digha Nikaya.

Whatever is felt is within suffering.

Buddha

Samyutta Nikaya.

This is deathless: the liberation of the mind through lack of clinging.

Buddha

Majjhima Nikaya.

Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation.

Buddha

Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta.

All compounded things are subject to decay. Strive with diligence!

Buddha

Mahaparinibbana Sutta.

The parts and powers of man must be dissolved; work out your own salvation with diligence.

Buddha

Mahaparinibbana Sutta.

Sensual passions are your first army.

Your second is called Discontent.

Your third is Hunger & Thirst.

Your fourth is called Craving.

Fifth is Sloth & Drowsiness.

Sixth is called Terror.

Your seventh is Uncertainty.

Hypocrisy & Stubbornness, your eighth.

Gains, Offerings, Fame, & Status wrongly gained,

and whoever would praise self

& disparage others.

That, Namuci, is your enemy,

the Dark One’s commando force.

A coward can’t defeat it,

but one having defeated it

gains bliss.

Buddha

Padhana Sutta.

I spit on my life.

Death in battle would be better for me

than that I, defeated, survive.

Buddha

Padhana Sutta, on his battle against personification of temptation to evil.

That army of yours,

that the world with its devas can’t overcome,

I will smash with discernment.

Buddha

Padhana Sutta.

Nothing tends toward loss as does an untamed heart.

The untamed heart tends towards loss.

Nothing tends toward growth as does a tamed heart.

The tamed heart tends towards growth.

Nothing brings suffering as does

the untamed, uncontrolled unattended and unrestrained heart.

That heart brings suffering.

Nothing brings joy as does a

tamed, controlled, attended and restrained heart.

This heart brings joy.

Buddha

Anguttara Nikaya.

In a world that has become blind I go to beat the drum of the Deathless.

Buddha

Ariyapariyesana Sutta.

Open are the doors to the Deathless

to those with ears.

Let them show their conviction.

Buddha

Ayacana Sutta.

This itself is the whole of the journey, opening your heart to that which is lovely. Because of their feeling for the lovely, beings who are afraid of birth and death, aging and decaying, are freed from their fear. This is the way you must train yourself: I will become your friend and an intimate of the lovely. To do this I must closely observe and embrace all states of mind that are good.

Buddha

Samyutta Nikaya, The Buddha Speaks by Anne Bancroft.

If a person teaches the way in order to transcend the tyranny of material things and to teach how to transcend feelings, perceptions, impulses, and consciousness–teaching nonattachment with regard to these–then that person can be called a speaker of the way. If he is himself trying to transcend the pull of the material world and to feel nonattachment toward it, then it is fitting to say he is living in accordance with the way. If he is liberated by this transcendence and nonattachment, then you can say he has found nirvana here and now.

Buddha

Samyutta Nikaya, The Buddha Speaks by Anne Bancroft.

A corporeal phenomenon, a feeling, a perception, a mental formation, a consciousness, which is permanent and persistent, eternal and not subject to change, such a thing the wise men in this world do not recognize; and I also say that there is no such thing.

Buddha

Samyutta Nikaya – Buddha, The Word by Paul Carus.

Be it in the past, present, or future, whosoever of the monks or priests regards the delightful and pleasurable things in the world as impermanent, miserable, and without a self, as diseases and cankers, it is he who overcomes craving.

Buddha

Samyutta Nikaya – The Word of the Buddha by Nyanatiloka (Bhikkhu).

Corporeality is transient, feeling is transient, perception is transient, mental formations are transient, consciousness is transient.

Buddha

Samyutta Nikaya – Buddha, The Word by Paul Carus.

Just as a solid rock is not shaken by the storm, even so the wise are not affected by praise or blame.

Buddha

Dhammapada

If a man going down into a river, swollen and swiftly flowing, is carried away by the current – how can he help others across?

Buddha

Sutta Nipata.

One should do what one teaches others to do; if one would train others, one should be well controlled oneself. Difficult, indeed, is self-control.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Easy to do are things that are bad and harmful to oneself. But exceedingly difficult to do are things that are good and beneficial.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

One truly is the protector of oneself; who else could the protector be? With oneself fully controlled, one gains a mastery that is hard to gain.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

With good will for the entire cosmos, cultivate a limitless heart: Above, below, and all around, unobstructed, without hostility or hate.

Buddha

Metta Sutta.

Overcome the angry by non-anger; overcome the wicked by goodness; overcome the miser by generosity; overcome the liar by truth.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

There are those who do not realize that one day we all must die. But those who do realize this settle their quarrels.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

The friend who is a helpmate,

the friend in happiness and woe,

the friend who gives good counsel, the friend who sympathizes too -

these four as friends the wise behold

and cherish them devotedly

as does a mother her own child.

Buddha

Sigalovada Sutta, Digha Nikaya.

Crushing out of the conceit “I am” -

this is the highest happiness.

Buddha

Udana.

Just as a tree, though cut down, sprouts up again if its roots remain uncut and firm, even so, until the craving that lies dormant is rooted out, suffering springs up again and again.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Wonderful it is to train the mind so swiftly moving, seizing whatever it wants. Good is it to have a well-trained mind, for a well-trained mind brings happiness.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Winning gives birth to hostility. Losing, one lies down in pain. The calmed lie down with ease, having set winning and losing aside.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Let no one deceive another

or despise anyone anywhere,

or through anger or irritation

wish for another to suffer.

Buddha

Karaniya Metta Sutta.

Though one may conquer a thousand times a thousand men in battle, yet he indeed is the noblest victor who conquers himself.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

“As I am, so are others; as others are, so am I.” Having thus identified self and others, harm no one nor have them harmed.

Buddha

Sutta Nipata.

Were there a mountain all made of gold,

doubled that would not be enough

to satisfy a single man:

know this and live accordingly.

Buddha

Samyutta Nikaya.

Look not to the faults of others, nor to their omissions and commissions. But rather look to your own acts, to what you have done and left undone.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Knowing that the other person is angry, one who remains mindful and calm acts for his own best interest and for the other’s interest, too.

Buddha

Samyutta Nikaya.

By doing evil, one defiles oneself; by avoiding evil, one purifies oneself. Purity and impurity depend upon oneself: no one can purify another.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

One is not low because of birth nor does birth make one holy. Deeds alone make one low, deeds alone make one holy.

Buddha

Sutta Nipata.

Even when obstacles crowd in, the path to Nibbana can be won by those who establish mindfulness and bring to perfection equipoise.

Buddha

Samyutta Nikaya.

Whatever an enemy might do to an enemy, or a foe to a foe, the ill-directed mind can do to you even worse.

Buddha

Udana.

Think not lightly of evil, saying, “It will not come to me.” Drop by drop is the water pot filled. Likewise, the fool, gathering it little by little, fills himself with e

Buddha

Dhammapada.

I have love for the footless, for the bipeds too I have love; I have love for those with four feet, for the many-footed I have love.

Buddha

Anguttara Nikaya.

Better it is to live one day seeing the rise and fall of things than to live as hundred years without ever seeing the rise and fall of things.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Learn this from the waters: in mountain clefts and chasms, loud gush the streamlets, but great rivers flow silently.

Buddha

Sutta Nipata.

Life is swept along, next-to-nothing its span. For one swept to old age no shelters exist. Perceiving this danger in death, one should drop the world’s bait and look for peace.

Buddha

Samyutta Nikaya.

The past should not be followed after and the future not desired; what is past is dead and gone and the future is yet to come.

Buddha

Majjhima Nikaya.

Make an island of yourself, make yourself your refuge; there is no other refuge. Make truth your island, make truth your refuge; there is no other refuge.

Buddha

Digha Nikaya.

“Impermanent are all compounded things.” When one perceives this with true insight, then one becomes detached from suffering; this is the path of purification,

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Wisdom springs from meditation; without meditation wisdom wanes. Having known these two paths of progress and decline, let a man so conduct himself that his wisdom may increase.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

Just as in the autumn a farmer, ploughing with a large plough cuts through all the spreading rootlets as he ploughs; in the same way, bhikkhus, the perceiving of impermanence, developed and frequently practiced, removes all sensual passion…removes and abolishes all conceit of ‘I am’.

Buddha

Samyutta Nikaya.

The conquest of oneself is better than the conquest of all others.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

By self alone is evil done, by self alone does one suffer.

By self alone is evil left undone, by self alone does one obtain Salvation.

Salvation and Perdition depend upon self; no man can save another.

Buddha

Dhammapada.

It is nature’s law that rivers wind, trees grow wood, and, given the opportunity, women work iniquity.

Buddha

The Jataka.

You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.

Buddha

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.

Buddha

To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent.

Buddha