Ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals.
The virtues, like the Muses, are always seen in groups. A good principle was never found solitary in any breast.
To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others.
A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker.
The wise ones fashioned speech with their thought, sifting it as grain is sifted through a sieve.
Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.
Both formerly and now, it is only suffering that I describe, and the cessation of suffering.
If a man going down into a river, swollen and swiftly flowing, is carried away by the current – how can he help others across?
The world is afflicted by death and decay. But the wise do not grieve, having realized the nature of the world.
The calmed say that what is well-spoken is best; second, that one should say what is right, not unrighteous; third, what’s pleasing, not displeasing; fourth, what is true, not false.
When watching after yourself, you watch after others. When watching after others, you watch after yourself.
He who can curb his wrath as soon as it arises, as a timely antidote will check snake’s venom that so quickly spreads, – such a monk gives up the here and the beyond, just as a serpent sheds its worn-out skin.
Know from the rivers in clefts and in crevices: those in small channels flow noisily, the great flow silent. Whatever’s not full makes noise. Whatever is full is quiet.
Don’t give way to heedlessness or to intimacy with sensual delight – for a heedful person, absorbed in jhana, attains an abundance of ease.
Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts. Develop the mind of equilibrium. You will always be getting praise and blame, but do not let either affect the poise of the mind: follow the calmness, the absence of pride.
These teachings are like a raft, to be abandoned once you have crossed the flood. Since you should abandon even good states of mind generated by these teachings, How much more so should you abandon bad states of mind!
One should follow a man of wisdom who rebukes one for one’s faults, as one would follow a guide to some buried treasure. To one who follows such a wise man, it will be an advantage and not a disadvantage.
A brahmin once asked The Blessed One: “Are you a God?” “No, brahmin” said The Blessed One. “Are you a saint?” “No, brahmin” said The Blessed One. “Are you a magician?” “No, brahmin” said The Blessed One. “What are you then?” “I am awake.”
See the truth, and you will see me.
Let your love flow outward through the universe, To its height, its depth, its broad extent, A limitless love, without hatred or enmity. Then as you stand or walk, Sit or lie down, As long as you are awake, Strive for this with a one-pointed mind; Your life will bring heaven to earth.