Indian
Spiritual Leader
(563 BC -
483 BC)
"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."
"All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"However many holy words you read, However many you speak, What good will they do you If you do not act on upon them?"
"If anything is worth doing, do it with all your heart."
"In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves."
"It is good to have companions when occasion arises, and it is good to be contented with whatever comes."
"A jug fills drop by drop."
"A kind man who makes good use of wealth is rightly said to possess a great treasure; but the miser who hoards up his riches will have no profit."
"Like a solid rock is not shaken by the wind, so the wise are not moved by praise or blame."
"More than those who hate you, more than all your enemies, an undisciplined mind does greater harm."
"One who conquers himself is greater than another who conquers a thousand times a thousand on the battlefield."
"The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows."
"Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without."
"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly."
"To utter pleasant words without practicing them, is like a fine flower without fragrance."
"We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves."
"When we feel happy and peaceful, our happiness and peace radiates around us, and others can enjoy it as well."
"You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection."
"Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it."
