Quotations - Buddha

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Quotations --- Buddha

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

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.

It is better to travel well than to arrive.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.

The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.

What we think, we become.

A jug fills drop by drop.

An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.

Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence.

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 them?

I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.

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.

Hatred does not cease through hatred at any time. Hatred ceases through love. This is an unalterable law.

Have compassion for all beings, rich and poor alike; each has their suffering. Some suffer too much, others too little.

In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.

Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.

To understand everything is to forgive everything.

You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.

Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.

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

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

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.

To keep the body in good health is a duty … otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.

Without health life is not life; it is only a state of languor and suffering, an image of death.

He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye.

Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.

Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.

On life’s journey faith is nourishment, virtuous deeds are a shelter, wisdom is the light by day and right mindfulness is the protection by night. If a man lives a pure life, nothing can destroy him.

There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it.

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

You cannot travel the path until you have become the path itself.

Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.

Ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals.

All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can wrong-doing remain?

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.

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

He is able who thinks he is able.

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

The mind is everything. What you think you become.

Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.

Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.

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.

Virtue is persecuted more by the wicked than it is loved by the good.

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.

No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.

Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on 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.

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.

The tongue like a sharp knife … Kills without drawing blood.

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.

Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.

Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant with the weak and wrong. Sometime in your life, you will have been all of these.

A man is not called wise because he talks and talks; but if he is peaceful, loving and fearless then he is in truth called wise.

Do not look for a sanctuary in anyone except yourself.

As rain falls equally on the just and the unjust, do not burden your heart with judgements but rain your kindness equally on all.

Meditate.
Live purely. Be quiet.
Do your work with mastery.
Like the moon, come out
from behind the clouds!
Shine

Nothing can harm you as much as your own thoughts unguarded.

If we fail to look after others when they need help, who will look after us?

Purity or impurity depends on oneself,
No one can purify another.

Set your heart on doing good. Do it over and over again, and you will be filled with joy.

Our life is a creation of our mind.

Conquer anger by love, evil by good; conquer the miser with liberality, and the liar with truth.

Even as a solid rock is unshaken by the wind, so are the wise unshaken by praise or blame.

Those who have failed to work toward the truth have missed the purpose of living.

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

Long is the night to him who is awake; long is a mile to him who is tired; long is life to the foolish who do not know the true law.

Praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and sorrow come and go like the wind. To be happy, rest like a giant tree in the midst of them all.

Kindness should become the natural way of life, not the exception.

You are the community now. Be a lamp for yourselves. Be your own refuge. Seek for no other. All things must pass. Strive on diligently. Don’t give up.

A family is a place where minds come in contact with one another. If these minds love one another the home will be as beautiful as a flower garden. But if these minds get out of harmony with one another it is like a storm that plays havoc with the garden.

If a traveller does not meet with one who is his better, or his equal, let him firmly keep to his solitary journey; there is no companionship with a fool.

Speak the truth, do not become angered, and give when asked, even be it a little. By these three conditions one goes to the presence of the gods.

To become vegetarian is to step into the stream which leads to nirvana.

To force oneself to believe and to accept a thing without understanding is political, and not spiritual or intellectual.

If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path.

Make of yourself a light.

The one who has conquered himself is a far greater hero than he who has defeated a thousand times a thousand men.

People with opinions just go around bothering one another.

True love is born from understanding.

There isn't enough darkness in all the world to snuff out the light of one little candle.

Remembering a wrong is like carrying a burden on the mind.

What you are is what you have been. What you'll be is what you do now.

More than those who hate you, more than all your enemies, an undisciplined mind does greater harm.

What is evil? Killing is evil, lying is evil, slandering is evil, abuse is evil, gossip is evil, envy is evil, hatred is evil, to cling to false doctrine is evil; all these things are evil. And what is the root of evil? Desire is the root of evil, illusion is the root of evil.

If you propose to speak always ask yourself, is it true, is it necessary, is it kind.

Greed is an imperfection that defiles the mind; hate is an imperfection that defiles the mind; delusion is an imperfection that defiles the mind.

All descriptions of reality are temporary hypotheses.

A man asked Gautama Buddha, "I want happiness."
Buddha said, "First remove "I," that's Ego, then remove "want," that's Desire.
See now you are left with only "Happiness.”

Learn this from water: loud splashes the brook but the ocean's depths are calm.

The forest is a peculiar organism of unlimited kindness and benevolence that makes no demands for its sustenance and extends generously the products of its life activity; it affords protection to all beings, offering shade even to the axe-man who destroys it.

“Through countless births in the cycle of existence
I have run, not finding
although seeking the builder of this house;
and again and again I faced the suffering of new birth.
Oh housebuilder! Now you are seen.

You shall not build a house again for me.
All your beams are broken,
the ridgepole is shattered.
The mind has become freed from conditioning:
the end of craving has been reached.”

We are what we think, having become what we thought.

“The non-doing of any evil,
the performance of what's skillful,
the cleansing of one's own mind:
this is the teaching of the Awakened. ”

Victory breeds hatred. The defeated live in pain. Happily the peaceful live,
giving up victory and defeat.

The virtuous man delights in this world and he delights in the next.

Ennui has made more gamblers than avarice, more drunkards than thirst, and perhaps as many suicides as despair.

Contentment is the greatest wealth.

Imagine that every person in the world is enlightened but you. They are all your teachers, each doing just the right things to help you learn perfect patience, perfect wisdom, perfect compassion.

Awake. Be the witness of your thoughts. You are what observes, not what you observe.

Be a lamp unto yourself. Work out your liberation with diligence.

“Not merely by rules of conduct and religious observances, nor by much learning either, nor even by attainment of concentration, nor by sleeping alone, do I reach the happiness of freedom, to which no worldlings attain. If you have not put an end to compulsions, nurse your faith”

Our theories of the eternal are as valuable as are those that a chick which has not broken its way through its shell might form of the outside world.

Therefore, be ye lamps unto yourselves, be 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.

As a flower that is lovely and beautiful, but is scentless, even so fruitless is the well-spoken word of one who practices it not.

The teaching is simple. Do what is right. Be Pure.

Those who consider the inessential to be essential
And see the essential as inessential Don't reach the essential,
Living in the field of wrong intention.

If it is not truthful and not helpful, don't say it.
If it is truthful and not helpful, don't say it.
If it is not truthful yet helpful, don't say it.
If it is truthful and helpful, wait for the right time.

“Monks, even if bandits were to savagely sever you, limb by limb, with a double-handled saw, even then, whoever of you harbors ill will at heart would not be upholding my Teaching. Monks, even in such a situation you should train yourselves thus: 'Neither shall our minds be affected by this, nor for this matter shall we give vent to evil words, but we shall remain full of concern and pity, with a mind of love, and we shall not give in to hatred. On the contrary, we shall live projecting thoughts of universal love to those very persons, making them as well as the whole world the object of our thoughts of universal love — thoughts that have grown great, exalted and measureless. We shall dwell radiating these thoughts which are void of hostility and ill will.' It is in this way, monks, that you should train yourselves.”

Be happy. You never know how much time you have left.

You have two choices: to control your mind, or let your mind control you.

People may not tell you how they feel about you, but they always show you. Pay attention.

You are not born a winner. You are not born a loser. You are born a chooser.

Karma has no menu. You get served what you deserve.

It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.

When you are wrong, admit it. When you are right, be quiet.

Today I will not stress over things I cannot control. Today I choose peace.

Never reply when you are angry. Never make a promise when you are happy. Never make a decision when you are sad.

When the ego dies, the soul awakes.

Help people even when you know they can’t help you back.

Sun is alone, too. But it still shines.

Before you say something to someone, always think about how you would feel if someone told you the same thing.

Nothing will bring you greater peace than minding your own business.

Don’t tell people your plans, show them your results.

Everything happens for a reason. Don’t question it, trust it.

Wake up with determination. Go to bed with satisfaction.

Keep your distance from people who will never admit they are wrong and always try to make you feel like it’s all your fault.

Once you feel like you are avoided by someone, never disturb them again.

Be the same person privately, publically and personally.

Beautiful people are not always good, but good people are always good.

Don’t judge others, because you are not perfect.

Leaders don’t force people to follow. They invite them on a journey.

You can’t change how people feel about you, so don’t try. Just live your life and be happy.

Anyone can say they care. But watch their actions, not their words.

Always be thankful for what you have. Many people have nothing.

Speak only when you feel your words are better than your silence.

Beauty is not in the face. Beauty is a light in the heart.

Stop expecting. Start accepting. Life becomes much easier.

Without struggle, success has no value.

Search a beautiful heart, not a beautiful face. Beautiful things are not always good, but good things are always beautiful.

The root of all suffering is attachment.

Your thoughts influence your feelings. Your feelings influence your actions. Your actions create the life that you live.

Confuse them with your silence. Amaze them with your actions.

We are all here for reason. Stop being a prisoner of your past. Become the architect of your future.

If people say something bad about you, judge you as if they know you, don’t feel bad. Just remember “Dog’s bark if they don’t know the person.”

Everything heals. Your body heals. Your heart heals. Wounds heal. Your soul repairs itself. Your happiness is always going to come back.

Don’t wait for someone to bring you flowers. Plant your own garden and decorate your own soul.

Life will keep bringing you the same test over and over again until you pass it.

Don’t take revenge. Let karma do all the work.

Hard times will always reveal true friends.

If you focus on the Hurt, you will continue to suffer. If you focus on the lesson, you will continue to grow.

When you really pay attention, everything is your teacher.

Don’t waste your time trying to impress others.

The goal of meditation isn’t to control your thoughts. It is to stop letting them control you.

Never judge people by their past. People learn. People change. People move on.

Beautiful things happen when you distance yourself from the negative.

Never believe you are above or below anyone. Keep a humble spirit.

If you don’t care what people think, you already passed the first step of success.

Don’t blame others for disappointing you. Blame yourself for expecting too much from them.

Don’t close the book when bad things happen in your life. Just turn the page and begin a new chapter.

How people treat you is their karma. How you react is yours.

When you build in silence, they don’t know what to attack.

Understand that .... you own nothing. Everything that surrounds you is temporary. Only the love in your heart will last forever.

Time decides who you meet in life. Your heart decides who you want in your life. Your behavior decides who stays in your life.

Not everyone is replaceable. Be careful who you are hurting.

No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.

People are not addicted to alcohol or drugs. They are addicted to escaping reality.

The person who masters himself through self-control and discipline is truly undefeatable.

The hardest test in life is the patience to wait for the right moment.

Don’t be a beggar of love. Be a donor of love. Beautiful people are not always good, but good people are always beautiful.

Apologize for being wrong, not for being honest.

Some of the best advice you will ever get will come from your gut instinct.

Don’t cry over the past. It’s gone. Don’t stress about the future. It hasn’t arrived. Live in the present and make it beautiful.

Pain makes your stronger. Fear makes you braver. Heartbreak makes you wiser. So thank the past for a better future.

Sometimes the best thing you can do is keep your mouth shut and your eyes open. The truth always comes out in the end. Be strong enough to focus on what truly matters.

Once you become fearless, life becomes limitless.

One kind word can change someone’s entire day.

Silence isn’t empty. It’s full of answers.

When the wrong people leave your life, the right things start to happen.

Standing alone doesn’t mean I am wrong. It means I am strong enough to handle things all by myself.

Love doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to be true.

The more you control something, the more it controls you. Free yourself and let things take their own natural course.

A happy person is happy, not because everything is right in his life. He is happy because his attitude towards everything in his life is right.

Love is not what you say. Love is what you do.

Three things cannot be long hidden. The sun, the moon, and the truth.

To get over the past, you first have to accept that the past is over. No matter how many times you revisit it, analyze it, regret it, or sweat it ... it’s over. It can hurt you no more.

Anything that makes you weak — physically, mentally, or spiritually — reject it as poison.

Whenever you let go, you create space for better things.

In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you loved, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.

Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let fear stop you.

Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.

If a drop of water falls in a lake there is no identity. But if it falls on a leaf it shines. So choose the best place where your ability shines.

Our destiny is not created by the shoes we wear, but by the steps we take.

Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.

Happiness does not depend on what you have or who you are. It depends solely on what you think.

Don’t compare your life with others. There is no comparison between the sun and the moon. They shine when it is their turn.

The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.

The past cannot be changed, forgotten, edited, or erased. It can only be accepted.

Be where you are. Otherwise you will miss your life.

Do good for others. It will come back in unexpected ways.

Peace begins when expectations end.

Accept it, fix it, or let it go.

To be young and wise you must first be young and stupid.

There are two types of pain in this world: pain that hurts you, and pain that changes you.

When you tell the truth, it becomes part of your past. But if you lie, it becomes part of your future.

The best ornament is Humility.

The richest wealth is Wisdom.

The strongest weapon is Patience.

The best security is Faith.

The best tonic is Laughter.

Silence is always better than nonsense.

No matter how much you revisit the past, there is nothing new to see there.

Do everything with a good heart and expect nothing in return, and you will never be disappointed.

Raise your actions, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.

Family is not about blood. It is about who is willing to hold your hand when you need it the most.

Life is about balance. Be kind, but don’t let people abuse you. Trust, but don’t be deceived. Be content, but never stop improving yourself.

Arguing with stupid people is like trying to kill the mosquito on your cheek. You may or may not kill it, but you will slap yourself.

Love is powerful no matter how it starts or how long it lasts.

Everything in your life is a result of a choice you have made. If you want a different result, make a different choice.

Don’t judge people. You never know what kind of battle they are fighting.

Don’t be jealous of anyone. Don’t compete with anyone. Just focus on becoming the best version of yourself.

You can’t change a person who doesn’t see an issue in their actions.

A beautiful way of living isn’t a place but a state of mind.

You learn nothing from life if you think you are right all the time!

Sometimes letting things go is a act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.

There are four very important words in life: Love, Honesty, Truth, and Respect. Without these in your life, you have nothing.

Don’t be a slave to your emotions.

The most dangerous creature on earth is a fake friend.

Life is such a great teacher that when you don’t learn a lesson, it will repeat it.

Before you speak, let your words pass through three gates: Is it true? Is it necessary? Is it kind?

Worry means the mind is controlling you. Worry is always pointless. A solution never comes out of worry.

Don’t believe those who tell you they love you. Believe those who show you they do.

Love is not what you say. Love is what you do.

There are two ways to be happy: Change your situation, or change your mindset towards it.

Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% of how you react to it.