Dhammapada

If you find an intelligent companion, a wise and well-behaved person going the same way as yourself, then go along with him, overcoming all dangers, pleased at heart and mindful. (Verse 328)

— Dhammapada

Let go of the past, let go of the future, let go of the present, and cross over to the farther shore of existence. With mind wholly liberated, you shall come no more to birth and death. (Verse 348)

— Dhammapada

The monk who is calm in body, calm in speech, calm in thought, well-composed and who has spewn out worldliness — he, truly, is called serene. (Verse 378)

— Dhammapada

When a holy man has reached the summit of two paths (meditative concentration and insight), he knows the truth and all his fetters fall away. (Verse 384)

— Dhammapada

A man does not become a Brahmana by his platted hair, by his family, or by birth; in whom there is truth and righteousness, he is blessed, he is a Brahmana. (Verse 393)

— Dhammapada

Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought. If with an impure mind a person speaks or acts suffering follows him like the wheel that follows the foot of the ox. (Verse 1)

— Dhammapada

"He insulted me, hit me, beat me, robbed me" — for those who brood on this, hostility isn't stilled. "He insulted me, hit me, beat me, robbed me" — for those who don't brood on this, hostility is stilled. Hostilities aren't stilled through hostility, regardless. Hostilities are stilled through non-hostility: this, an unending truth. (Verses 3-5)

— Dhammapada

Some do not understand that we must die, But those who do realize this settle their quarrels. (Verse 6)

— Dhammapada

As rain breaks through an ill-thatched house, passion will break through an unreflecting mind. (Verse 13)

— Dhammapada

Heedfulness is the path to the Deathless. Heedlessness is the path to death. The heedful die not. The heedless are as if dead already. (Verse 21)

— Dhammapada

Earnest among the thoughtless, awake among the sleepers, the wise man advances like a racer, leaving behind the hack. (Verse 29)

— Dhammapada

Just as a fletcher straightens an arrow shaft, even so the discerning man straightens his mind — so fickle and unsteady, so difficult to guard. (Verse 33)

— Dhammapada

Hard to hold down, nimble, alighting wherever it likes: the mind. Its taming is good. The mind well-tamed brings ease. (Verse 35)

— Dhammapada

There is no fear for one whose mind is not filled with desires. (Verse 39)

— Dhammapada

Death carries off a man who is gathering flowers and whose mind is distracted, as a flood carries off a sleeping village. (Verse 47)

— Dhammapada

Let none find fault with others; let none see the omissions and commissions of others. But let one see one’s own acts, done and undone. (Verse 50)

— Dhammapada

Long for the wakeful is the night. Long for the weary, a league. For fools unaware of True Dhamma, samsara is long. (Verse 60)

— Dhammapada

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. (Verse 61)

— Dhammapada

A fool associating himself with a wise man all his life sees not the truth, even as the spoon enjoys not the taste of the soup. (Verse 64)

— Dhammapada

Whatever knowledge the fool acquires is not worked to advantage. That tarnishes his bright share of past merit and throws his head into disarray as he acts in the present. (Verse 72)

— Dhammapada

Should you find a wise critic to point out your faults, follow him as you would a guide to hidden treasure. (Verse 76)

— Dhammapada

Irrigators channel waters; fletchers straighten arrows; carpenters bend wood; the wise master themselves. (Verse 80)

— Dhammapada

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

— Dhammapada

His mind becomes calm. His word and deed are calm. Such is the state of tranquillity of one who has attained to deliverance through the realization of truth. (Verse 96)

— Dhammapada

Greater in battle than the man who would conquer a thousand-thousand men, is he who would conquer just one — himself. (Verse 103)

— Dhammapada

Better it is to live one day wise and meditative than to live a hundred years foolish and uncontrolled. (Verse 111)

— Dhammapada

If a man commits evil let him not repeat it again and again; let him not delight in it, for the accumulation of sin brings suffering. (Verse 117)

— Dhammapada

Should a person do good, let him do it again and again. Let him find pleasure therein, for blissful is the accumulation of good. (Verse 118)

— Dhammapada

Drop by drop is the water pot filled. Likewise, the wise man, gathering it little by little, fills himself with good. (Verse 122)

— Dhammapada

All tremble at the rod, all are fearful of death. Drawing the parallel to yourself, neither kill nor get others to kill. (Verse 129)

— Dhammapada

How is there laughter, how is there joy, as this world is always burning? Why do you not seek a light, ye who are surrounded by darkness? (Verse 146)

— Dhammapada

Behold this body — a painted image, a mass of heaped up sores, infirm, full of hankering — of which nothing is lasting or stable! (Verse 147)

— Dhammapada

Worn out is this body, a nest of diseases, dissolving. This putrid conglomeration is bound to break up, for life is hemmed in with death.

— Dhammapada

Looking for the maker of this tabernacle, I shall have to run through a course of many births, so long as I do not find (him); and painful is birth again and again. But now, maker of the tabernacle, thou hast been seen; thou shalt not make up this tabernacle again. All thy rafters are broken, thy ridge-pole is sundered; the mind, approaching the Eternal (visankhara, nirvana), has attained to the extinction of all desires. (Verses 153-154)

— 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. (Verse 160)

— Dhammapada

This world is blind! There are so few Who see things as they truly are. Come, take a good look at this world, Pretty like a king's chariot. Though fools become immersed in it, For the wise there's no attachment. See how much it's like a bubble! See how much it's like a mirage! The king of death does not see one Who regards the world in this way. Rouse yourself! And don't be lazy. Follow the good ways of dhamma. (Verses 168-174)

— Dhammapada

To avoid all evil, to cultivate good, and to cleanse one's mind — this is the teaching of the Buddhas. (Verse 183)

— Dhammapada

He who pays homage to those who are worthy of homage, be they the Enlightened Ones or Their Disciples — those who have overcome the host of evil and crossed beyond the stream of sorrow — he who pays homage to the Fearless and Peaceful Ones, his merit cannot be measured by any. (Verse 195-196)

— Dhammapada

Let us live happily then, not hating those who hate us! among men who hate us let us dwell free from hatred! (Verse 197)

— Dhammapada

Victory begets enmity; the defeated dwell in pain. Happily the peaceful live, discarding both victory and defeat. (Verse 201)

— Dhammapada

There is no fire like lust and no crime like hatred. There is no ill like the aggregates (of existence) and no bliss higher than the peace (of Nibbana). (Verse 202)

— Dhammapada

Health is the greatest gift, contentment is the greatest wealth, a trusted friend is the best relative, Nibbana is the greatest bliss. (Verse 202)

— Dhammapada

As kinsmen welcome a dear one on arrival, even so his own good deeds will welcome the doer of good who has gone from this world to the next. (Verse 220)

— Dhammapada

One, who controls his anger when aroused, is like a clever driver who controls a fast going carriage; the others are like those who merely hold the reins.

— Dhammapada

Conquer the hateful man with love; conquer the bad man with goodness; conquer the miser with generosity; conquer the liar with truth. (Verse 223)

— Dhammapada

Give, even if you only have a little. (Verse 224)

— Dhammapada

Let a wise man blow off the impurities of his self, as a smith blows off the impurities of silver one by one, little by little, and from time to time. (Verse 239)

— Dhammapada

To pass judgment hurriedly doesn’t mean you’re a judge. The wise one, weighing both the right judgment & wrong, judges others impartially — unhurriedly, in line with the Dhamma, guarding the Dhamma, guarded by Dhamma, intelligent: he’s called a judge. (Verses 256-257)

— Dhammapada

One is not a learned man by virtue of much speaking. He who is patient, without anger and fearless, he is to be called learned. (Verse 258)

— Dhammapada

One is not a bearer of the teaching by virtue of much speaking, but he who, even if he has only studied a little, has experienced the truth in person, he is indeed a bearer of the teaching, who has not forgotten the teaching. (Verse 259)

— Dhammapada

Of paths, the eightfold is best. Of truths, the four sayings. Of qualities, dispassion. Of two-footed beings, the one with the eyes to see. (Verse 273)

— Dhammapada

"All conditioned things are impermanent" — when one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering. This is the path to purification. (Verse 277)

— Dhammapada

If by leaving a small pleasure one sees a great pleasure, let a wise man leave the small pleasure, and look to the great. (Verse 290)

— Dhammapada

In the same way that a wrongly handled blade of grass will cut one's hand, so a badly fulfilled life in religion will drag one down to hell. (Verse 311)

— Dhammapada

Trained mules are excellent, and so are thoroughbred horses from the Sindh, and so are great battle elephants, but more excellent than them all is a disciplined man. (Verse 322)

— Dhammapada