Philosophical Sayings

Where self is, truth is not. Where truth is, self is not.

We are but guests visiting this world, though most do not know this.

Perform those actions you will never regret: actions that will ripen into future joy and delight.

The fragrance of holiness travels even against the wind.

One who drinks deeply of the Dharma with a clear and open mind, rests well.

Senseless talk brings suffering, for it is thrown right back to you.

All conditioned things have the nature of vanishing.

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

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

When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.

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

I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.

The body, monks, is not self. If the body were the self, this body would not lend itself to dis-ease. It would be possible (to say) with regard to the body, 'Let my body be thus. Let my body not be thus.' But precisely because the body is not self, t…

The virtues, like the Muses, are always seen in groups. A good principle was never found solitary in any breast.

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think.

Irrigators channel waters, fletchers straighten arrows, carpenters bend wood, the wise master themselves.

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

Whatever a monk keeps pursuing with his thinking and pondering, that becomes the inclination of his awareness.

Even as a tree, though cut down, sprouts again if its roots are undamaged and strong, so also, if the roots of craving are not destroyed, suffering ever springs up again and again.

To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a long road to life.