Buddha Quotes

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.

Meditation brings wisdom; lack of mediation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what hold you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom.

You only lose what you cling to.

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

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

A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure.

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.

All that we are is the result of what we have thought.

There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills.

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

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

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

Wherever there is possession of marks, there is fraud ; wherever there is no-possession of no-marks, there is no fraud. Hence the Tathagata is to be seen from no-marks as marks.

There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth...not going all the way, and not starting.

The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed.

Not one or two, Subhuti, not one or two, but all the beings - men, women, animals, birds, trees, rocks. All the beings in the world. One should create such a determination that `I will lead all of them into nirvana`.

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.

The greatest gift is to give people your enlightenment, to share it. It has to be the greatest.

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

My doctrine is not a doctrine but just a vision. I have not given you any set rules, I have not given you a system.

To support mother and father, to cherish wife and child and to have a simple livelihood; this is the good luck.

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

You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.

On the contrary, Subhuti, those Bodhisattvas who, when these words of the sutra are being taught, will find even one single thought of serene faith, will be such as have honoured many hundreds of thousands of Buddhas, such as have planted their roots

Someone who has set out in the vehicle of a Bodhisattva should decide that `I must lead all the beings to nirvana, into that realm of nirvana which leaves nothing behind`. What is this realm of nirvana which leaves nothing behind ?

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

What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.

What we think, we become.

Unity can only be manifested by the Binary. Unity itself and the idea of Unity are already two.

Born out of concern for all beings.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

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

It is to see the faults of others, but difficult to see once own faults. One shows the faults of others like chaff winnowed in the wind, but one conceals one`s own faults as a cunning gambler conceals his dice.

I am the miracle.

Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes.

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.

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

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.

Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn`t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn`t learn a little, at least we didn`t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn`t die; so, let us all be thankful.

Anger will never disappear so long as thoughts of resentment are cherished in the mind. Anger will disappear just as soon as thoughts of resentment are forgotten.

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

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.

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

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.