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Attachment (Buddhism)7 quotes
Even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment is to go astray. — Jianzhi Sengcan · 606The Noble Truth of Suffering is this: Birth is suffering, aging is suffering; sickness is suffering; death is suffering; sorror and lamentation, pain, grief and despair are suffering; association with the unpleasant is suffering; dissociation from the pleasant is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering-in brief, the five aggregates of attachment are suffering. — Pali Tipitaka · 100 BCThe person who is searching for his own happiness should pull out the dart that he has stuck in himself, the arrow-head of grieving, of desiring, of despair. — Pali Tipitaka · 100 BCThose who are contented and at ease when the occasion comes and live in accord with the course of Nature cannot be affected by sorrow or joy. This is what the ancients called release from bondage. Those who cannot release themselves are so because they are bound by material things. — Zhuang Zhou · 221 BCOnly by love can men see me, and know me and come unto me. He who works for me, who loves me, whose End Supreme I am, free from attachment to all things, and with love for all creation, he in truth comes unto me. — Bhagavad Gita · 200 BCWhen in recollection he withdraws all his senses from the attractions of the pleasures of sense, even as a tortoise withdraws all his limbs, then his is a serene wisdom. — Bhagavad Gita · 200 BCAll 7 quotes →Letting go4 quotes
Leave all things behind, and come unto me for thy salvation. I will make thee free from this bondage of sins. Fear no more. — Bhagavad Gita · 200 BCIf you try to change it, you will ruin it. Try to hold it, and you will lose it. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCLet people hold on to these:
Manifest plainness,
Embrace simplicity,
Reduce selfishness,
Have few desires. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCThose who are contented and at ease when the occasion comes and live in accord with the course of Nature cannot be affected by sorrow or joy. This is what the ancients called release from bondage. Those who cannot release themselves are so because they are bound by material things. — Zhuang Zhou · 221 BCSelf-improvement4 quotes
Is Goodness indeed so far away? If we really wanted Goodness, we should find that it was at our very side. — Confucius · 221 BCIn the presence of a good man, think all the time how you may learn to equal him. In the presence of a bad man, turn your gaze within. — Confucius · 221 BCIf you find a man who points out faults and who reproves, follow such a wise person as you would a guide to hidden treasure. — Gautama Buddha · 520 BCTo pursue it is to be human, to give it up is to be a beast. — Xunxi · 250 BCDeath3 quotes
Invisible before birth are all beings and after death invisible again. They are seen between two unseens. Why in this truth find sorrow? — Bhagavad Gita · 200 BCAs a man leaves an old garment and puts on one that is new, the spirit leaves his mortal body and puts on one that is new. — Bhagavad Gita · 200 BCIf any man thinks he slays, and if another thinks he is slain, neither knows the ways of truth. The Eternal in man cannot kill: the Eternal in man cannot die. He is never born, and he never dies. He is in Eternity, he is for evermore. Never-born and eternal, beyond times gone or to come, he does not die when the body dies. — Bhagavad Gita · 200 BCImpermanence3 quotes
Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud.
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream. — Nagarjuna · 180Is It fitting to consider what is impermanent, painful, and subject to change as, "This is mine, this am I, this is my self"? — Pali Tipitaka · 100 BCFrom the days of old there is no permanence. The sleeping and the dead, how alike they are, they are like a painted death. What is there between the master and the servant when both have fulfilled their doom? — The Epic of Gilgamesh · 1000 BCMan and animals3 quotes
People suppose that words are different from the peeps of baby birds, but is there any difference, or isn't there? — Zhuang Zhou · 220 BCAll breathing, existing, living, sentient creatures should not be slain, nor treated with violence, nor abused, not tormented, nor driven away. This is the pure, unchangeable, eternal law. — Jaina Sutras · 500 BCThis is the quintessence of wisdom: not to kill anything. Know this to be the legitimate conclusion from the principle of the reciprocity with regard to non-killing. — Jaina Sutras · 300 BCPatience3 quotes
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCNature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCDo you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear? — Lao Tzu · 400 BCPeople are basically good3 quotes
The tendency of man's nature to good is like the tendency of water to flow downwards. — Mencius · 300 BCBenevolence, righteousness, propriety, and knowledge are not infused into us from without. — Mencius · 300 BCAll men have in themselves that which is truly honorable. Only they do not think of it. — Mencius · 300 BCPersonal growth3 quotes
Is Goodness indeed so far away? If we really wanted Goodness, we should find that it was at our very side. — Confucius · 221 BCIf a man should conquer in battle a thousand and a thousand more, and another man should conquer himself, his would be the greater victory, because the greatest of victories is the victory over oneself. — Pali Tipitaka · 100 BCThough bitter, good medicine cures illness. Though it may hurt, loyal criticism will have beneficial effects. — Sima Qian · 109 BCSeeking3 quotes
Even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment is to go astray. — Jianzhi Sengcan · 606The person who is searching for his own happiness should pull out the dart that he has stuck in himself, the arrow-head of grieving, of desiring, of despair. — Pali Tipitaka · 100 BCPeople of this world are deluded. They're always longing for something-always, in a word, seeking. — Bodhidharma · 528 BCSuffering3 quotes
The Noble Truth of Suffering is this: Birth is suffering, aging is suffering; sickness is suffering; death is suffering; sorror and lamentation, pain, grief and despair are suffering; association with the unpleasant is suffering; dissociation from the pleasant is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering-in brief, the five aggregates of attachment are suffering. — Pali Tipitaka · 100 BCThe Noble Truth of the Path leading to the Cessation of suffering is this: It is simply the Noble Eightfold Path, namely right view; right thought; right speech; right action; right livelihood; right effort; right mindfulness; right concentration. — Pali Tipitaka · 100 BCBirth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering. — Gautama Buddha · 510 BCCriticism2 quotes
If you find a man who points out faults and who reproves, follow such a wise person as you would a guide to hidden treasure. — Gautama Buddha · 520 BCThough bitter, good medicine cures illness. Though it may hurt, loyal criticism will have beneficial effects. — Sima Qian · 109 BCDesire2 quotes
When in recollection he withdraws all his senses from the attractions of the pleasures of sense, even as a tortoise withdraws all his limbs, then his is a serene wisdom. — Bhagavad Gita · 200 BCPeople of this world are deluded. They're always longing for something-always, in a word, seeking. — Bodhidharma · 528 BCDoing less2 quotes
Let people hold on to these:
Manifest plainness,
Embrace simplicity,
Reduce selfishness,
Have few desires. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCThe pursuit of learning is to increase day after day.
The pursuit of Tao is to decrease day after day.
It is to decrease and further decrease until one reaches the point of taking no action.
No action is undertaken, and yet nothing is left undone. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCEnemies2 quotes
Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be defeated. — Sun Tzu · 475 BCThe enemy of my enemy is my friend. — Kautilya · 300 BCEquality in friendship2 quotes
Have no friends who are not of equal (moral) caliber. — Confucius · 221 BCFriendship with a man is friendship with his virtue, and does not admit of assumptions of superiority. — Mencius · 300 BCFriendship2 quotes
Have no friends who are not of equal (moral) caliber. — Confucius · 221 BCFriendship with a man is friendship with his virtue, and does not admit of assumptions of superiority. — Mencius · 300 BCGod2 quotes
I am all-powerful Time which destroys all things, and I have come here to slay these men. Even if thou dost not fight, all the warriors facing thee shall die. — Krishna · 200 BCGod dwells in the heart of all beings, Arjuna: thy God dwells in thy heart. And his power of wonder moves all things-puppets in a play of shadows-whirling them onwards on the stream of time. — Bhagavad Gita · 200 BCHuman nature2 quotes
The tendency of man's nature to good is like the tendency of water to flow downwards. — Mencius · 300 BCBenevolence, righteousness, propriety, and knowledge are not infused into us from without. — Mencius · 300 BCIgnorance2 quotes
He who knows does not speak.
He who speaks does not know. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCAll men have in themselves that which is truly honorable. Only they do not think of it. — Mencius · 300 BCLove2 quotes
For hate is not conquered by hate: hate is conquered by love. This is a law eternal. — Pali Tipitaka · 100 BCOnly by love can men see me, and know me and come unto me. He who works for me, who loves me, whose End Supreme I am, free from attachment to all things, and with love for all creation, he in truth comes unto me. — Bhagavad Gita · 200 BCMilitary strategy2 quotes
Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate. — Sun Tzu · 490 BCTo fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting. — Sun Tzu · 500 BCNature2 quotes
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCDoes Heaven say anything? The four seasons run their course and all things are produced. Does Heaven say anything? — Confucius · 221 BCOpenness to criticism2 quotes
If you find a man who points out faults and who reproves, follow such a wise person as you would a guide to hidden treasure. — Gautama Buddha · 520 BCThough bitter, good medicine cures illness. Though it may hurt, loyal criticism will have beneficial effects. — Sima Qian · 109 BCPolitical theory2 quotes
The root of the kingdom is the state. The root of the state is in the family. The root of the family is in the person of its head. — Mencius · 300 BCThe people turn to a benevolent rule as water flows downwards, and as wild beasts fly to the wilderness. — Mencius · 300 BCReincarnation2 quotes
As the Spirit of our mortal body wanders on in childhood, and youth and old age, the Spirit wanders on to a new body: of this the sage has no doubts. — Bhagavad Gita · 200 BCAs a man leaves an old garment and puts on one that is new, the spirit leaves his mortal body and puts on one that is new. — Bhagavad Gita · 200 BCSelf-knowledge2 quotes
Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be defeated. — Sun Tzu · 475 BCHe who knows others is wise;
He who knows himself is enlightened. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCTao2 quotes
The pursuit of learning is to increase day after day.
The pursuit of Tao is to decrease day after day.
It is to decrease and further decrease until one reaches the point of taking no action.
No action is undertaken, and yet nothing is left undone. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCThe Tao that can be told of is not the eternal Tao;
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The Nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth;
The Named is the mother of all things. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCThe human condition2 quotes
The Noble Truth of Suffering is this: Birth is suffering, aging is suffering; sickness is suffering; death is suffering; sorror and lamentation, pain, grief and despair are suffering; association with the unpleasant is suffering; dissociation from the pleasant is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering-in brief, the five aggregates of attachment are suffering. — Pali Tipitaka · 100 BCBirth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering. — Gautama Buddha · 510 BCWisdom2 quotes
If we are not yet able to serve man, how can we serve spiritual beings?... If we do not yet know about life how can we know about death? — Confucius · 221 BCThis is the quintessence of wisdom: not to kill anything. Know this to be the legitimate conclusion from the principle of the reciprocity with regard to non-killing. — Jaina Sutras · 300 BC