All from the Dhammapada, the best-loved collection of the Buddha’s sayings, in F. Max Müller’s translation (1881). Numbers are verse numbers.
“All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts.”Dhammapada 1
The mind shapes the life; tend the mind.
“Hatred does not cease by hatred at any time: hatred ceases by love — this is an old rule.”Dhammapada 5
Only love ends the cycle of revenge.
“Not the perversities of others, not their sins of commission or omission, but his own misdeeds and negligences should a sage take notice of.”Dhammapada 50
Watch your own conduct before others’.
“As a solid rock is not shaken by the wind, wise people falter not amidst blame and praise.”Dhammapada 81
Steadiness does not depend on what people say.
“Even though a speech be a thousand (of words), but made up of senseless words, one word of sense is better, which if a man hears, he becomes quiet.”Dhammapada 100
One true word outweighs a flood of empty ones.
“If one man conquer in battle a thousand times thousand men, and if another conquer himself, he is the greatest of conquerors.”Dhammapada 103
The hardest victory is over yourself.
“Self is the lord of self, who else could be the lord?”Dhammapada 160
No one else can master you for you.
“Not to commit any sin, to do good, and to purify one’s mind, that is the teaching of (all) the Awakened.”Dhammapada 183
The whole path in one line.
“Health is the greatest of gifts, contentedness the best riches; trust is the best of relationships, Nirvana the highest happiness.”Dhammapada 204
The best things are not bought.
“Let a man overcome anger by love, let him overcome evil by good; let him overcome the greedy by liberality, the liar by truth!”Dhammapada 223
Answer each fault with its opposite virtue.
“The fault of others is easily perceived, but that of oneself is difficult to perceive.”Dhammapada 252
We see clearly everywhere except in the mirror.
More verses of the Dhammapada, in Bhikkhu Sujato’s plain modern English, which he has given to the public domain. Read the whole collection free on SuttaCentral.
“Heedfulness is the state free of death; heedlessness is the state of death. The heedful do not die, while the heedless are like the dead.”Dhammapada 21
Attention is what keeps a life awake.
“The mind quivers and quakes, hard to guard, hard to curb. The discerning straighten it out, like a fletcher an arrow.”Dhammapada 33
The restless mind can be trained, like an arrow made straight.
“Hard to hold back, flighty, alighting where it will; it’s good to tame the mind; a tamed mind leads to bliss.”Dhammapada 35
A trained mind is the source of real ease.
“A rightly directed mind would do you more good than your mother or father or any other relative.”Dhammapada 43
Your own well-directed mind helps you more than anyone else can.
“Regard one who sees your faults as a guide to a hidden treasure. Stay close to one so intelligent and astute who curbs you when you need it. Sticking close to such an impartial person, things get better, not worse.”Dhammapada 76
Treasure the friend who tells you your faults.
“While irrigators guide water, fletchers bend arrows straight, and carpenters bend timber straight, the astute tame themselves.”Dhammapada 80
Craftsmen shape their materials; the wise shape themselves.
“Think not lightly of evil, that it won’t come back to you. The pot is filled with water falling drop by drop; the fool is filled with wickedness piled up bit by bit.”Dhammapada 121
Small wrongs add up, drop by drop.
“All tremble at the rod, all fear death. Treating others like oneself, neither kill nor incite to kill.”Dhammapada 129
Everyone fears pain and death; treat others as yourself.
“For it is by oneself that evil’s done, one is corrupted by oneself. It’s by oneself that evil’s not done, one is purified by oneself. Purity and impurity are personal matters, no one can purify another.”Dhammapada 165
No one can make you pure but you.
“Let us live so very happily, loving among the hostile. Among hostile humans, let us live with love.”Dhammapada 197
Answer hostility by going on loving.
“Victory breeds enmity; the defeated sleep badly. The peaceful sleep at ease, having left victory and defeat behind.”Dhammapada 201
Winning makes enemies; peace sleeps well.
“You yourselves must do the work, the Realized Ones just show the way. Meditators practicing absorption are released from Māra’s bonds.”Dhammapada 276
Teachers point the way; you have to walk it.
“All conditions are impermanent—when this is seen with wisdom, one grows disillusioned with suffering: this is the path to purity.”Dhammapada 277
Seeing that everything changes is the start of freedom.
“The gift of the teaching surmounts all other gifts; the taste of the teaching surmounts all other tastes; the joy of the teaching surmounts all other joys; the ending of craving surmounts all suffering.”Dhammapada 354
Truth is the greatest gift and the deepest joy.
These circulate widely under the same name, but don’t hold up:
The full story of each: Fake Buddha Quotes
The Buddha’s life and ideas · The Dhammapada · Müller’s translation (Project Gutenberg)
Dhammapada (Project Gutenberg) · Access to Insight: Dhammapada · The Buddha
