Do not do what you ought not to do even under threat of death; do not put off what you must do - this is the ancient commandment.
The wise will not destroy the great for the sake of the small. By the small to protect the big - this is true wisdom.
Desire does not subside with the satisfaction of the desired; the hotter the fire burns into which you pour oil. No good is lost in vain.
Wisdom is small when you deceive the gullible. Courage is small when you kill the one who fell asleep on your chest.
Unchangeable is the heart of the good - in vain they will tempt him. The ocean does not ignite with hot straws.
The untrue pass as true, and the true as untrue - so diverse is being.
It is impossible to sow one and reap another. In proportion to the seed sown will be the fruit.
Few people make it to the other side. The others, however, are stirring on the shore here.
Hatred cannot be ended with hate, but with love.
The dreams of the afflicted, the sorrowful, the desperate, the lover, and the drunken man are unrealizable.
Doing no harm, doing good, purifying one's mind - this is the teaching of the enlightened ones.
There is no virtue higher than justice, no vice worse than lying.
There is no friend comparable to health; there is no enemy comparable to disease.
Even if the god himself offered her his love, she would still want another man. This is the nature of all wives.
There is no greater fire than passion; there is no greater nuisance than hatred; there is no greater misery than the body; there is no happiness comparable to peace.
There is no asceticism comparable to patience; there is no happiness comparable to the state of contentment; there is no gift comparable to friends; there is no virtue comparable to compassion.
There is no obstacle comparable to ignorance.
For the unkind there is no pleasant day of the past, he who is deaf to justice has no friends, there is no day of celebration for the greedy of gain.
Trust neither mother, nor wife, nor brother, nor your own children, as you trust a true friend.
He who was faithful to the vow of abstinence had no difficulty with food. How could he not find grass or leaves or a lake of water?
No one is born either great or mean - only one's own deeds lead a man to honor or contempt.
Nothing threatens the ripe fruit but falling; nothing threatens the one who has come into the world but death.
He is vile who speaks of another's faults or of his own virtues. The worthy does not tell the truth either about his own virtues or about another's faults.
Oh, no doubt, the man in misfortune is especially worthy of the compassion of the good; for stupidity is a root of all, and therefore precisely it is the greatest unhappiness.
Oh, we live very happily - without enmity surrounded by enemies, healthy, surrounded by sick, tireless, surrounded by the exhausted, although we have no wealth whatsoever. It nourishes our joy, like the sleeping gods.
Save me from the misery of listening to the fool or looking at him and talking to him! Do not let me feel the heavy burden of life in his company!
Abundance of fruit bends the branch to the ground, the peacock's rich tail slows its gait, the swift-footed horse is bridled. Likewise, even virtues can cause evil.
You put out the fire with water, the umbrella protects you from the sun, the doctor saves you from illness. For everything there is a cure; only, stupidity has no cure.
A day in the life of the one endowed with bubbling energy is worth more than hundreds of years of life, feast of the lazy and the lack of energy.
There is only one path - the path of truth, all others are not paths.