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Chanakya Quotes [1]

Submitted by uday on October 15, 2012 - 11:53am
  • Learn from the mistakes of others...you can't live long enough to make them all yourself.
  • A good wife is one who serves her husband in the morning like a mother does, loves him in the day like a sister does and pleases him like a prostitute in the night.
  • Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions - Why am I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead.
  • A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and honest people are screwed first.
  • A man is born alone and dies alone; and he experiences the good and bad consequences of his karma alone; and he goes alone to hell or the Supreme abode.
  • Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats the beauty and the youth.
  • A man is great by deeds, not by birth.
  • The biggest guru-mantra is: never share your secrets with anybody. It will destroy you.
  • He who lives in our mind is near though he may actually be far away; but he who is not in our heart is far though he may really be nearby.
  • Books are as useful to a stupid person as a mirror is useful to a blind person.
  • Never make friends with people who are above or below you in status. Such friendships will never give you any happiness.
  • Once you start a working on something, don't be afraid of failure and don't abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest.
  • As soon as the fear approaches near, attack and destroy it.
  • We should not fret for what is past, nor should we be anxious about the future; men of discernment deal only with the present moment.
  • God is not present in idols. Your feelings are your god. The soul is your temple.
  • He who is overly attached to his family members experiences fear and sorrow, for the root of all grief is attachment. Thus one should discard attachment to be happy.
  • The serpent, the king, the tiger, the stinging wasp, the small child, the dog owned by other people, and the fool: these seven ought not to be awakened from sleep.
  • Treat your kid like a darling for the first five years. For the next five years, scold them. By the time they turn sixteen, treat them like a friend. Your grown up children are your best friends.
  • The world's biggest power is the youth and beauty of a woman.
  • There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth.
  • There is no austerity equal to a balanced mind, and there is no happiness equal to contentment; there is no disease like covetousness, and no virtue like mercy.
  • The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all direction.
  • Do not be very upright in your dealings for you would see by going to the forest that straight trees are cut down while crooked ones are left standing.
  • Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous.
  • O wise man! Give your wealth only to the worthy and never to others. The water of the sea received by the clouds is always sweet.
  • Test a servant while in the discharge of his duty, a relative in difficulty, a friend in adversity, and a wife in misfortune.
  • The life of an uneducated man is as useless as the tail of a dog which neither covers its rear end, nor protects it from the bites of insects.
  • As a single withered tree, if set aflame, causes a whole forest to burn, so does a rascal son destroy a whole family.
  • As long as your body is healthy and under control and death is distant, try to save your soul; when death is immanent what can you do?
  • The happiness and peace attained by those satisfied by the nectar of spiritual tranquillity is not attained by greedy persons restlessly moving here and there.
  • One whose knowledge is confined to books and whose wealth is in the possession of others, can use neither his knowledge nor wealth when the need for them arises.
  • Do not reveal what you have thought upon doing, but by wise council keep it secret being determined to carry it into execution.
  • The earth is supported by the power of truth; it is the power of truth that makes the sun shine and the winds blow; indeed all things rest upon truth.
  • Purity of speech, of the mind, of the senses, and of a compassionate heart are needed by one who desires to rise to the divine platform.
  • It is better to die than to preserve this life by incurring disgrace. The loss of life causes but a moment's grief, but disgrace brings grief every day of one's life.
  • The one excellent thing that can be learned from a lion is that whatever a man intends doing should be done by him with a whole-hearted and strenuous effort.
  • If one has a good disposition, what other virtue is needed? If a man has fame, what is the value of other ornamentation?
  • There is poison in the fang of the serpent, in the mouth of the fly and in the sting of a scorpion; but the wicked man is saturated with it.
  • The wise man should restrain his senses like the crane and accomplish his purpose with due knowledge of his place, time and ability.
  • A debt should be paid off till the last penny, and an enemy should be destroyed till last trace.
  • A human being should strive for four things in life — dharma (duty), artha (money), kama (pleasure) and moksha (salvation). A person who hasn't striven for even one of these things has wasted life.
  • A rich man has many friends.
  • Women have hunger two-fold, shyness four-fold, daring six-fold, and lust eight-fold as compared to men.
  • An egoist can be won over by being respected, a crazy person can be won over by allowing him to behave in an insane manner and a wise person can be won over by truth.
  • As centesimal droppings will fill a pot so also are knowledge, virtue and wealth gradually obtained.
  • Avoid him who talks sweetly before you but tries to ruin you behind your back, for he is like a pitcher of poison with milk on top.
  • He who befriends a man whose conduct is vicious, whose vision impure, and who is notoriously crooked, is rapidly ruined.
  • Don't hesitate to learn something even from the most lowly of creatures.
  • In a state where the ruler lives like a common man, the citizens live like kings. And in the state where the ruler lives like a king, the citizens live like beggars.
  • Jealousy is another name for failure.
  • Never go on a long journey alone.
  • Never make friends with people who are above or below you in status. Such friendships will never give you any happiness.
  •         Variant version: Friendship should be among equals.
  • One who is in search of knowledge should give up the search of pleasure and the one who is in search of pleasure should give up the search of knowledge.
  • The four greatest enemies of a man are — the father who has taken a loan, the characterless mother, the beautiful but promiscuous wife and the stupid child.
  • Whores don't live in company of poor men, birds don't build nests on a tree that doesn't bear fruits and citizens never support a weak administration.
  • Wise men should never go into a country where there are no means of earning one's livelihood, where the people have no dread of anybody, have no sense of shame, no intelligence, or a charitable disposition.
     
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