Quotes from The Dhammapada

“A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but if he is peaceful, loving and fearless then he is in truth called wise.”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“Conquer the angry one by not getting angry; conquer the wicked by goodness; conquer the stingy by generosity, and the liar by speaking the truth.

[Verse 223]”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace.”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“The one who has conquered himself is a far greater hero than he who has defeated a thousand times a thousand men.”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“If you find no one to support you on the spiritual path, walk alone. There is no companionship with the immature.”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“You are what you think. All that you are arises from your thoughts. With your thoughts you make your world.”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.

Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted! ”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“Many do not realize that we here must die. For those who realize this, quarrels end.”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“If you never see a fool
You'll always be happy.

The one who keeps company with fools
Will be sorry for a long time.
It's painful to live with fools,
Like being always with an enemy.”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“There's a mess inside you:
You clean the outside.”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“The non-doing of any evil,
the performance of what's skillful,
the cleansing of one's own mind:
this is the teaching of the Awakened. ”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“Now may every living thing, young or old,
weak or strong, living near or far, known or
unknown, living or departed or yet unborn,
may every living thing be full of bliss.”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“In the village, a sage should go about
Like a bee, which, not harming
Flower, colour or scent,
Flies off with the nectar.”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“The fool who knows his folly
Becomes wise by that fact.
But the fool who thinks he's wise -
He's called 'a fool' indeed!”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“Better than a thousand sayings
Made up of useless words
Is one word of meaning
Which calms you to hear it.”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“The virtuous man delights in this world and he delights in the next”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“From the dear comes grief;
From the dear comes fear.
If you're freed from the dear
You'll have no grief, let alone fear.”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“If there is no wound in your hand
You can carry poison in your hand.
Poison does not attack one who is unwounded.
There is no evil for one who does not do evil.”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“The ignorant man is an ox. He grows in size, not in wisdom.”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“Our sorrows and wounds are healed only when we touch them with compassion.”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“Those who consider the inessential to be essential
And see the essential as inessential
Don't reach the essential,
Living in the field of wrong intention”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“The aware do not die;
The unaware are as though dead already.”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“Though you might conquer in battle
A thousand times a thousand men,
You're the greatest battle-winner
If you conquer just one - yourself.”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“Though you recite much scripture,
If you are unaware and do not act according
You are like a cowherd counting others' cattle,
Not a sharer in the wanderer's life.”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“But the scent of the good is blown against the wind:
A good man perfumes all directions.”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“One who utters speech that isn't rough
But instructive and truthful
So that he offends no one,
Him I call Brahmin.”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“Watchfulness is the path of immortality:
Unwatchfulness is the path of death.
Those who are watchful never die:
Those who do not watch are already as dead.

Those who with a clear mind have seen this truth,
Those who are wise and ever watchful,
They feel the joy of watchfulness,
The joy of the path of the great.

And those who in high thought and in deep contemplation
With ever living power advance on the path,
They in the end reach NIRVANA,
The peace supreme and infinite joy.

~ Buddha”
― quote from The Dhammapada

“Not merely by rules of conduct and religious observances, nor by much learning either, nor even by attainment of concentration, nor by sleeping alone, do I reach the happiness of freedom, to which no worldlings attain. If you have not put an end to compulsions, nurse your faith”
― quote from The Dhammapada

Popular quotes

“Arbores loqui latine. The trees speak Latin.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, quote from The Dream Thieves

“Together, the bells and Dog sang a song that was more than sound and power. It was the song of the earth, the moon, the stars, the sea, and the sky, of Life and Death and all that was and would be. It was the song of the Charter, the song that had bound Orannis in the long ago, the song that sought to bind the Destroyer once again.”
― Garth Nix, quote from Abhorsen

“Forgiving isn't something you do for someone else. It's something you do for yourself. It's saying, 'You're not important enough to have a stranglehold on me.' It's saying, 'You don't get to trap me in the past. I am worthy of a future.”
― Jodi Picoult, quote from The Storyteller

“Nevertheless, it bothered Vimes, even though he'd got really good at the noises and would go up against any man in his rendition of the HRUUUGH! But is this a book for a city kid? When would he ever hear these noises? In the city, the only sound those animals would make was "sizzle." But the nursery was full of the conspiracy with bah-lambs and teddy bears and fluffy ducklings everywhere he looked.

One evening, after a trying day, he'd tried the Vimes street version:

Where's my daddy?
Is that my daddy?
He goes "Bugrit! Millennium hand and shrimp!"
He is Foul Ol' Ron!
No, that's not my daddy!

It had been going really well when Vimes heard a meaningful little cough from the doorway, wherein stood Sybil. Next day, Young Sam, with a child's unerring instinct for this sort of thing, said "Buglit!" to Purity. And that, although Sybil never raised the subject even when they were alone, was that. From then on Sam stuck rigidly to the authorized version.”
― Terry Pratchett, quote from Thud!

“If the stars twinkled more than usual on any given night, it meant that the angels in heaven were happy and were flitting across the doors of heaven; and since stars were merely holes ventilating heaven, the twinkling came from the angels flitting past the holes that admitted air into the holy home of God.”
― Richard Wright, quote from Black Boy

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.