To cease from evil, to do good, and to purify the mind yourself, this is the teaching of all the Buddhas.
— Gautama BuddhaCh. 14, Verse 183
Use itGS4: simple ethical code—avoid evil, do good, purify the mind.
Quotes / Thinkers / Gautama Buddha
Thinker · 14 quotes
Gautama Buddha quotes for UPSC
14 sourced quotes by Gautama Buddha on ethics & morality, mind & self-awareness, character & virtue, equality & social justice, women & gender, with a use case for each in GS4, Essay and interviews.
✓ Attributions checked against Wikiquote's sourced list
Monks, a lay follower should not engage in five types of business. Which five? Business in weapons, business in human beings, business in meat, business in intoxicants, and business in poison.
— Gautama Buddha5.177: Vanijja Sutta, as translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu (2001)
Use itGS4 business ethics: avoid trades in arms, trafficking, intoxicants and poison; ethical livelihood.
No one saves us but ourselves, No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path Buddhas merely teach the way. By ourselves is evil done, By ourselves is pain endured, By ourselves we cease from wrong, By ourselves become we pure.
— Gautama BuddhaCh. 165, as translated in The Dharma, or The Religion of Enlightenment; An Exposition of Buddhism (1896) by Paul Carus; variants for some ye
Use itGS4/Life: self-responsibility; teachers show the way but we must walk the path.
Not by birth does one become an outcaste, not by birth does one become a brahman. By one's action one becomes an outcaste, by one's action one becomes a brahman.
Use itGS1/Essay on caste: worth comes from conduct, not birth; Buddhist critique of caste hierarchy.
In all things, there is neither male nor female.
— Gautama BuddhaVimalakriti Sutra, as quoted by Dr Bettany Hughes Telegraph
Use itGS1/Essay on gender equality: Buddhist teaching transcends male-female distinctions.
Conquer anger with love, evil with good, meanness with generosity, and lies with truth.
— Gautama BuddhaCh. 17, Verse 223
Use itGS4/Essay on non-violence: respond to anger with love and lies with truth.
The tongue is like a sharp knife, it kills without drawing blood; words in the hands of someone skilled can do more damage than a weapon in the hands of a warrior.
— Gautama BuddhaM. Walshe, trans. (1987), Sutta 1, verse 5
Use itGS4/Essay on hate speech and trolling: words wound deeper than weapons.
Let my skin and sinews and bones dry up, together with all the flesh and blood of my body! I welcome it! But I will not move from this spot until I have attained the supreme and final wisdom.
— Gautama BuddhaThe Jatka (From the Attainment of the Buddhaship. Also is in the Nirvana Sutta.)
Use itLife: unwavering determination before an important goal; resolve not to quit.
Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, And the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.
— Gautama BuddhaFrom The Teaching of Buddha, by Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai (Society for the Promotion of Buddhism), Pg 132. It is a paraphrased version of Section
Use itEssay on sharing and community: happiness grows when shared, like candles lighting candles.
Behold now, Bhikkhus, I exhort you: All compounded things are subject to decay. Strive with diligence!
— Gautama BuddhaLast words, as quoted in DN 16; Mahaparinibbana Sutta 6:8
Use itLife: everything is impermanent, so strive diligently now; essay on change.
Indeed, wisdom is born of meditation; without meditation wisdom is lost. Knowing this twofold path of gain and loss of wisdom, one should conduct oneself so that wisdom may increase.
— Gautama BuddhaCh. 20, Verse 282
Use itLife/GS4: reflection and meditation cultivate wisdom; argue for mindfulness in public servants.
Whatever an enemy might do to an enemy, or a foe to a foe, the ill-directed mind can do to you even worse. Whatever a mother, father or other kinsman might do for you, the well-directed mind can do for you even better.
— Gautama BuddhaPali Canon 42-43 Cittavagga The Mind
Use itGS4/Life: an undisciplined mind is the worst enemy; a disciplined mind the best ally.
Develop the mind of equilibrium. You will always be getting praise and blame, but do not let either affect the poise of the mind: follow the calmness, the absence of pride.
— Gautama BuddhaSutta Nipāta
Use itGS4: equanimity amid praise and blame; sthitaprajna ideal for civil servants.
In Aryans' Discipline, to build a friendship is to build wealth, to maintain a friendship is to maintain wealth and to end a friendship is to end wealth.
— Gautama BuddhaCakkavatti Sutta, Patika Vagga, Digha Nikaya
Use itLife/Essay: friendships are true wealth; social capital as an asset.