Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha)

Founder of Buddhism

Ancient influential 126 sayings

Sayings by Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha)

Do not believe anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. Do not believe anything because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

c. 5th century BCE — Kalama Sutta, Anguttara Nikaya 3.65
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.

c. 5th century BCE — Attributed, often cited in various Buddhist texts and teachings.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts.

c. 5th century BCE — Dhammapada, Chapter 3, Verse 11.
Strange & Unusual Confirmed

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.

c. 5th century BCE — Attributed, often cited in various Buddhist texts and teachings.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The greatest gift is to give people your enlightenment, to share it. It has to be the greatest.

c. 5th century BCE — Attributed, often cited in various Buddhist texts and teachings.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.

c. 5th century BCE — Attributed, often cited in various Buddhist texts and teachings.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.

c. 5th century BCE — Dhammapada, Chapter 1, Verse 5.
Strange & Unusual Confirmed

To keep the body in good health is a duty... otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.

c. 5th century BCE — Attributed, often cited in various Buddhist texts and teachings.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

Beings are owners of their actions, heirs of their actions. They originate from their actions, are bound to their actions, have their actions as their refuge. It is action that distinguishes beings as inferior and superior.

c. 5th century BCE — Majjhima Nikaya 135, Cula-kammavibhanga Sutta
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

All conditioned things are impermanent — when one sees this with wisdom, then one turns away from suffering.

c. 5th century BCE — Dhammapada, Chapter 20, Verse 5.
Strange & Unusual Confirmed

Just as a bee, without harming the flower, its color or its fragrance, takes a little nectar and flies away, so too should the sage wander in a village.

c. 5th century BCE — Dhammapada, Chapter 4, Verse 7.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The greatest prayer is patience.

c. 5th century BCE — Attributed, often cited in various Buddhist texts and teachings.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

If you light a lamp for someone else, it will also brighten your own path.

c. 5th century BCE — Attributed, often cited in various Buddhist texts and teachings.
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Give, even if you only have a little.

c. 5th century BCE — Attributed, often cited in various Buddhist texts and teachings.
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He who has renounced all violence towards all living beings, weak or strong, who neither kills nor causes others to kill — him I call a holy man.

c. 5th century BCE — Dhammapada, Chapter 26, Verse 1.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The tongue is a sharp knife... It kills without drawing blood.

c. 5th century BCE — Attributed, often cited in various Buddhist texts and teachings.
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Should a seeker not find a friend, wiser or better than himself, let him rather walk alone; there is no fellowship with fools.

c. 5th century BCE — Dhammapada, Chapter 14, Verse 7.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

Conquer anger with non-anger. Conquer badness with goodness. Conquer meanness with generosity. Conquer dishonesty with truth.

c. 5th century BCE — Dhammapada, Chapter 17, Verse 3.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

Ardently do today what must be done. Who knows? Tomorrow, death comes.

c. 5th century BCE — Bhaddekaratta Sutta, Majjhima Nikaya 131
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The wise man knows that he is a fool.

c. 5th century BCE — Attributed, often cited in various Buddhist texts and teachings.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable