Zoroaster — "Reply to thine enemy with gentleness."
Reply to thine enemy with gentleness.
Get This Quote & Author's Image Illustrated On:
Click any product to generate a realistic preview. Up to 3 at a time.
* Initial load can take up to 90 seconds — revising the preview in another color is nearly instant.
Kitchen
Apparel
Other
More from Zoroaster
"Doing good to others is not a duty. It is a joy, for it increases your own health and happiness."
"The reward of the righteous is the radiant existence, the punishment of the wicked is the long darkness."
"The Lie is the source of all evil, the Truth is the source of all good."
"In the beginning, these two spiritualities, which are twins, were perceived in a vision by the righteous. The better and the bad have been said to be thought, word, and deed, and between these two the…"
"If one would have a friend, then must one also be willing to wage war for him: and in order to wage war, one must be capable of being an enemy."
About Zoroaster (c. 1500-1000 BCE (debated))
Iranian prophet who founded Zoroastrianism, the first major religion of cosmic dualism between good (Ahura Mazda) and evil (Angra Mainyu). Closely associated with The Buddha (near-contemporary Eastern moral-cosmological revolutionary). For an intellectual contrast, see Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher of 'beyond good and evil' — Nietzsche appropriated Zarathustra's name for Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883) precisely to invert the original's moral cosmology — the historical Zoroaster founded the good-versus-evil framework Nietzsche's character announces the end of.
Verification
Unverifiable
Found in 1 providers: gemini
1 source checked
Understanding this quote
What it means
When someone treats you as an adversary, respond with kindness and calm rather than matching their hostility. Aggression invites more aggression and locks both sides into escalating conflict, but a gentle answer disarms the other person, preserves your own integrity, and opens a path toward understanding. Choosing mildness under provocation is not weakness; it is a deliberate moral discipline that refuses to let someone else's anger dictate your behavior or character.
Relevance to Zoroaster
Zoroaster founded a faith built on the constant struggle between Asha (truth, order) and Druj (falsehood, chaos), and he taught that each person chooses sides through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds. Meeting an enemy with gentleness is exactly that choice in miniature: refusing to mirror evil with evil. As a reforming priest rejected and threatened in his homeland before finding a patron in King Vishtaspa, he personally lived the discipline of answering hostility without becoming hostile.
The era
Zoroaster preached in the Iranian plateau roughly 3,000 years ago, in a tribal Bronze Age world of cattle raids, blood feuds, and violent polytheistic cults that demanded animal sacrifice and warrior vengeance. Retaliation was the default social code, and clans survived by out-threatening neighbors. Urging gentleness toward enemies was a radical ethical inversion, aligned with his broader reforms against ritual bloodshed and in favor of personal moral responsibility, honest speech, and peaceful husbandry of land and herds.
AI-generated insights based on extensive research and information for context. Factual errors? Email [email protected].