Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draws it. Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Joy follows a pure thought like a shadow that never leaves.

~The Dhammapada

The fool who thinks he is a fool is for that very reason a wise man;
But the fool who thinks he is a wise man is rightly called a fool.

-Dhammapada 63

Irrigators guide the water.
Fletchers shape the arrow shaft.
Carpenters shape the wood.
The wise control themselves.

-Dhammapada, 6, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

Just as sharp-bladed grass,
if wrongly held,
wounds the very hand that holds it--
the contemplative life, if wrongly grasped,
drags you down to hell.

-Dhammapada, 22

One act of pure love in saving life is greater than spending the whole of one’s time in religious offerings to the gods.


-Dhammapada