Buddha's Greatest Quotes & Sayings

Before you've seen it, and when you first see it, it is the greatest thing; afterwards, it is ordinary. — Gautama Buddha

When faced with the vicissitudes of life, one's mind remains unshaken, sorrow-less, stainless, secure; this is the greatest welfare — Gautama Buddha

The greatest religion gives suffering to nobody," reads a weather-beaten sign, quoting the Buddha, at Chele La pass, the highest motorable point in the country, near Paro. This maxim is everywhere evident. As a Bhutanese friend and I walked in the mountains one afternoon, he reflexively removed insects from the path and gently placed them in the verge, out of harm's way. Early one morning in Thimphu, I saw a group of young schoolboys, in their spotless white-sleeved ghos, crouching over a mouse on the street, gently offering it food. In Bhutan, the horses that trudge up the steep trail to the Tiger's Nest monastery are reserved for out-of-shape tourists; Bhutanese don't consider horses beasts of burden and prefer not to make them suffer under heavy loads. Even harvesting honey is considered a sign of disrespect for the industrious bees; my young guide, Kezang, admonished me for buying a bottle of Bhutanese honey to take home. (Chastened, I left it there.) In — Madeline Drexler

If I was asked what is the greatest treasure which India possesses and what is her finest heritage, I would answer unhesitatingly that it is the Samskrit language and literature and all that it contains. This is a magnificent inheritance and so long as this endures and influences the life of our people, so long will the basic genius of India continue. If our race forgot the Buddha, the Upanishads and the great epics (Ramayana and Mahabharata), India would cease to be India . — Jawaharlal Nehru

Hindu philosophy was one of the greatest beneficiaries of the advent and the teachings of the Lord Buddha. I revere Buddha as a reformer of not only Hinduism but also the world, who has given all of us a new world view and vision which is critical for the survival of all of us and the entire world. — Narendra Modi

The greatest impurity is ignorance. Free yourself from it. Be pure. — Gautama Buddha

To have much learning, to be skillful in handicraft, well-trained in discipline, and to be of good speech
this is the greatest blessing. — Gautama Buddha

The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways. — Gautama Buddha

In separateness lies the world's greatest misery; in compassion lies the world's true strength. — Gautama Buddha

A man may conquer a million men in battle but one who conquers himself is, indeed, the greatest of conquerors. — Gautama Buddha

There is no fire like greed, No crime like hatred, No sorrow like separation, No sickness like hunger of heart, And no joy like the joy of freedom. Health, contentment and trust Are your greatest possessions, And freedom your greatest joy. Look within. Be still. Free from fear and attachment, Know the sweet joy of living in the way. — Gautama Buddha

The greatest miracle is to be alive. We can put an end to our suffering just by realizing that our suffering is not worth suffering for! How many people kill themselves because of rage or despair? In that moment, they do not see the vast happiness that is available. Mindfulness puts an end to such a limited perspective. The Buddha faced his own suffering directly and discovered the path of liberation. Don't run away from things that are unpleasant in order to embrace things that are pleasant. Put your hands in the earth. Face the difficulties and grow new happiness. — Thich Nhat Hanh

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship. — Buddha

The greatest victory is the one over oneself. — Gautama Buddha

Sound health is the greatest of gifts; contentedness, the greatest of riches; trust, the greatest of qualities. — Gautama Buddha

So the first thing to be remembered: don't confine creativity to anything in particular. A man is creative - and if he is creative, whatsoever he does, even if he walks, you can see in his walking there is creativity. Even if he sits silently and does nothing, even non-doing will be a creative act. Buddha sitting under the Bodhi Tree doing nothing is the greatest creator the world has ever known. — Rajneesh

If a man should conquer in battle a thousand and a thousand more, and another should conquer himself, his would be the greater victory, because the greatest of victories is the victory over oneself. — Gautama Buddha

Your greatest weapon is your enemy's mind — Gautama Buddha

On a long journey of human life, faith is the best of companions; it is the best refreshment on the journey; and it is the greatest property. — Gautama Buddha

I consider the positions of kings and rulers as that of dust motes. I observe treasure of gold and gems as so many bricks
and pebbles. I look upon the finest silken robes as tattered rags. I see myriad worlds of the universe as small seeds of
fruit, and the greatest lake in India as a drop of oil on my foot. I perceive the teachings of the world to be the illusion of,
magicians. I discern the highest conception of emancipation as golden brocade in a dream, and view the holy path of the
illuminated one as flowers appearing in one's eyes. I see meditation as a pillar of a mountain, Nirvana as a nightmare of
daytime. I look upon the judgment of right and wrong as the serpentine dance of a dragon, and the rise and fall of beliefs
as but traces left by the four seasons. — Gautama Buddha

The hunger of passions is the greatest disease. — Gautama Buddha

Though thousand times a thousand in battle one may conquer, yet should one conquer just oneself, one is the greatest conqueror. — Gautama Buddha

There's a famous quotation from the time the Buddha learned of the deaths of two of his greatest disciples: "It's as if the sun and the moon have left the sky." From that quotation, I would guess that while the Buddha loved all beings everywhere, with no exclusion, he also had relationships that were special to him, and he felt their loss. — Sharon Salzberg

It is ignorance that smothers, and it is carelessness that makes it invisible. The hunger of craving pollutes the world, and the pain of suffering causes the greatest fear. — Gautama Buddha

Laughter is spiritual health. And laughter is very unburdening. While you laugh, you can put your mind aside very easily. For a man who cannot laugh the doors of the buddha are closed. To me, laughter is one of the greatest values. No religion has ever thought about it. They have always been insisting on seriousness, and because of their insistence the whole world is psychologically sick. — Rajneesh

Your enemy can be your greatest teacher. — Gautama Buddha

The greatest obstacle in understanding the universe is the conformity and fear of truth. — Debasish Mridha

The Christ-symbol is of the greatest importance for psychology in so far as it is perhaps the most highly developed and differentiated symbol of the self, apart from the figure of the Buddha. — Carl Jung

Remember, the greatest gift to give people your enlightenment, to share it. It has to be the greatest. — Gautama Buddha

Health, contentment, and trust are your greatest possessions. And freedom your greatest joy. — Gautama Buddha

To support mother and father, to cherish wife and children, and to be engaged in peaceful occupation - this is the greatest blessing. — Gautama Buddha

Buddha and Christ were second-rate heroes. The greatest men that ever live pass away unknown. They put forth no claims for themselves, establish no schools or systems in their name. They never create any stir but just melt down in love ... — Swami Vivekananda

The greatest prayer is patience. — Gautama Buddha

It's happened many times before. Usually it results in an exceptional and gifted human. Some of the greatest figures in Earth's history were actually the product of humans and the Loric, including Buddha, Aristotle, Julius Ceasar, Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein ... Aprodite, Apollo, Hermes, and Zeus were all real, and had one Loric parent — Pittacus Lore

Of all the frictional resistances, the one that most retards human movement is ignorance, what Buddha called 'the greatest evil in the world.' The friction which results from ignorance ... can be reduced only by the spread of knowledge and the unification of the heterogeneous elements of humanity. No effort could be better spent. — Nikola Tesla

A mind unruffled by the vagaries of fortune, from sorrow freed, from defilements cleansed, from fear liberated - this is the greatest blessing. — Gautama Buddha

The greatest power that a human possesses is the power of pure love. — Debasish Mridha

Insignificant, is the loss of relatives, wealth and fame; The loss of wisdom is the greatest loss. Insignificant, is the increase of relatives, wealth and fame; The increase of wisdom is the highest gain. Therefore, you should train yourselves thus: "We will grow in the increase of wisdom" Thus you should train yourselves. — Gautama Buddha