Chanakya Wisdom Quotations

Never make friends with people who are above or below you in status. Such friendships will never give you any happiness.

As soon as the fear approaches near, attack and destroy it.

Do not reveal what you have thought upon doing, but by wise council keep it secret being determined to carry it into execution.

The earth is supported by the power of truth; it is the power of truth that makes the sun shine and the winds blow; indeed all things rest upon truth.

The world's biggest power is the youth and beauty of a woman.

Purity of speech, of the mind, of the senses, and of a compassionate heart are needed by one who desires to rise to the divine platform.

Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous.

As long as your body is healthy and under control and death is distant, try to save your soul; when death is immanent what can you do?

Low class men desire wealth;middle class men both wealth and respect; but the noble, honour only; hence honour is the noble man's true wealth.

As a calf follows its mother among a thousand cows, so the (good or bad) deeds of a man follow him.

She is a true wife who is clean (suci), expert, chaste, pleasing to the husband, and truthful.

Those base men who speak of the secret faults of others destroy themselves like serpents that stray onto anthills.

When one is consumed by the sorrows of life, three things give him relief: offspring, a wife, and the company of the Lord's devotees.

He who forsakes his own community and joins another perishes as the king who embraces an unrighteous path.

Learning is like a cow of desire. It, like her, yields in all seasons. Like a mother, it feeds you on your journey. Therefore learning is a hidden treasure.

He who runs away from a fearful calamity, a foreign invasion, a terrible famine, and the companionship of wicked men is safe.

The man who remains a fool even in advanced age is really a fool, just as the Indra-Varuna fruit does not become sweet no matter how ripe it might become.

The cuckoos remain silent for a long time (for several seasons) until they are able to sing sweetly (in the Spring) so as to give joy to all.

What good can the scriptures do to a man who has no sense of his own? Of what use is as mirror to a blind man?

Accumulated wealth is saved by spending just as incoming fresh water is saved by letting out stagnant water.

Swans live wherever there is water, and leave the place where water dries up; let not a man act so - and comes and goes as he pleases.

The power of a king lies in his mighty arms; that of a brahmana in his spiritual knowledge; and that of a woman in her beauty youth and sweet words.

He who gives up shyness in monetary dealings, in acquiring knowledge, in eating and in business, becomes happy.

Who realises all the happiness he desires? Everything is in the hands of God. Therefore one should learn contentment.

The poor wish for wealth; animals for the faculty of speech; men wish for heaven; and godly persons for liberation.

Learning is a friend on the journey; a wife in the house; medicine in sickness; and religious merit is the only friend after death.

At the time of the pralaya (universal destruction) the oceans are to exceed their limits and seek to change, but a saintly man never changes.

He who befriends a man whose conduct is vicious, whose vision impure, and who is notoriously crooked, is rapidly ruined.

Our bodies are perishable, wealth is not at all permanent and death is always nearby. Therefore we must immediately engage in acts of merit.

Beauty is spoiled by an immoral nature; noble birth by bad conduct; learning, without being perfected; and wealth by not being properly utilised.

Poverty, disease, sorrow, imprisonment and other evils are the fruits borne by the tree of one's own sins.

There are three gems upon this earth; food, water, and pleasing words - fools (mudhas) consider pieces of rocks as gems.

A learned man is honoured by the people.A learned man commands respect everywhere for his learning. Indeed, learning is honoured everywhere.

Generosity, pleasing address, courage and propriety of conduct are not acquired, but are inbred qualities.

Time perfects all living beings as well as kills them; it alone is awake when all others are asleep. Time is insurmountable.

Wealth, a friend, a wife, and a kingdom may be regained; but this body when lost may never be acquired again.

We should not feel pride in our charity, austerity, valour, scriptural knowledge, modestyandmorality for the world is full of the rarest gems.

By means of hearing one understands dharma, malignity vanishes, knowledge is acquired, and liberation from material bondage is gained.