udyamena hi sidhyanti kāryāṇi na manorathaiḥ |
na hi suptasya siṁhasya praviśanti mukhe mṛgāḥ ||
(Hitopadeśa: Maṅgalācaraṇa, 36; Pañcatantra: Mitra-samprāpti)
“Tasks are accomplished verily by industriousness, and not just by desires. Animals do not enter the mouth of a sleeping lion.”
kva kasya karma saṁvīkṣya karoty anyo’pi garhitam |
gatānugatiko loko na lokaḥ pāramārthikaḥ ||
(Pañcatantra: 373)
“After observing the contemptible act of someone somewhere, another also does it. People are imitative [lit., they just follow, that is, blindly copy, those who have gone before them]. People are not seekers of a higher object [alt., the ultimate attainment, i.e., they do not really care for virtue, truth, ideals, or a spiritual end].”
vācyaṁ śraddhā-sametasya pṛcchateś ca viśeṣataḥ |
proktaṁ śraddhā-vihīnasya araṇya-ruditopamam ||
(Pañcatantra: 1.424)
“Advice should be given to one who has trust [in you] and who has asked in particular [for it]. Speaking to someone who has no trust is like crying in the forest [i.e., it is futile].”
upadeśo na dātavyo yādṛśe tādṛśe nare |
(Pañcatantra: 1.421)
“Advice should not be given to any sort of person [i.e., it should not be given to anyone indiscriminately without consideration regarding what is suitable for that person in particular].”
yādṛśaiḥ sevyate bhṛtyair yādṛśāṁś copasevate |
kadācin nātra sandehas tādṛg bhavati pūruṣaḥ ||
(Pañcatantra: 1.272)
“A person becomes like whom he serves and like servants by whom he is served. There is never any doubt in this regard.”
tyajed ekaṁ kulasyārthe grāmasyārthe kulaṁ tyajet |
grāmaṁ janapadasyārthe svātmārthe pṛthivīṁ tyajet ||
(Cāṇakya-nīti-darpaṇa: 3.10; Hitopadeśa: 1.143; Pañcatantra: 1.386)
“Give up an individual for the sake of a family. Give up a family for the sake of a village and a village for the sake of a nation. Give up [however] the earth for the sake of one’s self.”
ko’tibhāraḥ samarthānāṁ kiṁ dūraṁ vyavasāyinam |
ko videśaḥ savidyānāṁ kaḥ paraḥ priyavādinām ||
(Pañcatantra)
“What is too heavy for the capable? What is far for the assiduous? What is a foreign land for the learned? Who is a stranger for those who speak kindly?”
yayor eva samam vittam yayor eva samam śrutam |
tayor vivahaḥ sakhyaṁ ca na tu puṣṭa-vipuṣṭayoḥ ||
(Pañcatantra)
“Marriage and friendship are for those who are equal in wealth and equal in learning, and not for those between whom one is well-endowed and the other is not.”
mṛgā mṛgaiḥ saṅgam anuvrajanti
gāvaś ca gobhis turagās turagaiḥ |
mūrkhāś ca mūrkhaiḥ sudhiyaḥ sudhībhiḥ
samāna-śīla-vyasaneṣu sakhyam ||
(Pañcatantra: 1.305)
“Deers roam with deers, cows with cows, horses with horses, fools with fools, and the intelligent with the intelligent. Friendship is between individuals of similar disposition and ambition.”
ikṣor agrāt kramaśaḥ parvaṇi parvaṇi yathā rasa-viśeṣaḥ |
tadvat sajjana-maitrī viparītānāṁ tu viparītā ||
(Pañcatantra: 2.38)
“As special taste is gradually produced in segment after segment of sugarcane from the tip onwards, so too it is in friendship with the virtuous [i.e., the sweetness gradually increases as the relationship develops]. It is the opposite [i.e., bitterness gradually arises], however, with the opposite [i.e., the unvirtuous].”
