akrodhena jayet krodham asādhuṁ sādhunā jayet |
jayet kadaryam dānena jayet satyena cānṛtam ||
(Mahābhārata: 5.39.58)
“Conquer anger [i.e., the anger of others] with the absence of anger. Conquer dishonesty with honesty. Conquer miserliness with charity. Conquer falsity with truthfulness.”
ādeyasya pradeyasya kartavyasya ca karmaṇaḥ |
kṣipram akriyamāṇasya kālaḥ pibati tad-rasam ||
(Hitopadeśa: Sandhi, 101)
“That which is to be accepted, that which is to be given, and actions that are to be performed but which are not attended to quickly—time drinks away their essence.”
apsu plavante pāṣāṇā mānuṣā ghnanti rākṣasān |
kapayaḥ karma kurvanti kālasya kuṭilā gatiḥ ||
(Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha)
[Rāvaṇa:] “[In time] Stones float on water, men destroy fiends (rākṣasas), and monkeys perform duties. The course of time is crooked [i.e., no one can predict what will happen].”
āyuṣaḥ kṣaṇa eko’pi sarva-ratnair na labhyate |
nīyate tad vṛthā yena pramādaḥ sumahān aho ||
(Unknown Source)
“Even one moment of life cannot be regained with all the riches [in the world]. Aho! That by which it is spent in vain is a very big mistake!”
sarvasya hi parīkṣyante svabhāvā netare guṇāḥ |
atītya hi guṇān sarvān svabhāvo mūrdhni vartate ||
(Hitopadeśa: Mitra-lābha, 20)
“The natures (svabhāvas) of all are to be examined, and not, on the contrary, the qualities, since the nature (svabhāva) [of a person], surpassing all qualities, abides at the head [i.e., the svabhāva predominates in the thinking and behavior of person].”
vṛtty-arthaṁ bhojanaṁ yeṣāṁ santānārthaṁ ca maithunam |
vāk satya-vacanārthāya durgāṇy api taranti te ||
(Hitopadeśa: Sandhi, 92)
“Those who eat for the sake of upkeep, engage in intercourse for the sake of children, and speak for the sake of truthful speech certainly overcome adversities.”
alir bāṇo jyotiṣakaḥ stabdhībhūtaḥ kimekakaḥ |
preṣita-preṣakaś caiva ṣaḍ ete sevakādhamāḥ ||
(Unknown source)
“One who is like a bee, one who is like an arrow, one who is astrological, one who is stiff, one who thinks ‘how [can I do things] alone?’, and one who is a dispatcher of the dispatched—these six are the worst servitors.”
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.”
aneka-saṁśayocchedi parokṣārthasya darśakam |
sarvasya locanaṁ śāstraṁ yasya nāsty andha eva saḥ ||
(Subhāṣita-ratna-bhāṇḍāgāra, Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha, Hitopadeśa: 1.10)
“The remover of numerous doubts and revealer of the invisible, śāstra is the eye of everyone. One without it is certainly blind.”
mātāpy ekā pitāpy ekā mama ca tasya pakṣiṇo |
ahaṁ munibhir ānītas sa cānīto gavāśanaiḥ |
ahaṁ munīnāṁ vacanaṁ śṛṇomi gavāśanānāṁ sa śṛṇoti vākyam |
na tasya doṣo na ca me guṇo vā saṁsargajā doṣa-guṇā bhavanti ||
(Unknown Source)
[A parrot explains why he and his brother speak and act very differently:] “Although the other bird and I have the same mother and the same father, I was taken by sages, and he was taken by cow-eaters [from our parents’ nest when we were young]. I hear the speech of sages, and he hears the statements of cow-eaters. So, there is no fault on his part or any quality on my part. Faults and qualities are produced by association.”
