God is not present in idols. Your feelings are your god. The soul is your temple.
—Chanakya Neeti
It is essential for an administrator to cultivate the following: punishing the wicked, rewarding the good, filling up the treasury by right means, impartiality while administering justice, and protection of the dependants.
—Chanakya Neeti
My dear child, if you desire to be free from the cycle of birth and death, then abandon the objects of sense gratification as poison. Drink instead the nectar of forbearance, upright conduct, mercy, cleanliness and truth.
—Chanakya Neeti
One should feel satisfied with the following three things;
his own wife, food given by Providence and
wealth acquired by honest effort;
but one should never feel satisfied with the following three;
study, chanting the holy names of the Lord and charity.
—Chanakya Neeti
We should not feel pride in our charity, austerity,
valor, scriptural knowledge, modesty and morality
for the world is full of the rarest gems.
—Chanakya Neeti
Inferior people desire wealth. The mediocre class desires wealth as well as respect. But, great people desire only respect. Respect itself is considered as wealth by great people.
—Chanakya Neeti
Swans inhabit water bodies and desert the place
when the lake dries up. Man should not do the same, for
he may have to seek the shelter of those whom he deserts.
—Chanakya Neeti
The snake has poison in its fangs,
the mosquito in its forehead,
the scorpion’s poison is in its tail, but the
evil person has poison spread all through his being.
—Chanakya Neeti
He whose son is obedient to him, whose wife’s conduct is in accordance with his wishes, and who is content with his riches, has his heaven here on earth.
—Chanakya Neeti
One should always speak sweet words that please the person from whom we expect a favor. To hunt for a deer, the hunter sings a melodious song first.
—Chanakya Neeti
Topics: Flattery
Teaching one who has no understanding is of no use.
Just as a bamboo does not become fragrant
even though it lives with the sandal wood trees.
—Chanakya Neeti
Do not reveal what you have thought upon doing, but by wise counsel keep it secret, being determined to carry it into execution.
—Chanakya Neeti
Many a bad habit is developed through over indulgence, and many a good one by chastisement.
—Chanakya Neeti
Those who are destitute of learning, penance,
knowledge, good disposition, virtue and
benevolence are brutes wandering the earth in
the form of men. They are burdensome to the earth.
—Chanakya Neeti
He who is prepared for the future and he who deals cleverly with any situation that may arise are both happy; but the fatalistic man who wholly depends on luck is ruined.
—Chanakya Neeti
Accumulated wealth is saved by spending just as incoming fresh water is saved by letting out stagnant water.
—Chanakya Neeti
He who has no material wealth is not poor, if he has wisdom and learning. But he who has no learning is really fallen in all aspects.
—Chanakya Neeti
Wealth, a friend, a wife, and a kingdom may be regained;
but this body when lost may never be acquired again.
—Chanakya Neeti
The biggest guru-mantra is:
Never share your secrets with anybody.
It will destroy you.
—Chanakya Neeti
When you are suffering from a rare disease (or addiction), when in times of natural calamity, when you are afraid of your enemy, when you are at the doorstep of the king (to discuss your problems) or in a graveyard (when someone close to you dies), whoever stands by you is a true kinsman.
—Chanakya Neeti
Of a rascal and a serpent, the serpent is the better of the two, for he strikes only at the time he is destined to kill, while the former at every step.
—Chanakya Neeti
Do not keep company with a fool for as we can see he is a two-legged beast. Like an unseen thorn he pierces the heart with his sharp words.
—Chanakya Neeti
Although sandalwood is cut, it does not forsake its natural quality of fragrance; so also the elephant does not give up sportiveness though he should grow old. The sugarcane does not cease to be sweet though squeezed in a mill; so the man of noble extraction does not lose his lofty qualities, no matter how pinched he is by poverty.
—Chanakya Neeti
There are many ways of binding by which one
can be dominated and controlled in this world,
but the bond of affection is the strongest.
—Chanakya Neeti
Treat your kid like a darling for the first five years.
For the next five years, scold them.
By the time they turn sixteen, treat them like a friend.
Your grown up children are your best friends.
—Chanakya Neeti
Moral excellence is an ornament for personal beauty; righteous conduct, for high birth; success for learning; and proper spending for wealth.
—Chanakya Neeti
Test a servant while in the discharge of his duty, a relative in difficulty, a friend in adversity, and a wife in misfortune.
—Chanakya Neeti
Topics: Difficulty
He who neither rouses fear by his anger, nor confers a favor when he is pleased can neither control nor protect.
—Chanakya Neeti
There is no disease (so destructive) as lust; no enemy like infatuation; no fire like wrath; and no happiness like spiritual knowledge.
—Chanakya Neeti
Even the one whose qualities are comparable to those of the all-knowing, suffers without patronage. A gem, though precious, requires a gold setting.
—Chanakya Neeti
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Swami Vivekananda Indian Hindu Monk, Mystic
- Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Indian Philosopher, Political Leader
- Sri Aurobindo Indian Mystic, Philosopher, Poet
- Bhartrihari Hindu Philosopher, Grammarian
- Swami Chinmayananda Indian Hindu Spiritual Teacher
- Patanjali Indian Hindu Philosopher
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