Quotes by Chanakya

• 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.
• The happiness and peace attained by those satisfied by the nectar of spiritual tranquillity is not attained by greedy persons restlessly moving here and there.
• 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.
• Test a servant while in the discharge of his duty, a relative in difficulty, a friend in adversity, and a wife in misfortune.
• The biggest guru-mantra is: never share your secrets with anybody. It will destroy you.
• Once you start a working on something, don't be afraid of failure and don't abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest.
• 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 fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all direction.
• One whose knowledge is confined to books and whose wealth is in the possession of others, can use neither his knowledge nor wealth when the need for them arises.
• The wise man should restrain his senses like the crane and accomplish his purpose with due knowledge of his place, time and ability.
• The world's biggest power is the youth and beauty of a woman.
• There is no austerity equal to a balanced mind, and there is no happiness equal to contentment; there is no disease like covetousness, and no virtue like mercy.
• There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth.
• We should not fret for what is past, nor should we be anxious about the future; men of discernment deal only with the present moment.
• O wise man! Give your wealth only to the worthy and never to others. The water of the sea received by the clouds is always sweet.
• There is poison in the fang of the serpent, in the mouth of the fly and in the sting of a scorpion; but the wicked man is saturated with it.
• Do not reveal what you have thought upon doing, but by wise council keep it secret being determined to carry it into execution.
• A man is born alone and dies alone; and he experiences the good and bad consequences of his karma alone; and he goes alone to hell or the Supreme abode.
• A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and honest people are screwed first.
• As a single withered tree, if set aflame, causes a whole forest to burn, so does a rascal son destroy a whole family.
• 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?
• As soon as the fear approaches near, attack and destroy it.
• Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions - Why am I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead.
• A man is great by deeds, not by birth.
• Do not be very upright in your dealings for you would see by going to the forest that straight trees are cut down while crooked ones are left standing.
• Never make friends with people who are above or below you in status. Such friendships will never give you any happiness.
• Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats the beauty and the youth.
• Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous.
• God is not present in idols. Your feelings are your god. The soul is your temple.
• He who is overly attached to his family members experiences fear and sorrow, for the root of all grief is attachment. Thus one should discard attachment to be happy.
• He who lives in our mind is near though he may actually be far away; but he who is not in our heart is far though he may really be nearby.
• If one has a good disposition, what other virtue is needed? If a man has fame, what is the value of other ornamentation?
• It is better to die than to preserve this life by incurring disgrace. The loss of life causes but a moment's grief, but disgrace brings grief every day of one's life.
• The serpent, the king, the tiger, the stinging wasp, the small child, the dog owned by other people, and the fool: these seven ought not to be awakened from sleep.