Quotes from Chanakya

Do not say, What what fear has a rich man of calamity.

God is not present in idols. Your feelings are your god. The soul is your temple.

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

Those parents who do not educate their sons are their enemies; for as is a crane among swans, so are ignorant so are ignorant sons in a public assembly.

Test a servant while in the discharge of his duty, a relative in difficulty, a friend in adversity, and a wife in misfortune.

There is no disease (so destructive) as lust; no enemy like infatuation; no fire like wrath; and no happiness like spiritual knowledge.

As a single withered tree, if set aflame, causes a whole forest to burn, so does a rascal son destroy a whole family.

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.

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.

What is the use of having many sons if they cause grief and vexation?

Do not put your trust in a bad companion nor even trust an ordinary friend, for if he should get angry with you, he may bring all your secrets to light.

The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all direction.

They alone are sons who are devoted to their father. He is a father who supports his sons. He is a friend in whom we can confide, and she only is a wife in whose company the husband feels contented and peaceful.

A person becomes great not by sitting on some high seat, but through higher qualities. A crow does not become an eagle by simply sitting on the top of a palatial building.

Virtuous persons and fruit-laden trees bow, but fools and dry sticks break because they do not bend.

One should not inhabit a country where one gets no respect, no opportunity to earn once's livelihood, where one has no friends or relatives, or from where one can not acquire knowledge.

Never believe the wicked though they are sweet tongued. The honey is only in the tip of their tongue–the heart is full of venom.

There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth.

A wicked wife, a foolish friend, an ill tongued servant and a house infested with serpents will undoubtedly bring death.

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.

A good wife is one who serves her husband in the morning like a mother does, loves him in the day like a sister does and pleases him like a prostitute in the night.

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.

The life of an uneducated man is as useless as the tail of a dog which neither covers its rear end, nor protects it from the bites of insects.

If one has a good disposition, what other virtue is needed? If a man has fame, what is the value of other ornamentation?