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.
ChanakyaRead
Those base men who speak of the secret faults of others destroy themselves like serpents that stray onto anthills.
Interpretation
Speaking ill of others reveals one's own weaknesses.
This quote by Chanakya emphasizes the idea that individuals who gossip or speak maliciously about the hidden flaws of others ultimately harm themselves. Like serpents that inadvertently destroy anthills, such people create chaos and damage their own character in the process, suggesting the importance of self-reflection and integrity.
In practice
Using this quote in a speech about the importance of integrity in leadership.
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.
Let not a single day pass without your learning a verse, half a verse, or a fourth of it, or even one letter of it; nor without attending to charity, study and other pious activity.
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.
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.
Whoever imposes severe punishment becomes repulsive to the people; while he who awards mild punishment becomes contemptible. But whoever imposes punishment as deserved becomes respectable.
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.
Ideas are the easy part. I spend a lot of time batting them away, trying to keep them from distracting me from what I actually have to focus on and finish. A lot of times, they are a siren temptress beckoning me with the promise of a much shorter, simpler, more slender novel over the horizon, but of course that's very dangerous.
I never work just to work. It's some combination of laziness and self-respect.
Vice is perhaps a desire to learn everything.
Your people smarts will prove ten times more valuable than all the book smarts you can't get.
It is foolish to tear one's hair in grief, as though sorrow would be made less by baldness.
The more time goes on, the closer I am to the ground. I've been exposed to so many issues and people living under different pressures. It's helped me realize that a lot of glamorous things that people prioritize really don't matter.
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