Death carries off a man busy picking flowers with an besotted mind, like a great flood does a sleeping village.
Gautama BuddhaRead
By your own folly you will be brought as low as your worst enemy wishes.
Interpretation
Your own mistakes can lead to your downfall, often worse than any adversary's intentions.
This quote by Gautama Buddha emphasizes the idea that an individual's own foolishness and poor decisions can bring them down more severely than the actions of their enemies. It serves as a reminder that self-awareness and responsibility for one's actions are crucial in avoiding self-inflicted harm.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal responsibility.
Death carries off a man busy picking flowers with an besotted mind, like a great flood does a sleeping village.
A kind man who makes good use of wealth is rightly said to possess a great treasure; but the miser who hoards up his riches will have no profit.
There are having flowers in Spring, breezes in Summer, moon in Autumn, snows in Winter. If there is nothing worrying over you, it will be the best seasons at all times.
Make an island of yourself, make yourself your refuge; there is no other refuge. Make truth your island, make truth your refuge; there is no other refuge.
When a wise man is advised of his errors, he will reflect on and improve his conduct. When his misconduct is pointed out, a foolish man will not only disregard the advice but rather repeat the same error.
The tongue like a sharp knife ... Kills without drawing blood.
Do you know anything on earth which has not a dangerous side if it is mishandled and exaggerated?
O Lord! Unhappy is the man whom man can make unhappy.
Savings represent much more than mere money value. They are the proof that the saver is worth something in himself. Any fool can waste; any fool can muddle; but it takes something more of a man to save and the more he saves the more of a man he makes of himself. Waste and extravagance unsettle a man's mind for every crisis; thrift, which means some form of self-restraint, steadies it.
I know a lot of editors who are very bitter about the directors they work with. They feel they could have done a better job, and I say to them, 'Oh really? Why don't you go try - it's not easy.'
He who is virtuous is wise; and he who is wise is good; and he who is good is happy.
She regarded books as the emblems of secret brotherhood. A man with this sort of library couldn't possibly hurt her.
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