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
The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all directions.
Interpretation
Goodness and kindness from a person can have a widespread impact, unlike the limited reach of a flower's fragrance.
This quote by Chanakya highlights the idea that while physical beauty and pleasantness, akin to a flower's fragrance, can only reach those who are downwind, the inherent goodness of a person has the potential to touch many lives, regardless of their position. It emphasizes the importance of cultivating a good character and acting kindly, suggesting that these virtues can transcend barriers and positively influence those around us more comprehensively than superficial qualities.
In practice
In a motivational speech about kindness in the workplace.
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.
Just as he who gives his life to serve a great idea is admirable, he who avails himself of a great idea to serve his personal hopes of glory and power is abominable, even if he too risks his life.
Of all studies, the one he would rather have avoided was that of his own mind. He knew no tragedy so heartrending as introspection.
It is a hard matter, my fellow citizens, to argue with the belly, since it has no ears.
Ignoring the mind is a beautiful sadhana. This is what many of the sages did. They ignored the mind out of existence. It loses its influence and its potency when it is ignored.
Unless a writer is extremely old when he dies, in which case he has probably become a neglected institution, his death must always be seen as untimely. This is because a real writer is always shifting and changing and searching. The world has many labels for him, of which the most treacherous is the label of Success.
Most go to prison not on account of their irreducible uniqueness as people but because they are part of a marginalized sector of the population who never had a chance, who were slated for it early on.
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