Death carries off a man busy picking flowers with an besotted mind, like a great flood does a sleeping village.
Gautama BuddhaRead
Good men and bad men differ radically. Bad men never appreciate kindness shown them, but wise men appreciate and are grateful. Wise men try to express their appreciation and gratitude by some return of kindness, not only to their benefactor, but to everyone else
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the contrasting attitudes of good and bad individuals towards kindness, emphasizing the gratefulness of wise men.
In this quote, Gautama Buddha illustrates the fundamental difference between good and bad individuals in how they perceive and respond to kindness. While bad men are incapable of appreciating acts of kindness, wise men not only recognize such gestures but are driven by gratitude to reciprocate kindness and spread it further. This reflects the moral principle that true wisdom involves recognizing the value of kindness and fostering a cycle of goodwill in interactions with others.
Themes
KindnessGratitudeWisdomAppreciationGoodness
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared in a speech about the importance of kindness in leadership.
More from Gautama Buddha
All quotes →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.
Gautama BuddhaRead
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.
Gautama BuddhaRead
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.
Gautama BuddhaRead
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.
Gautama BuddhaRead
The tongue like a sharp knife ... Kills without drawing blood.
Gautama BuddhaRead
Similar quotes
There is only one map to the journey of life and it lives within your heart
Willie NelsonRead
Grace is what matters. In anything. Especially life, especially growth, tragedy, pain, love, death. About people, that's what matters. That's a quality I admire very greatly. It keeps you from reaching for the gun too quickly; it keeps you from destroying things too foolishly; it sort of keeps you alive and keeps you open for more understanding.
Jeff BuckleyRead
I have seen slower people than I am and more deliberate... and even quieter, and more listless, and lazier people than I am. But they were dead.
Mark TwainRead
Pour some water into a tub and stir it up. Now try as hard as you can to calm the water with your hands; you will succeed in agitating it further. Let it stand undisturbed a while, and it will calm down by itself. The human brain works much the same way.
Koichi ToheiRead
We cannot ignore our pain and feel compassion for it at the same time.
Bren BrownRead
God gives us always strength enough, and sense enough, for what He wants us to do; if we either tire ourselves or puzzle ourselves, it is our own fault.
John RuskinRead