Death carries off a man busy picking flowers with an besotted mind, like a great flood does a sleeping village.
Gautama BuddhaRead
There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it. To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one's own in the midst of abundance.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Evil exists to highlight the value of good, and true purity requires selflessness amidst material wealth.
This quote from Gautama Buddha emphasizes the duality of existence, suggesting that the presence of evil is necessary to understand and appreciate goodness. It underscores the importance of living a life of selflessness, where one should not cling to possessions or selfish desires, especially in times of plenty, as this is essential to achieving a higher state of purity and altruism.
Themes
GoodEvilPuritySelflessnessAbundanceLife
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about moral philosophy at a community event.
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
An iceberg is water striving to be land; a mountain, especially a Himalaya, especially Everest, is land's attempt to metamorphose into sky; it is grounded in flight, the earth mutated--nearly--into air, and become, in the true sense, exalted. Long before she ever encountered the mountain, Allie was aware of its brooding presence in her soul.
Salman RushdieRead
Death when unmasked shows us a friendly face and is a terror only at a distance.
Oliver GoldsmithRead
And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people as one of many hoops that made one circle.
Black ElkRead
Nothing is so false as human life, nothing so treacherous. God knows no one would have accepted it as a gift, if it had not been given without our knowledge.
Seneca The YoungerRead
To a gargoyle on the ramparts of Notre Dame as Esmeralda rides off with Gringoire Quasimodo says. "Why was I not made of stone like thee?
Victor HugoRead
Science fiction is very well suited to asking philosophical questions; questions about the nature of reality, what it means to be human, how do we know the things that we think we know.
Ted ChiangRead