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
Rain which falls upon the sea is useless; so is food for one who is satiated; in vain is a gift for one who is wealthy; and a burning lamp during the daytime is useless.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes that certain gifts or resources lose their value when they are not needed.
Chanakya's quote illustrates the futility of offering things to those who do not require them. Just as rain on the sea has no impact, food for someone who is already full has no purpose, and similarly, a lamp during the day serves no function. The essence of valuing resources lies in their relevance to the recipient's situation.
Themes
ValueResourcesGratitudeAppreciationNeed
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in discussions about effective charity and giving.
More from Chanakya
All quotes →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.
ChanakyaRead
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.
ChanakyaRead
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.
ChanakyaRead
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.
ChanakyaRead
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.
ChanakyaRead
Similar quotes
People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.
Jean-Jacques RousseauRead
This is a wise, sane Christian faith: that a man commit himself, his life, and his hopes to God; that God undertakes the special protection of that man; that therefore that man ought not to be afraid of anything.
George MacdonaldRead
Those who know don't tell and those who tell don't know.
Michael LewisRead
Problems are challenges to creative minds. Without problems, there would be little reason to think at all.
Earl NightingaleRead
Whenever you are blue or lonely or stricken by some humiliating thing you did, the cure and the hope is in caring about other people.
Diane SawyerRead
Every minute you are thinking of evil, you might have been thinking of good instead. Refuse to pander to a morbid interest in your own misdeeds. Pick yourself up, be sorry, shake yourself, and go on again.
Evelyn UnderhillRead