Chanakya Quotes


"The happiness and peace attained by those satisfied by the nectar of spiritual tranquillity is not attained by greedy persons restlessly moving here and there."
- Chanakya
(Related: Happiness, Peace, Spiritual)

"Purity of speech, of the mind, of the senses, and of a compassionate heart are needed by one who desires to rise to the divine platform."
- Chanakya
(Related: Heart, Mind, Purity, Senses, Speech)

"Test a servant while in the discharge of his duty, a relative in difficulty, a friend in adversity, and a wife in misfortune."
- Chanakya
(Related: Wife, Friend, Adversity, Difficulty, Duty, Misfortune)

"The biggest guru-mantra is: never share your secrets with anybody. It will destroy you."
- Chanakya
(Related: Secrets, Will)

"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."
- Chanakya
(Related: Work, People, Failure)

"The earth is supported by the power of truth; it is the power of truth that makes the sun shine and the winds blow; indeed all things rest upon truth."
- Chanakya
(Related: Power, Truth, Earth, Rest, Sun)

"The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all direction."
- Chanakya
(Related: Direction, Flowers, Goodness, Wind)

"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."
- Chanakya
(Related: Knowledge, Wealth, Books, Possession)

"The one excellent thing that can be learned from a lion is that whatever a man intends doing should be done by him with a whole-hearted and strenuous effort."
- Chanakya
(Related: Effort, Man)

"The wise man should restrain his senses like the crane and accomplish his purpose with due knowledge of his place, time and ability."
- Chanakya
(Related: Time, Knowledge, Purpose, Ability, Man, Senses)

"The world's biggest power is the youth and beauty of a woman."
- Chanakya
(Related: Beauty, Power, Woman, World, Youth)

"There is no austerity equal to a balanced mind, and there is no happiness equal to contentment; there is no disease like covetousness, and no virtue like mercy."
- Chanakya
(Related: Happiness, Virtue, Contentment, Covetousness, Disease, Mercy, Mind)

"There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth."
- Chanakya
(Related: Friendship, Truth, Self)

"A good wife is one who serves her husband in the morning like a mother does, loves him in the day like a sister does and pleases him like a prostitute in the night."
- Chanakya
(Related: Mother, Sister, Wife, HusbDay, Night)

"We should not fret for what is past, nor should we be anxious about the future; men of discernment deal only with the present moment."
- Chanakya
(Related: Men, Future, Past, Present)

"Whores don't live in company of poor men, citizens never support a weak company and birds don't build nests on a tree that doesn't bear fruits."
- Chanakya
(Related: Men, Birds, Company, Poor, Support)

"O wise man! Give your wealth only to the worthy and never to others. The water of the sea received by the clouds is always sweet."
- Chanakya
(Related: Wealth, Clouds, Sea, Water)

"There is poison in the fang of the serpent, in the mouth of the fly and in the sting of a scorpion; but the wicked man is saturated with it."
- Chanakya
(Related: Man, Poison)

"Do not reveal what you have thought upon doing, but by wise council keep it secret being determined to carry it into execution."
- Chanakya
(Related: Thought, Being, Execution)

"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."
- Chanakya
(Related: Life, End, Insects, Man)

"A man is born alone and dies alone; and he experiences the good and bad consequences of his karma alone; and he goes alone to hell or the Supreme abode."
- Chanakya
(Related: Consequences, Hell, Karma, Man)

"A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and honest people are screwed first."
- Chanakya
(Related: People, First, Trees)

"As a single withered tree, if set aflame, causes a whole forest to burn, so does a rascal son destroy a whole family."
- Chanakya
(Related: Family, Son, Causes)

"As long as your body is healthy and under control and death is distant, try to save your soul; when death is immanent what can you do?"
- Chanakya
(Related: Death, Soul, Control, Body)

"As soon as the fear approaches near, attack and destroy it."
- Chanakya
(Related: Fear)

"Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions - Why am I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead."
- Chanakya
(Related: Work, Successful, Answers, Questions, Results, Will)

"A man is great by deeds, not by birth."
- Chanakya
(Related: Deeds, Man)

"Do not be very upright in your dealings for you would see by going to the forest that straight trees are cut down while crooked ones are left standing."
- Chanakya
(Related: Trees)

"Never make friends with people who are above or below you in status. Such friendships will never give you any happiness."
- Chanakya
(Related: Happiness, People, Friends, Will)

"Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats the beauty and the youth."
- Chanakya
(Related: Beauty, Education, Friend, Youth)

"Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous."
- Chanakya
"God is not present in idols. Your feelings are your god. The soul is your temple."
- Chanakya
(Related: God, Soul, Feelings, Temple, Idols, Present)

"He who is overly attached to his family members experiences fear and sorrow, for the root of all grief is attachment. Thus one should discard attachment to be happy."
- Chanakya
(Related: Family, Fear, Grief, Sorrow)

"He who lives in our mind is near though he may actually be far away; but he who is not in our heart is far though he may really be nearby."
- Chanakya
(Related: Heart, May, Mind)

"If one has a good disposition, what other virtue is needed? If a man has fame, what is the value of other ornamentation?"
- Chanakya
(Related: Virtue, Fame, Man, Value)

"It is better to die than to preserve this life by incurring disgrace. The loss of life causes but a moment's grief, but disgrace brings grief every day of one's life."
- Chanakya
(Related: Life, Causes, Day, Disgrace, Grief, Loss)

"Books are as useful to a stupid person as a mirror is useful to a blind person."
- Chanakya
(Related: Blind, Books)

"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."
- Chanakya
(Related: People, Sleep)