Death carries off a man busy picking flowers with an besotted mind, like a great flood does a sleeping village.
Gautama BuddhaRead
Silence the angry man with love. Silence the ill-natured man with kindness. Silence the miser with generosity. Silence the liar with truth.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Responding to negativity with positivity can transform conflicts into resolutions.
This quote by Gautama Buddha emphasizes the power of positive responses to negative behaviors. It suggests that rather than retaliating or escalating conflict, one should choose to respond with qualities like love, kindness, generosity, and truth to effectively 'silence' and disarm those who exhibit anger, ill-nature, greed, or dishonesty. By doing so, we foster understanding and promote harmony.
Themes
SilenceLoveKindnessGenerosityTruthConflict Resolution
In practice
Example use cases
During a meeting, when tensions rise, I recall this quote to remind myself to respond with kindness.
More from Gautama Buddha
All quotes βA 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
What we get from each moment depends on the attention we give it, and the quality of our experience reflects the quality of our awareness.
Roger N. WalshRead
Kind words produce their own image in men's souls; and a beautiful image it is. They soothe and quiet and comfort the hearer. They shame him out of his sour, morose, unkind feelings. We have not yet begun to use kind words in such abundance as they ought to be used.
Blaise PascalRead
A technique can only work if it is in harmony with universal principles. Such principles need to be grasped through Mind, pure consciousness. Selfish desires thwart your progress, but Mind, not captivated by notions of victory or defeat, will liberate you. Mind fixes your senses and keeps you centered. Mind is the key to wondrous power and supreme clarity.
Morihei UeshibaRead
Three of my children are medical doctors; they know at least a hundred times as much about your body as my grandfather knew, but they don't know much more about soul than he did.
John TempletonRead
Sometimes we are too polite with our suffering and allow it to dominate our life.
Dzogchen Ponlop RinpocheRead
If you can get good at destroying your own wrong ideas, that is a great gift.
Charlie MungerRead