369 Powerful Buddha Quotes about Life

Walking in a night, we’ll need a light as a guide, the ultimate solution would be to get enlightened.

Sometimes, we need to revitalize our perspective on life by immersing our minds in the wise words of enlightened men. We could incorporate wise words into our daily meditation routine to reign our wandering minds. Day by day, working toward enlightenment will help us start a fulfilling life.

Because of his deep understanding of life, Gautama Buddha is known as “the enlightened one” and “one who is awakened.”

He got that understanding through meditation and then tried to teach others what he had learned. He’s all about being kind, patient, and generous. And over the years, people have taken buddha quotes about life and used them to become enlightened by making sense of their own lives.

To honor his teachings, we’ve compiled some of the most powerful and enlightening buddha quotes about life in this post. The enlightening wisdom covers buddha quotes on love life happiness, both from Buddha himself and those who are enlightened by Buddha’s teachings.

So, let the inspirational Buddha quotes about life touch your soul and guide you through the difficulties.

369 Buddha Quotes about Life 

Buddha Quotes about Life: 1 – 100

• 1. The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.
• 2. Every morning we are born again. What we do at the very moment is what matters most.
• 3. What you are is what you have been. What you’ll be is what you do right now.
• 4. It is better to travel well than to arrive.
• 5. No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We must walk the path by ourselves.
• 6. A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but if he is peacefully loving and fearless, then he is in truth and wisdom.
• 7. Purity or impurity depends on oneself, no one can purify another.
• 8. Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.
• 9. Killing is evil, lying is evil, slandering is evil, abuse is evil, gossip is evil, envy is evil, hatred is evil, to cling to false doctrine is evil.
• 10. What is the root of evil? Desire and illusion.
• 11. If you find no one to support you on the spiritual path, walk alone.
• 12. Stop. Do not speak. Now and here. The ultimate truth is not even to think.
• 13. The one in whom no longer exist the craving and thirst that perpetuate becoming; how could you track that Awakened one, trackless, and of limitless range.
• 14. Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes.
• 15. You only lose what you cling to.
• 16. Radiate boundless love towards the entire world.
• 17. Ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals.
• 18. Love is a gift of one’s inner most soul to another so both can be whole.
• 19. Just as a mother would protect her only child with her life, even so let one cultivate a boundless love towards all beings.
• 20. We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.
• 21. All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts and made up of our thoughts.
• 22. Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draws it.
• 23. You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.
• 24. Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence.
• 25. If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.
• 26. Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the lighting candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.
• 27. Hatred does not cease through hatred at any time. Hatred ceases through love. This is an unalterable law.
• 28. As rain falls equally on the just and the unjust, do not burden your heart with judgement but rain your kindness equally on all.
• 29. Give, even if you only have a little. Then you will fell happier and have more to give.
• 30. Life is so very difficult. How can we be anything but kind?
• 31. We will develop and cultivate the liberation of mind by loving kindness, make it our vehicle, make it our basis, stabilize it, practice it, and perfect it.
• 32. As rain falls equally on the just and the unjust, do not burden your heart with judgments but rain your kindness equally on all.
• 33. Kindness should become the natural way of life, not the exception.
• 34. Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.
• 35. Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.
• 36. The tongue like a sharp knife, which kills without drawing blood.
• 37. If you propose to speak always ask yourself, is it true, is it necessary, is it kind.
• 38. Like a fine flower, beautiful to look at but without scent, fine words are fruitless in a man who does not act in accordance with them.
• 39. Speak only endearing speech, speech that is welcomed. Speech, when it brings no evil to others, is a pleasant thing.
• 40. The habit of doubt a poison that dissolves friendships and pleasant relationships. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills.
• 41. An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.
• 42. If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.
• 43. Just as the great ocean has one taste, the taste of salt, so also this teaching and discipline has one taste, the taste of liberation.
• 44. Our theories of the eternal are as valuable as are those which a chick which has not broken its way through its shell might form of the outside world.
• 45. Pain is certain, suffering is optional.
• 46. Have compassion for all beings, rich and poor alike; each has their suffering. Some suffer too much, others too little.
• 47. The root of suffering is attachment.
• 48. Most problems, if you give them enough time and space, will eventually wear themselves out.
• 49. Irrigators channel waters; carpenters bend wood; the wise master themselves.
• 50. Drop by drop is the water pot filled. Likewise, the wise man, gathering it little by little, fills himself with good.
• 51. You yourself must strive. The Teachers only point the way.
• 52. Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.
• 53. Those who knows life flows, feels no wear or tear, needs no mending or repair.
• 54. Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot at least we learned a little, which makes us a better person. So let us be thankful.
• 55. The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.
• 56. To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one’s own in the midst of abundance.
• 57. There is no fear for one whose mind is not filled with desires.
• 58. To be idle is a short road to death for the foolish; to be diligent is a way of life for the wise.
• 59. One who acts on truth is happy in this world and beyond.
• 60. Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have.
• 61. A man asked Buddha, I want happiness. Buddha said, First remove ‘I’, that’s Ego, then remove ‘want,’ that’s Desire. See now you are left with Happiness.
• 62. To support mother and father, to cherish wife and child and to have a simple livelihood; this is the good luck.
• 63. One moment can change a day, one day can change a life, and one life can change the world.
• 64. Should a seeker not find a companion who is better or equal, let them resolutely pursue a solitary course.
• 65. Being deeply learned and skilled, being well trained and using well spoken words: this is good luck.
• 66. To learn more about meditation techniques and Buddhist wisdom, check out our no-nonsense guide to using Buddhism and eastern philosophy for a better life here.
• 67. Before you move onto the next part of your day, stop for a moment and take a deep breath.
• 68. By stopping to take a deep breath, your heart rate slows and more oxygen enters your bloodstream. This communicates to your brain to relax.
• 69. Taking a deep breath has the potential to improve the quality of your day.
• 70. There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills.
• 71. All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts and made up of our thoughts. If a man speak or act with an evil thought, suffering follows him as the wheel follows the hoof of the beast that draws the wagon….
• 72. If a man speak or act with a good thought, happiness follows him like a shadow that never leaves him.
• 73. Three things can not hide for long: the Moon, the Sun and the Truth.
• 74. Do not believe in anything because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything because it is said by many. Do not believe in anything because it is written in books. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.
• 75. Only after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.
• 76. Doubt everything. Find your own light.
• 77. Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it.
• 78. Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.
• 79. Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.
• 80. There is no path to happiness: happiness is the path.
• 81. A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but if he is peaceful, loving and fearless then he is in truth called wise.
• 82. You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.
• 83. Conquer the angry one by not getting angry; conquer the wicked by goodness; conquer the stingy by generosity, and the liar by speaking the truth.
• 84. Now, don’t go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought. This contemplative is our teacher.
• 85. Greater in battle than the man who would conquer thousand-thousand men,is he who would conquer just one, himself. Better to conquer yourself than others.
• 86. It is like a lighted torch whose flame can be distributed to ever so many other torches which people may bring along; and therewith they will cook food and dispel darkness, while the original torch itself remains burning ever the same. It is even so with the bliss of the Way.
• 87. If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.
• 88. If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly our whole life would change.
• 89. Meditate. Live purely. Be quiet. Do your work with mastery. Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds! Shine.
• 90. Words do not express thoughts very well; every thing immediately becomes a little different, a little distorted, a little foolish. And yet it also pleases me and seems right that what is of value and wisdom of one man seems nonsense to another.
• 91. Purity or impurity depends on oneself,No one can purify another.
• 92. Nothing is forever except change.
• 93. As you walk and eat and travel, be where you are. Otherwise you will miss most of your life.
• 94. As rain falls equally on the just and the unjust, do not burden your heart with judgements but rain your kindness equally on all.
• 95. The tongue like a sharp knife… Kills without drawing blood.
• 96. The past is already gone, the future is not yet here. There’s only one moment for you to live, and that is the present moment.
• 97. With our thoughts we make the world.
• 98. Attachment leads to suffering.
• 99. Those who have failed to work toward the truth have missed the purpose of living.
• 100. Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draws it. Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Joy follows a pure thought like a shadow that never leaves.

Buddha Quotes about Life: 101 – 200

• 101. Praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and sorrow come and go like the wind. To be happy, rest like a giant tree in the midst of them all.
• 102. It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.
• 103. You are the community now. Be a lamp for yourselves. Be your own refuge. Seek for no other. All things must pass. Strive on diligently. Don’t give up.
• 104. The Way is not in the sky; the Way is in the heart.
• 105. In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.
• 106. There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.
• 107. If you find no one to support you on the spiritual path, walk alone. There is no companionship with the immature.
• 108. May all that have life be delivered from suffering.
• 109. She who knows life flows, feels no wear or tear, needs no mending or repair.
• 110. The one who has conquered himself is a far greater hero than he who has defeated a thousand times a thousand men.
• 111. You throw thorns, falling in my silence they become flowers.
• 112. If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path.
• 113. When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.
• 114. A family is a place where minds come in contact with one another. If these minds love one another the home will be as beautiful as a flower garden. But if these minds get out of harmony with one another it is like a storm that plays havoc with the garden.
• 115. To become vegetarian is to step towards the stream which leads to nirvana.
• 116. To force oneself to believe and to accept a thing without understanding is political, and not spiritual or intellectual.
• 117. Wear your ego like a loose fitting garment.
• 118. Kindness should become the natural way of life,not the exception.
• 119. Friendship is the only cure for hatred; forgiveness is the only guarantor of peace.
• 120. What you are is what you have been. What you’ll be is what you do now.
• 121. Speak the truth do not become angered and give when asked, even be it a little. By these three conditions one goes to the presence of the gods.
• 122. When you come upon a path that brings benefit and happiness to all, follow this course as the moon journeys through the stars.
• 123. In separateness lies the world’s greatest misery; in compassion lies the world’s true strength.
• 124. People with opinions just go around bothering one another.
• 125. If a traveller does not meet with one who is his better, or his equal, let him firmly keep to his solitary journey; there is no companionship with a fool.
• 126. Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
• 127. He is able who thinks he is able.
• 128. Life is a river always flowing. Do not hold onto things. Work hard.
• 129. There are no chains like hate…dwelling on your brother’s faults multiplies your own. You are far from the end of your journey.
• 130. Those who attempt to conquer hatred by hatred are like warriors who take weapons to overcome others who bear arms. This does not end hatred, but gives it room to grow.
• 131. The method of trying to conquer hatred through hatred never succeeds in overcoming hatred.
• 132. The method of overcoming hatred through non-hatred is eternally effective. That is why that method is described as eternal wisdom.
• 133. There isn’t enough darkness in all the world to snuff out the light of one little candle.
• 134. Be a lamp unto yourself. Work out your liberation with diligence.
• 135. There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it.
• 136. Most problems, if you give them enough time and space, will eventually wear themselves out.
• 137. one moment can change a day, one day can change a life and one life can change the world.
• 138. It is better to travel, than to arrive.
• 139. Be vigilant; guard your mind against negative thoughts.
• 140. Imagine that every person in the world is enlightened but you. They are all your teachers, each doing just the right things to help you learn perfect patience, perfect wisdom, perfect compassion.
• 141. All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else.
• 142. Be greatly aware of the present.
• 143. All descriptions of reality are temporary hypotheses.
• 144. How wonderful! How wonderful! All things are perfect, exactly as they are.
• 145. What you think, you become.What you feel, you attract.What you imagine, you create.
• 146. Learn this from water: loud splashes the brook but the oceans depth are calm.
• 147. Happiness does not depend on what you have or who you are, it solely relies on what you think.
• 148. The Gift of Truth excels all other gifts.
• 149. The forest is a peculiar organism of unlimited kindness and benevolence that makes no demands for its sustenance and extends generously the products of its life activity; it affords protection to all beings, offering shade even to the axe-man who destroys it.
• 150. Look not to the faults of others, nor to their omissions and commissions. But rather look to your own acts, to what you have done and left undone.
• 151. I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.
• 152. For the good of the many, for the happiness of the many, out of compassion for the world.
• 153. Though one should live a hundred years without wisdom and control, yet better, indeed, is a single day’s life of one who is wise and meditative.
• 154. Wakefulness is the way to life. The fool sleeps too much.
• 155. The non-doing of any evil, the performance of what’s skillful, the cleansing of one’s own mind: this is the teaching of the Awakened.
• 156. Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.
• 157. Few among men are they who cross to the further shore. The others merely run up and down the bank on this side.
• 158. The mind is everything. What you think, you become.
• 159. Attach to nothing: only live your life as it is, not bounded to anything.
• 160. When you like a flower, you just pluck it. But when you love a flower, you water it daily.
• 161. Do not overlook tiny good actions, thinking they are of no benefit; even tiny drops of water in the end will fill a huge vessel.
• 162. Do not overlook negative actions merely because they are small; however small a spark may be, it can burn down a haystack as big as a mountain.
• 163. The ignorant man is an ox. He grows in size, not in wisdom.
• 164. To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent.
• 165. The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.
• 166. From a withered tree, a flower blooms.
• 167. Victory breeds hatred. The defeated live in pain. Happily the peaceful live,giving up victory and defeat.
• 168. Awake. Be the witness of your thoughts. You are what observes, not what you observe.
• 169. Whoever sees me sees the teaching, and whoever sees the teaching sees me.
• 170. The virtuous man delights in this world and he delights in the next.
• 171. Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.
• 172. If you are facing in the right direction, all you need to do is keep on walking.
• 173. Resolutely train yourself to attain peace.
• 174. Following the Noble Path is like entering a dark room with a light in the hand; the darkness will all be cleared away, and the room will be filled with light.
• 175. The wise man makes an island of himself that no flood can overwhelm.
• 176. Just to say ‘I believe’ or ‘I do not doubt’ does not mean that you understand and see. To force oneself to see and accept a thing without understanding is political and not spiritual or intellectual.
• 177. Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom.
• 178. Those who consider the inessential to be essential And see the essential as inessential Don’t reach the essential, Living in the field of wrong intention.
• 179. Contentment is the greatest wealth.
• 180. In this worldHate never yet dispelled hateOnly love dispels hateThis is the lawAncient and inexhaustibleYou to shall pass awayKnowing this,how can you quarrel.
• 181. It is in a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that leads him to evil ways.
• 182. Every experience, no matter how bad it seems, holds within it a blessing of some kind. The goal is to find it.
• 183. Do not give your attention to what others do or fail to do; give it to what you do or fail to do.
• 184. Suffering arises from attachment to desires.
• 185. Live in joy, in love, even among those who hate. Live in joy, in health, even among the afflicted. Live in joy, in peace, even among the troubled. Look within, be still. Free from fear and attachment, know the sweet joy of the way.
• 186. As a flower that is lovely and beautiful, but is scentless, even so fruitless is the well-spoken word of one who practices it not.
• 187. If the selflessness of phenomena is analyzed and if this analysis is cultivated, it causes the effect of attaining nirvana. through no other cause does one come to peace.
• 188. Will not be punished for your anger, your anger is the punishment.
• 189. What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday,and present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: our life is the creation of our own mind.
• 190. Of bones the city is made,Plastered with flesh and blood,Where decay and death are deposited,And pride, and ingratitude.
• 191. If you knew what I know about the power of giving you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way.
• 192. As a lotus flower is born in water, grows in water and rises out of water to stand above it unsoiled, so I, born in the world, raised in the world having overcome the world, live unsoiled by the world.
• 193. How blissful it is, for one who has nothing. Attainers-of-wisdom are people with nothing. See him suffering, one who has something, a person bound in mind with people.
• 194. From craving is born grief, from craving is born fear. For one freed from craving there’s no grief – so how fear?
• 195. Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.
• 196. We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.
• 197. Rule your mind or it will rule you.
• 198. Opinion is a disease; opinion is a tumour; opinion is a sore. He who has overcome all opinion is called a saint, one who knows.
• 199. Not merely by rules of conduct and religious observances, nor by much learning, nor even by concentration, do I reach the happiness of freedom, to which no worldlings attain.
• 200. If you have not put an end to compulsions, reflect on your purpose and strength your faith.

Buddha Quotes about Life: 201 – 300

• 201. Those which are produced from causes are not produced. they do not have an inherent nature of production. those which depend on causes are said to be empty; those who know emptiness are aware.
• 202. Our theories of the eternal are as valuable as are those that a chick which has not broken its way through its shell might form of the outside world.
• 203. All phenomena do not inherently exist because of being dependent-arisings. All phenomena do not inherently exist because of being dependently imputed.
• 204. All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can wrong-doing remain.
• 205. The darkest night is ignorance.
• 206. Consider the teachings of the gurus to be the gimmick of magicians.
• 207. Observe the rise and fall of thoughts as traces left by the four seasons.
• 208. Analyzing through insights and realizing the non-existence foster the understanding of the formless underlying all phenomena.
• 209. Those which arise dependently are constrained by their own thoughts.
• 210. Success isn’t the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.
• 211. Meditate, do not delay, or else you will regret it later. This is our instruction to you.
• 212. Your worst enemy cannot hurt you as much as your own thoughts, when you haven’t mastered them.
• 213. When the Aggregates arise, decay and die, every moment you are born, decay, and die.
• 214. Our minds shall not be affected by evil or hatred. We shall remain full of concern and pity, with a mind of love.
• 215. Don’t give yourself to negligence. Don’t devote yourself to sensual pleasure. Vigilant and absorbed in meditation. One attains abundant happiness.
• 216. Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds! Shine.
• 217. Your actions are your only belongings.
• 218. This is how to contemplate our conditioned existence in this fleeting world: like a tiny drop of dew, or a bubble floating in a stream; like a flash of lightning in a summer cloud, or a flickering lamp, an illusion, a phantom, or a dream. So is all conditioned existence to be seen.
• 219. The rain could turn to gold and still your thirst would not be slaked. Desire is unquenchable or it ends in tears, even in heaven.
• 220. Greater than all the joys. Of heaven and earth, greater still than dominion. Over all the worlds, is the joy of reaching the stream.
• 221. Like a caring mother holding and guarding the life of her only child, so with a boundless heart of loving kindness, hold yourself and all beings as your beloved children.
• 222. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.
• 223. Love yourself and cherish your life — today, tomorrow, and always.
• 224. I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.
• 225. Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
• 226. To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one’s own in the midst of abundance.
• 227. He has no need for faith who knows the uncreated, who has cut off rebirth, who has destroyed any opportunity for good or evil, and cast away all desire. He is indeed the ultimate man.
• 228. The less you have, the less you have to worry about.
• 229. This I tell you: decay is inherent in all conditioned things. Work out your own salvation, with diligence.
• 230. All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.
• 231. To keep the body in good health is a duty… otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.
• 232. A fool suffers, thinking, ‘I have wealth!’ Even the perception of self is illusion. How then is wealth?
• 233. All beings tremble before violence.All fear death. All love life.See yourself in others. Then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do?
• 234. We live in illusion and the appearance of things. There is a reality. We are that reality. When you understand this, you see that you are nothing, and being nothing, you are everything. That is all.
• 235. You can not travel the path until you have become the path itself.
• 236. To life in the consciousness of the inevitability of suffering, of becoming enfeebled, of old age and of death, is impossible — we must free ourselves from life, from all possible life.
• 237. Emotion arise from desire, hence an illusion.
• 238. It’s your way and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you. No matter what path you choose, really walk it.
• 239. Our life is shaped by our mind, for we become what we think.
• 240. In life we cannot avoid change, we cannot avoid loss. Freedom and happiness are found in the flexibility and ease with which we move through change.
• 241. We are our own protector. We make our own destiny… until we lose control of our own mind.
• 242. You don’t gather the beauty of a flower by plucking her petals.
• 243. Should you live here in the rains, there in winter, elsewhere in summer, muses the fool, not aware of the nearness of death?
• 244. Ambition is like love, impatient of both delays and rivals.
• 245. Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.
• 246. Just as a line drawn on water with a stick will quickly vanish and will not last long; even so is human life like a line drawn on water. It is short, limited, and brief; it is full of suffering, full of tribulation.
• 247. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.
• 248. Love is a fleeting emotion, to reach true nirvana one must know themselves and forsake love, for it breeds contempt.
• 249. Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.
• 250. Virtuous people always let go. They don’t prattle about pleasures and desires. Touched by happiness and then by suffering, the sage shows no sign of being elated or depressed.
• 251. Delightful are forestsWhere the public does not delight. There the passion-free delight,Not seeking sensual pleasure.
• 252. Sensual craving gives rise to grief; Sensual craving gives rise to fear. For someone released from sensual craving. There is no grief; So from where would be fear?
• 253. Fearless, free of craving, and without blemish,Having reached the goalAnd destroyed the arrows of becomingOne is in one’s final body.
• 254. If you cannot find a good companion to walk with, walk alone, like an elephant roaming the jungle. It is better to be alone than to be with those who will hinder your progress.
• 255. Those who do not know satisfaction, even when living in a heavenly palace, are still not satisfied. Those who do not know satisfaction, even if rich, are poor. People who know satisfaction, even if poor, are rich.
• 256. Though all one’s life a fool associates with a wise person,one no more comprehends the Truth than a spoon tastes the flavor of the soup.
• 257. To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.
• 258. Better it is to live alone; there is no fellowship with a fool. Live alone and do no evil; be carefree like an elephant in the elephant forest.
• 259. Anger is the punishment we give ourselves for someone else’s mistake.
• 260. All Beings are owners of their Karma. Whatever volitional actions they do, good or evil, of those they shall become the heir.
• 261. You must make the effort yourself. The Masters only point the way.
• 262. All that we are is a result of what we have thought.
• 263. All too soon this body will lie on the ground, cast aside, deprived of consciousness, like a useless scrap of wood.
• 264. Sometimes it’s better to be kind than to be right. We do not need an intelligent mind that speaks, but a patient heart that listens. You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.
• 265. Those who are free of resentful thoughts can surely find peace.
• 266. Patience is the highest asceticism.
• 267. Happiness never decreases by being shared.
• 268. Be a lamp unto yourself, be a refuge to yourself. Take yourself to no external refuge.
• 269. Joy comes not through possession or ownership but through a wise and loving heart.
• 270. Above all, do not lose your desire to walk.
• 271. First, rely on the spirit and meaning of the teachings, not on the words; Second, rely on the teachings, not on the personality of the teacher; Third, rely on real wisdom, not superficial interpretation; Fourth, rely on the essence of your pure Wisdom Mind, not on judgmental perceptions.
• 272. Whatever an enemy might do to an enemy, or a foe to a foe, the ill-directed mind can do to you even worse.
• 273. What is the happiness? Is it really happiness? Nothing is stable. Anything just happens, stays and decays…
• 274. As one instructs others, so should one do oneself. Only the self-controlled should restrain others. Truly, it’s hard to restrain oneself.
• 275. When desire flows, pleasure arises. Attached to happiness, seeking enjoyment,People are subject to birth and old age.
• 276. The universe itself is change and life itself is but what you deem it.
• 277. It is possible to live 24 hours in a state of love.
• 278. Believe nothing, no matter who said it, even if I said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and common sense.
• 279. A person of wisdom should be truthful, without arrogance, without deceit, not slanderous and not hateful.
• 280. The wise person should go beyond the evil of greed and miserliness.
• 281. To have your mind set on calmness, you must take power over sleepiness, drowsiness and lethargy. There is no place for laziness and no recourse to pride.
• 282. Do not be led into lying, do not be attached to forms. You must see through all pride and fare along without violence.
• 283. Do not get excited by the new things, do not be contented with the old way.
• 284. Do not grieve for what is lost or be controlled by desire.
• 285. One who never punishes any living creature either strong or weak, who never kills or even strikes another, such a one I call brahmin.
• 286. The growth of wisdom may be measured exactly by the diminution of ill temper.
• 287. The trouble is, you think you have time.
• 288. Greater still is the truth of our connectedness.
• 289. Rather than continuing to seek the truth, simply let go of your views.
• 290. The SageA person of wisdom should be truthful, without arrogance, without deceit, not slanderous and not hateful. The wise person should go beyond the evil of greed and miserliness.
• 291. We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make our world.
• 292. Conquest breeds hatred, for the conquered live in sorrow. Let us be neither conqueror nor conquered, and live in peace and joy.
• 293. Hard to restrain, unstable is this mind; it flits wherever it lists. Good it is to control the mind. A controlled mind brings happiness.
• 294. For one who has abandoned craving and is free from grasping, who knows languages and their interpretations, the combinations of the letters and their order before and after, this is the final birth. The one is called the Great Being, the Great Sage.
• 295. Let a man leave anger, let him forsake pride, let him overcome all bondage! No sufferings befall the man who is not attached to name and form and who calls nothing his own.
• 296. Nothing whatsoever should be clung to as ‘I’ or ‘mine.’
• 297. Overcome the angry by non-anger; overcome the wicked by goodness; overcome the miser by generosity; overcome the liar by truth.
• 298. A wise man, recognising that the world is but an illusion, does not act as if it is real, so he escapes the suffering If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.
• 299. So long as the love, even the smallest, of man toward woman is not destroyed, so long is his mind in bondage as the calf that drinks milk is to his mother.
• 300. Anger will never disappear so long as thoughts of resentment are cherished in the mind. Anger will disappear just as soon as thoughts of resentment are forgotten.

Buddha Quotes about Life: 301 – 369

• 301. In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.
• 302. As rain falls equally on the just and the unjust, do not burden your heart with judgments but rain your kindness equally on all.
• 303. You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.
• 304. Hatred does not cease through hatred at any time. Hatred ceases through love. This is an unalterable law.
• 305. Love the whole world as a mother loves her only child. There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills.
• 306. Radiate boundless love towards the entire world, above, below, and across, unhindered, without ill will, without enmity.
• 307. Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.
• 308. If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path.
• 309. Radiate boundless love towards the entire world.
• 310. Just as a mother would protect her only child with her life, even so let one cultivate a boundless love towards all beings.
• 311. Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.
• 312. Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So is life.
• 313. To be angry is to let others’ mistakes punish yourself.
• 314. Happiness comes when your work and words are of benefit to yourself and others.
• 315. Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.
• 316. If you are quiet enough, you will hear the flow of the universe. You will feel its rhythm. Go with this flow. Happiness lies ahead. Meditation is key.
• 317. Generosity brings happiness at every stage of its expression. We experience joy in forming the intention to be generous. We experience joy in the actual act of giving something. And we experience joy in remembering the fact that we have given.
• 318. There is no path to happiness: happiness is the path.
• 319. Anger will never disappear so long as thoughts of resentment are cherished in the mind. Anger will disappear just as soon as thoughts of resentment are forgotten.
• 320. Be vigilant; guard your mind against negative thoughts.
• 321. Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it.
• 322. Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.
• 323. Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.
• 324. To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one’s own in the midst of abundance.
• 325. The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.
• 326. What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.
• 327. One moment can change a day, one day can change a life and one life can change the world.
• 328. Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
• 329. To keep the body in good health is a duty; otherwise, we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.
• 330. Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
• 331. Keep the body in good health is a duty; otherwise, we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.
• 332. When you realize nothing is lacking, the whole world belongs to you.
• 333. Move ahead, or to be dragged behind.
• 334. What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the small man seeks is in others.
• 335. To seek is to suffer. To seek nothing is bliss.
• 336. Mind is like a mad monkey.
• 337. Wise men don’t judge. They seek to understand.
• 338. When thoughts arise, then do all things arise. When thoughts vanish, then do all things vanish.
• 339. Wherever you are, it’s the place you need to be.
• 340. The noble minds are calm and steady. Little people are fussing and fretting.
• 341. Rest and be kind, you don’t have to prove anything.
• 342. Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.
• 343. Only the hand that erases can write the true thing.
• 344. Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can talk with him?
• 345. When we discover that the truth is already in us, we are all at once our original selves.
• 346. Life is a balance of holding on and letting go.
• 347. Wherever you are, be there totally.
• 348. I live by letting things happen.
• 349. Zen is not some fancy, special art of living. Our teaching is just to live, always in reality, in its exact sense.
• 350. Forget the years, forget distinctions. Leap into the boundless and make it your home.
• 351. Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.
• 352. Who you are is always right.
• 353. The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.
• 354. And when they played they really played. And when they worked they really worked.
• 355. Do not seek the truth, only cease to cherish your opinions.
• 356. One loses joy and happiness in the attempt to possess them.
• 357. Education breeds confidence. Confidence breeds hope. Hope breeds peace.
• 358. Peace of mind is that mental condition in which you have accepted the worst.
• 359. Learn to be comfortable in adversity but most importantly, learn to be comfortable when you’re bored.
• 360. The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the expert, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all the possibilities.
• 361. The place to improve the world is first in one’s own heart and head and hands.
• 362. Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water.
• 363. Everything that happens to you is a form of instruction if you pay attention.
• 364. I don’t mind what happens. That is the essence of inner freedom.
• 365. The less you try to impress, the more peaceful you can be.
• 366. If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present.
• 367. Do you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear?
• 368. When one first seeks the truth, one separates oneself from it.
• 369. Don’t seek, don’t search, don’t ask, don’t knock, don’t demand, just relax and stay at the present.

Bottom Line

Buddha’s wisdom on peace, life, love, happiness, and death will inspire you to embark on a new journey of self-discovery and spiritual growth. Embrace the path to enlightenment as you delve into the powerful and uplifting Buddha quotes about life. All the difficulties are transient illusions.