Dhammapada quotes, verified
Every quote below is a real verse, shown exactly as Bhikkhu Sujato translates it, with its number and a link to the whole chapter.
On anger and hatred
Chapter 17 is titled Anger; verses 3–5 are among the best known in the collection.
- Verse 3
“They abused me, they hit me!They beat me, they robbed me!”For those who bear such a grudge,hatred is never laid to rest.
Chapter “Pairs” · What it means in practice
- Verse 4
“They abused me, they hit me!They beat me, they robbed me!”For those who bear no such grudge,hatred is laid to rest.
Chapter “Pairs” · What it means in practice
- Verse 5
For never is hatredlaid to rest by hate,it’s laid to rest by love:this is an ancient teaching.
Chapter “Pairs” · What it means in practice
- Verse 221
Give up anger, get rid of conceit,and escape every fetter.Sufferings don’t befall one who has nothing,not clinging to name and form.
Chapter “Anger”
- Verse 222
When anger surges like a lurching chariot,keep it in check.That’s what I call a charioteer;others just hold the reins.
Chapter “Anger”
- Verse 223
Defeat anger with kindness,villainy with virtue,stinginess with giving,and lies with truth.
Chapter “Anger”
On the mind
Chapter 3, The Mind, likens it to a fish thrown on the shore and an arrow a fletcher straightens.
- Verse 1
Intention is the leader of things;intention is first, they’re made by intention.If with corrupt intentyou speak or act,suffering follows you,like a wheel, the ox’s foot.
Chapter “Pairs” · What it means in practice
- Verse 2
Intention is the leader of things;intention is first, they’re made by intention.If with pure intentyou speak or act,happiness follows youlike a shadow that never leaves.
Chapter “Pairs” · What it means in practice
- Verse 33
The mind quivers and quakes,hard to guard, hard to curb.The discerning straighten it out,like a fletcher an arrow.
Chapter “The Mind” · What it means in practice
- Verse 35
Hard to hold back, flighty,alighting where it will;it’s good to tame the mind;a tamed mind leads to bliss.
Chapter “The Mind” · What it means in practice
- Verse 42
A wrongly directed mindwould do you more harmthan a hater to the hated,or an enemy to their foe.
Chapter “The Mind”
- Verse 43
A rightly directed mindwould do you more goodthan your mother or fatheror any other relative.
Chapter “The Mind”
On happiness
Chapter 15 repeats “Let us live so very happily” as a refrain.
- Verse 197
Let us live so very happily,loving among the hostile.Among hostile humans,let us live with love.
Chapter “Happiness” · What it means in practice
- Verse 200
Let us live so very happily,we who have nothing.We shall feed on rapture,like the gods of sublime luminosity.
Chapter “Happiness”
- Verse 201
Victory breeds enmity;the defeated sleep badly.The peaceful sleep at ease,having left victory and defeat behind.
Chapter “Happiness”
- Verse 204
Health is the ultimate blessing;contentment, the ultimate wealth;trust is the ultimate family;extinguishment, the ultimate happiness.
Chapter “Happiness”
On self-mastery
Several verses return to taming oneself, the way irrigators guide water.
- Verse 80
While irrigators guide water,fletchers bend arrows straight,and carpenters bend timber straight,the astute tame themselves.
Chapter “The Astute”
- Verse 103
The supreme conqueror isnot he who conquers a million men in battle,but he who conquers a single man:himself.
Chapter “The Thousands”
- Verse 158
The astute would avoid being corruptedby first grounding themselvesin what is suitable,and then instructing others.
Chapter “The Self” · What it means in practice
- Verse 160
One is indeed the lord of oneself,for who else would be one’s lord?By means of a well-tamed self,one gains a lord that’s rare indeed.
Chapter “The Self” · What it means in practice
- Verse 165
For it is by oneself that evil’s done,one is corrupted by oneself.It’s by oneself that evil’s not done,one is purified by oneself.Purity and impurity are personal matters,no one can purify another.
Chapter “The Self”
On speech
Short verses on harsh words, idle words and words that are not lived.
- Verse 133
Don’t speak harshly,they may speak harshly back.For aggressive speech is painful,and the rod may spring back on you.
Chapter “The Rod”
- Verse 100
Better than a thousandmeaningless sayingsis a single meaningful saying,hearing which brings you peace.
Chapter “The Thousands” · What it means in practice
- Verse 51
Just like a glorious flowerthat’s colorful but lacks fragrance;eloquent speech is fruitlessfor one who does not act on it.
Chapter “Flowers”
- Verse 232
Guard against ill-tempered words,be restrained in speech.Giving up bad verbal conduct,conduct yourself well in speech.
Chapter “Anger”
On praise, blame and criticism
Verse 227 is addressed to a man named Atula.
- Verse 50
Don’t find fault with others,with what they’ve done or left undone.You should only watch yourself,what you’ve done or left undone.
Chapter “Flowers”
- Verse 81
As the wind cannot stira solid mass of rock,so too blame and praisedo not affect the wise.
Chapter “The Astute”
- Verse 227
It’s always been this way, Atula,it’s not just today.They blame you when you’re silent,they blame you when you speak a lot,and even when you speak just right:no one in the world escapes blame.
Chapter “Anger”
- Verse 228
There never was, nor will be,nor is there today,someone who is wholly praisedor wholly blamed.
Chapter “Anger”
- Verse 76
Regard one who sees your faultsas a guide to a hidden treasure.Stay close to one so intelligent and astutewho curbs you when you need it.Sticking close to such an impartial person,things get better, not worse.
Chapter “The Astute”
On change and diligence
Verse 277 opens a well-known triad on impermanence, suffering and not-self.
- Verse 21
Heedfulness is the state free of death;heedlessness is the state of death.The heedful do not die,while the heedless are like the dead.
Chapter “Diligence”
- Verse 113
Better to live a single dayseeing rise and fallthan to live a hundred yearsblind to rise and fall.
Chapter “The Thousands”
- Verse 151
Fancy chariots of kings wear out,and even this body gets old.But the truth of the good never gets old—so the good proclaim to the good.
Chapter “Old Age”
- Verse 277
All conditions are impermanent—when this is seen with wisdom,one grows disillusioned with suffering:this is the path to purity.
Chapter “The Path”
- Verse 279
All things are not-self—when this is seen with wisdom,one grows disillusioned with suffering:this is the path to purity.
Chapter “The Path”
Quotes that are not in the Dhammapada
Many lines shared as “Dhammapada quotes” are paraphrases or modern sayings. Three that come up often:
- “The mind is everything. What you think you become.” Not found in the Dhammapada or the early discourses. Verses 1 and 2 are about intention leading our words and deeds, which is a different claim.
- “Hatred ceases through love.” A loose rendering of verse 5. The Pali word is averena, “by non-hatred” or “non-enmity”; Sujato translates it as love, in the sense of goodwill.
- “Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.” A modern summary often attached to the parable of the second arrow. The parable is in a discourse, SN 36.6, not the Dhammapada, and it does not use that phrase.
Questions
Can I share these quotes?
Yes. Bhikkhu Sujato’s translation is dedicated to the public domain (CC0), so the verses can be copied and shared freely. A citation such as “Dhammapada 223, tr. Sujato” helps others find the verse.
What does the Dhammapada say about anger?
Chapter 17 is devoted to it. Verse 222 calls someone who checks surging anger “a charioteer”; verse 223 says to defeat anger with kindness, villainy with virtue, stinginess with giving and lies with truth. Verse 5 says hatred is never laid to rest by hate.