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.

Test a servant while in the discharge of his duty, a relative in difficulty, a friend in adversity, and a wife in misfortune.

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.

Avoid him who talks sweetly before you but tries to ruin you behind your back, for he is like a pitcher full of poison with milk on top.

We return evil for evil, in which there is no sin, for it is necessary to pay a wicked man in his own coin.

One whose knowledge is confined to books and whose wealth is in the possession of others can use neither knowledge nor wealth when the need for them arises.

As a single withered tree, if set aflame, causes a whole forest to burn, so does a rascal son destroy a whole family.

The king shall lose no time when the opportunity waited for arrives.

Once you start working on something, don’t be afraid of failure and don’t abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest.

Treat your kid like a darling for the first five years. For the next five years, scold them. By the time they turn sixteen, treat them like a friend. Your grown-up children are your best friends.

Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous.

Accumulated wealth is saved by spending just as incoming fresh water is saved by letting out stagnant water.

Those base men who speak of the secret faults of others destroy themselves like serpents that stray onto ant hills.

As compared to males the females eat twice the amount of food, possess cleverness four times, display courage six times and exhibit lustful desires eight times.

He who is overly attached to his family members experiences fear and sorrow, for the root of all grief is the attachment. Thus one should discard attachment to be happy.

The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind but the goodness of a person spreads in all directions.

The happiness and peace attained by those satisfied by the nectar of spiritual tranquility are not attained by greedy persons restlessly moving here and there.