Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes from Chanakya Neeti (Anthology of Indian Aphorisms)

Cāṇakya Niti, or Cāṇakya Neeti-sāstra, is an anthology of aphorisms compiled from various Hindu sāstras (treatises) attributed to the first millennium BCE Indian kingmaker, statesman, tactician, and philosopher Cāṇakya.

According to legend, Cāṇakya, also called Viṣṇugupta and Kauṭilya, was born a Brahmin dāsi-putra (“son of a maidservant”) in Takhkhasilā, near Peshawar in present-day Pakistan. He journeyed to Pāṭaliputra (modern-day Patna, in present-day India,) capital of the Nanda Empire, in pursuit of learning. Insulted by the Nanda rulers, he avowed in vengeance to destroy the Nanda lineage.

Cāṇakya discovered a young, spirited, astute companion in Chandragupta Maurya and groomed him for many years. Through him, Cāṇakya masterminded the overthrow of the powerful Nanda sovereigns and installed Chandragupta as the monarch. With Cāṇakya as his counselor, Chandragupta Maurya established the mighty Mauryan Empire and reigned c.321–c.297 BCE. The Mauryan empire hit its zenith during the régime of Chandragupta’s grandson, Emperor Aśoka.

Cāṇakya has been compared to Niccolò Machiavelli in the breadth of his statecraft. And Cāṇakya has been criticized for his ruthlessness and trickery and praised for his profound political wisdom.

Cāṇakya is celebrated for his magnum opus Arthaśāstra (Sanskrit: “The Science of Material Gain,”) a treatise on Indian statecraft, military strategy, and economic policy. Cāṇakya’s nationalist attitudes continue to influence modern India’s sociopolitical philosophy even today.

Cāṇakya’s Neeti-sāstra, a discourse on the ideal way of life, shows his in-depth study of the Indian way of life and the role of every individual in society.

More: Wikipedia READ: Works by Chanakya Neeti

Moral excellence is an ornament for personal beauty; righteous conduct, for high birth; success for learning; and proper spending for wealth.
Chanakya Neeti

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

One should always speak sweet words that please the person from whom we expect a favor. To hunt for a deer, the hunter sings a melodious song first.
Chanakya Neeti
Topics: Flattery

A student who wishes for luxuries has to sacrifice education. A student who wishes for good education has to sacrifice luxuries. A student cannot have both.
Chanakya Neeti

Test a servant while in the discharge of his duty, a relative in difficulty, a friend in adversity, and a wife in misfortune.
Chanakya Neeti
Topics: Difficulty

We should not feel pride in our charity, austerity,
valor, scriptural knowledge, modesty and morality
for the world is full of the rarest gems.
Chanakya Neeti

He who neither rouses fear by his anger, nor confers a favor when he is pleased can neither control nor protect.
Chanakya Neeti

Swans inhabit water bodies and desert the place
when the lake dries up. Man should not do the same, for
he may have to seek the shelter of those whom he deserts.
Chanakya Neeti

Do not keep company with a fool for as we can see he is a two-legged beast. Like an unseen thorn he pierces the heart with his sharp words.
Chanakya Neeti

Learning is retained through putting into practice; family prestige is maintained through good behaviour; a respectable person is recognised by his excellent qualities; and anger is seen in the eyes.
Chanakya Neeti

The elephant has a huge body but is controlled by the ankusha (goad):
yet, is the goad as large as the elephant?
A lighted candle banishes darkness:
is the candle as vast as the darkness.
A mountain is broken even by a thunderbolt:
is the thunderbolt therefore as big as the mountain?
No, he whose power prevails is really mighty; what is there in bulk?
Chanakya Neeti

There are many ways of binding by which one
can be dominated and controlled in this world,
but the bond of affection is the strongest.
Chanakya Neeti

Purity of speech, of the mind, of the senses,
and a compassionate heart are needed by one
who desires to rise to the divine platform.
Chanakya Neeti

Many a bad habit is developed through over indulgence, and many a good one by chastisement.
Chanakya Neeti

Charity puts and end to poverty; righteous conduct to misery; discretion to ignorance; and scrutiny to fear.
Chanakya Neeti

The snake has poison in its fangs,
the mosquito in its forehead,
the scorpion’s poison is in its tail, but the
evil person has poison spread all through his being.
Chanakya Neeti

The student, the servant, the traveler, the hungry person,
the frightened man, the treasury guard, and the steward,
these seven ought to be awakened if they fall asleep.
Chanakya Neeti

Generosity, pleasing address, courage and propriety of conduct are not acquired, but are inbred qualities.
Chanakya Neeti

Just see the plight of the honeybees beating their legs in despair upon the earth. They are Saying to themselves, “Alas! We neither enjoyed our stored-up honey nor gave it in charity, and now someone has taken it from us in an instant”.
Chanakya Neeti

It is essential for an administrator to cultivate the following: punishing the wicked, rewarding the good, filling up the treasury by right means, impartiality while administering justice, and protection of the dependants.
Chanakya Neeti

Teaching one who has no understanding is of no use.
Just as a bamboo does not become fragrant
even though it lives with the sandal wood trees.
Chanakya Neeti

What good can the scriptures do to a man who has
no sense of his own? Of what use is a mirror to a blind man?
Chanakya Neeti

Though men be endowed with beauty and youth and
born in noble families, yet without education they
are like the flower which is void of sweet fragrance.
Chanakya Neeti

Eschew wicked company and associate with saintly persons. Acquire virtue day and night, and always meditate on that which is eternal forgetting that which is temporary.
Chanakya Neeti

Hard work knows no poverty. The one who chants the Lord’s name knows no fall. The one who observes silence knows no quarrel and the one who is alert knows no fear.
Chanakya Neeti

If there is not even a single leaf on the branches of Karir tree, how can the spring season be held responsible? Why should the Sun be blamed if owl cannot see during the day? Is it the fault of cloud if the drops of rain do not fall into the mouth of Chataka bird? Who is able to erase what’s already written by fate on one’s forehead?
Chanakya Neeti
Topics: Blame

The elephant is a huge animal. But it is brought under control by just using a iron hook. Darkness is huge and powerful. But is killed by jsut by a small lamp. The mountain is huge and powerful, but a small diamond is used to cut the mountain. It is not useful if you are just huge and physically strong. He who has intellectual brilliance will reign.
Chanakya Neeti

Those who are destitute of learning, penance,
knowledge, good disposition, virtue and
benevolence are brutes wandering the earth in
the form of men. They are burdensome to the earth.
Chanakya Neeti

He whose son is obedient to him, whose wife’s conduct is in accordance with his wishes, and who is content with his riches, has his heaven here on earth.
Chanakya Neeti

A wicked man may develop saintly qualities in the company of a devotee, but a devotee does not become impious in the company of a wicked person. The earth is scented by a flower that falls upon it, but the flower does not contact the odor of the earth.
Chanakya Neeti

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