It’s better to leave a misdeed undone. A misdeed burns you afterword. Better that a good deed be done that, after you’ve done it, won’t make you burn.
- Dhammapada

Fools, their wisdom weak, are their own enemies as they go through life, doing evil that bears bitter fruit.
- Dhammapada

If you really want freedom, happiness will arise From happiness will come rapture When your mind is enraptured, your body is tranquil When your body is tranquil, you will know bliss Because you are blissful, your mind will concentrate easily Being concentrated, you will see things as they really are In so seeing, you will become aware that life is a miracle Being so aware, you will lose all your attachments As you cease grasping, so you will be freed.
- Digha Nikaya

Let alone seven years, monks, whoever practices on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness for six, five, four, three, two years, one year, or one month, can also expect one of two fruits-either the highest understanding in this very life or can attain the fruit of no-return. Let alone a month, monks, whoever practices the Four Establishments of Mindfulness one week can also expect one of two fruits-either the highest understanding in this very life or the fruit of no-return.
- Satipatthana-sutta

If he recites next to nothing but follows the Dhamma in line with the Dhamma; abandoning passion, aversion, delusion; alert, his mind well-released, not clinging either here or hereafter: he has his share in the contemplative life.
- Dhammapada

Develop the mind of equilibrium. You will always be getting praise and blame, but do not let either affect the poise of the mind: follow the calmness, the absence of pride.
- Sutta Nipata

Defiled by passion, the mind is not released. Defiled by ignorance, discernment does not develop. Thus from the fading of passion is there release of awareness. From the fading of ignorance is there release of discernment.
- Anguttara Nikaya

Q: I can observe anger and work with greed, but how does one observe delusion? A: You’re riding a horse and asking “Where’s the horse?” Pay attention.
- Ajahn Chah

A blessing: the arising of Awakened Ones. A blessing: the teaching of true Dhamma. A blessing: the concord of the Sangha. The austerity of those in concord is a blessing.
- Dhammapada

So much fear and desire come from that commitment to ‘I am’–to being somebody. Eventually they take us to anxiety and despair; life seems much more difficult and painful than it really is. But when we just observe life for what it is, then it’s all right: the delights, the beauty, the pleasures are just that.
- Ajahn Sumedho