Truth is recognized wherever it is found, in all languages and all cultures… Here are a selection of our favorite insights from cultures and saints around the world – all concise and eloquently spoken. Keep checking this page because we’ll add more as we come across them. Namaste.

Insights from Jesus (from the Holy Bible)

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? … Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Those who live on the level of spirit have the spiritual outlook, and that is life and peace.

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Lay not up for yourself treasures upon earth, where moth and rust corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupt, and where thieves do not break through or steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Insights from Krishna (from the Bhagavad Gita)

Know that that which pervades the entire body is indestructible. No one is able to destroy the imperishable soul.

For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain

As the sun alone illuminates all this universe, so does the living entity, one within the body, illuminate the entire body by consciousness.

For he who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his very mind will be the greatest enemy.

One who is not in transcendental consciousness can have neither a controlled mind nor steady intelligence, without which there is no possibility of peace. And how can there be any happiness without peace?

As a lamp in a windless place does not waver, so the transcendentalist, whose mind is controlled, remains always steady in his meditation on the transcendent Self.

For one whose mind is unbridled, self-realization is difficult work. But he whose mind is controlled and who strives by right means is assured of success. That is My opinion.

The non-permanent appearance of happiness and distress and their disappearance in due course are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, and one must tolerate them without being disturbed.

He who is without attachment, who does not rejoice when he obtains good, nor lament when he obtains evil, is firmly fixed in perfect knowledge.

Whatever action is performed by a great man, common men follow in his footsteps. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.

In this world, there is nothing so sublime and pure as transcendental knowledge. Such knowledge is the mature fruit of all mysticism. And one who has achieved this enjoys the self with himself in due course of time.

When, however, one is enlightened with the knowledge by which nescience is destroyed, then his knowledge reveals everything, as the sun lights up everything in the daytime.

Insights from Buddha

Better than a hundred years of ignorance is one day spent in reflection. Better than a hundred years of idleness is one day spent in determination. Better to live one day wondering how all things arise and pass away. Better to live one hour seeing than one whole life beyond the way. It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or demons, heaven or hell.

The fool who knows he is a fool is that much wiser. The fool who thinks he is wise is a fool indeed

Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.

Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.

Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom.

Those who really seek the path to Enlightenment dictate terms to their mind. Then they proceed with strong determination.

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.

Insights from India

The essence of all religions is one. Only their approaches are different.
Mahatma Gandhi

There is a sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed.
Mahatma Gandhi

There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever.
Mahatma Gandhi

Though we may know Him by a thousand names, He is one and the same to us all.
Mahatma Gandhi

When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator.
Mahatma Gandhi

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
Mahatma Gandhi

Great cultures of the past have become only a matter of interest to the archeologists. They have fallen when they became too materialistic, acquiring all manner of material things but neglecting the spirit. Not that matter doesn’t matter. But spirit must be given priority. Vegetarianism helps people think of these things.
Sri Moraji Desai (Prime Minister of India, 1977)

Knowledge is called ‘hidden wealth.’ It can’t be divided up by relatives; it can’t be stolen by a thief. Bestowed on others, it does not diminish – the jewel of knowledge is the greatest wealth
Chanakya

The petty mind thinks, ‘This is mine. That’s for others.’ Whereas men of noble thought consider the whole world as one family.
Chanakya

Insights from China

He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough
Lao Tzu

Thirty spokes converge upon a single hub. It is on the hole in the centre that the use of the cart hinges. We make a vessel from a lump of clay. It is the empty space within the vessel that makes it useful. We make doors and windows for a room. But it is the empty spaces within that make the room livable. Thus, while the tangible part of a thing, that which can be perceived by the senses exists, it is the intangible, that which cannot be perceived directly through the senses, that makes it valuable.
Lao Tzu

The key to growth is the introduction of higher dimensions of consciousness into our awareness.
Lao Tzu

Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.
Lao Tzu

He who really wants to do something finds a way; he who doesn’t finds an excuse.
Confucius

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Confucius

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
Confucius

If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow. ”
Chinese proverb

Deal with the faults of others as gently as with your own.
Chinese proverb

A man who has committed a mistake and doesn’t correct it, is committing another mistake.
Chinese proverb

Insights from Africa

Smooth seas do not make skilful sailors.
Ethiopia

Knowledge is like a garden: if it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested.
Guinea

No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow.
Guinea

The wind does not break a tree that bends.
Sukuma

He who tells the truth is never wrong.
Swahili

When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.
African Proverb

There is no medicine to cure hatred.
African Proverb

To be without a friend is to be poor indeed.
Swahili

Lack of knowledge is darker than night.
African Proverb

When your neighbour is wrong you point a finger, but when you are wrong you hide.
Ekonda

Insights from Native America

When we show our respect for other living things, they respond with respect for us.
Arapaho

Do not judge your neighbour until you walk two moons in his moccasins.
Cheyenne

Do not wrong or hate your neighbour for it is not he that you wrong but yourself.
Pima

We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.
Dakota

There is no death, only a change of worlds.
Duwamish

A brave man dies but once, a coward many times.
Iowa

When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.
Cherokee

So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view and demand that they respect yours.
Chief Tecumseh

They are not dead who live in the hearts they leave behind.
Tuscarora

Remember that your children are not your own, but are lent to you by the Creator.
Mohawk

Ask questions from your heart and you will be answered from the heart.
Omaha

It is no longer good enough to cry peace, we must act peace, live peace and live in peace.
Shenandoah

The moon is not shamed by the barking of dogs.
Southwest

Insights from Christian Teachers

In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.
Mother Theresa

It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters.
Mother Theresa

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
Mother Theresa

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
St Francis of Assisi

Patience is the companion of wisdom.
St Augustine

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Corinthians

Insights from the Islamic World

The strong man is not the good wrestler; the strong man is only the one who controls himself when he is angry.
Prophet Muhammad

Those who are merciful have mercy shown them by the Compassionate One, if you show mercy to those who are in the earth, He Who is in heaven will show mercy to you.
Prophet Muhammad

What have I to do with this world? I and this world are as a rider and a tree beneath which he takes shelter. Then he goes on his way, and leaves it behind him
Prophet Muhammad

If all the trees in the earth were pens, and if the sea eked out by seven seas more, were ink, the Words of God could not be written out unto their end.
Koran

The heavens and earth do not contain Me, but the heart of the believer contains Me.
Koran

Knowledge of the self is the mother of all knowledge. So it is incumbent on me to know my self, to know it completely, to know its minutiae, its characteristics, its subtleties, and its very atoms.
Kahlil Gibran

I existed from all eternity and, behold, I am here; and I shall exist till the end of time, for my being has no end.
Kahlil Gibran

I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange, I am ungrateful to those teachers.
Kahlil Gibran

Insights from Western Philosophers

The soul is the same in all living creatures, although the body of each is different.
Hippocrates

The soul is immortal, and is clothed successively in many bodies.
Plato

To be conscious that we are perceiving or thinking is to be conscious of our own existence.
Aristotle

I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.
Socrates

Let him that would move the world first move himself.
Socrates

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
Leo Tolstoy

Until mankind can extend the circle of his compassion to include all living things, he will never, himself, know peace.
Albert Schweitzer

When a man finds no peace within himself, it is useless to seek it elsewhere
Maximus Supremes

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our task must be to free ourselves… widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
Albert Einstein

Meditate often upon the bond of all in the Universe and their mutual relationship. For all things are in a way woven together.
Marcus Aurelius