Quotes on Virtue and Virtuous conduct

[Ajay0]

    Birth is not the cause, my friend; it is virtues which are the cause of welfare. Even a Chandala observing the vow is considered a Brahmana by the gods. ~ Krishna (Uttara-gita)


 Virtue is preferable to the winning of kingdoms; it is, in fact, practice of austerities. ~ Krishna (Mahabharatha)

[Ajay0]

Ethical discipline is a necessary pre-requisite for philosophical enquiry and Self-realisation. Ethics is an enquiry into the nature of good and is concerned with an analysis of the concepts of good and bad, virtue and vice, right and wrong. ~ Swami Sivananda


Ethics lead to restraint of the lower self and thereby the mind is calmed. Through calmness of mind, discrimination dawns and one knows the Self. Without ethical perfection there is no spiritual progress. ~ Swami Sivananda

[Ajay0]

An ethical life purifies the mind. By living an ethical life, one progresses towards the realization of the Divine. ~ Sri Anandamayi Ma


Behavior influences consciousness. Right behavior means right consciousness. ~ Taisen Deshimaru ( Zen Buddhist master and founder of Association Zen Internationale. )


Behavior influences consciousness. Right behavior means right consciousness. Our attitude here and now influences the entire environment: our words, actions, ways of holding and moving ourselves, they all influence what happens around us and inside us. The actions of every instant, every day, must be right...Every gesture is important. How we eat, how we put on our clothes, how we wash ourselves, how we go to the toilet, how we put our things away, how we act with other people, family, wife, work - how we are: totally, in every single gesture. ~ Taisen Deshimaru

[Ajay0]

Sin repeatedly perpetrated, destroys intelligence; and the man who has lost intelligence, repeatedly commits sin.

Virtue repeatedly practised, enhances intelligence; and the man whose intelligence has increased, enhances intelligence; and the man whose intelligence has increased repeatedly practises virtue. ~ Vidura Neeti (Mahabharatha)


Saintliness is not dumbness! Divine perceptions are not incapacitating! The active expression of virtue gives rise to the keenest intelligence. ~ Sri Yukteshwar ( Autobiography of a Yogi)

[Ajay0]

The root of virtue is a mind free from the three poisons of aversion, attachment, and ignorance. ~ Phakchok Rinpoche


All vices are connected to the feeling of wanting or desiring. All desires keep us in the illusion of fulfillment that is gained only for a fleeting moment. ~ Dadi Janki ( Prajapita Brahmakumaris )


To think and act under the influence of vices is to commit violence because the soul is violating its true nature of peace, joy, love and power. The five forms of violence committed by human beings are to indulge in five vices—lust, anger, greed, attachment and ego. All vices are connected to the feeling of wanting or desiring. All desires keep us in the illusion of fulfillment that is gained only for a fleeting moment. ~ Dadi Janki ( Prajapita Brahmakumaris )

[Ajay0]

Easy to do are things that are bad and harmful to oneself. But exceedingly difficult to do are things that are good and beneficial. ~ Buddha ( Dhammapada 163)


Sin is easy to commit. ~ Ashoka


If there is a right thing and a wrong thing, it takes longer for the right thing to be implemented, while the wrong thing will be implemented immediately. ~ Dada Bhagavan


The nature of the mind is such it ignores all the good and holds on to the negative. ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar


The mind naturally tends towards evil deeds. It is lethargic in doing good work. That is why I say that perseverance and tenacity are necessary for success in all works.~ Sri Sharada Devi


The nature of the mind is to be easy-going and indolent. It loves to shirk responsibility and to get attached to the senses and their objects. A careless man gets attached to sense-pleasures and becomes weak and stupid. The mind of such a man gets impure and weak. ~ Swami Narayanananda

[Ajay0]

We have a saying in Tibet that engaging in the practice of virtue is as hard as driving a donkey uphill, whereas engaging in destructive activities is as easy as rolling boulders downhill. ~ Dalai Lama (Ethics for the New Millennium)


We have a saying in Tibet that engaging in the practice of virtue is as hard as driving a donkey uphill, whereas engaging in destructive activities is as easy as rolling boulders downhill. It is also said that negative impulses arise as spontaneously as rain and gather momentum just like water following the course of gravity. What makes matters worse is our tendency to indulge negative thoughts and emotions even while agreeing that we should not. It is essential, therefore, to address directly our tendency to put things off and while away our time in meaningless activities and shrink from the challenge of transforming our habits on the grounds that it is too great a task. ~ Dalai Lama (Ethics for the New Millennium)


In particular, it is important not to allow ourselves to be put off by the magnitude of others' suffering. The misery of millions is not a cause for pity. Rather it is a cause for developing compassion.

We must also recognize that the failure to act when it is clear that action is required may itself be a negative action....inaction is attributable less to negative thoughts and emotions as to a lack of compassion. It is thus important that we are no less determined to overcome our habitual tendency to laziness than we are to exercise restraint in response to afflictive emotion. ~ Dalai Lama (Ethics for the New Millennium)

[Ajay0]

Do you know the ego feels its existence in negativity and in positivity the ego doesn't feel so strongly? The ego pulls the mind back to negativity to feel its existence. Go back to your past: how many bad events of life do you remember and how many good events? You will find 90% are bad and more clear. 10% are good but like in a fog. This is the great power of our ego. ~ Baba Hari Dass


In good things, the ego doesn't feel its strength of individuality as strongly as in doing bad things. If you do bad things, the ego is right there in the present. Then its memory which repeats in the past. Then its imagination of doing bad things in the future appears. If we look back in our own life, what do we remember the most? All bad things we did or people did to us. Memories of good things appear as if veiled by fog. ~ Baba Hari Dass



The tendency of the mind is to hold on to something negative. If ten compliments and one insult are given, the mind holds on to the negative - that one insult. So when we know this, we are already one step out of it.

Time and again, we must realize: 'I am going on a negative trip' and immediately come back to the here and now. ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar



If we reflect on your past, you will notice that all bad things that happened to you appear as if they happened yesterday and the memory of good things appear as if in a fog.

Our ego feels its presence more deeply in pain or in pain causing events, thoughts, emotions. So we always think about such things which bring unhappiness. In that unhappiness, we feel 'its happening to me' even though it happened 10-20 years ago. So pain and suffering are the expressions of the ego caused by desires and attachments. ~ Baba Hari Dass



Desire to be happy is a natural thing in all human beings. But the mind likes to be in pain by bringing the past memories and not seeing any progress in the future.

If we dwell on the negative side of the mind, then we can't be happy in any situation. ~ Baba Hari Dass



Human ego is very attracted to negative qualities, so it needs much austerity to develop positive qualities. ~ Baba Hari Dass