Selections from the Dhammapada

Speak not harshly to anyone; those thus spoken to will retort. Vindictive speech begets sorrow, and retaliatory blows may bruise you.
      -- Canto X.5

Even though a man be richly attired, if he should live in peace, calm, controlled, assured, leading a holy life, abstaining from inflicting injury upon all creatures, he is truly a brahmana, a recluse, a bhikkhu.
      -- Canto X.14

Behold this painted image, a mass of sores, stuck together, sickly, full of idle imaginings, in which nothing lasts.
      -- Canto XI.2

Let not a man abandon his own good for the sake of another's good, however great. Once a man has clearly apprehended his own good, let him pursue it with diligence.
      -- Canto XII.10 (166)

Self is the Lord of self; what higher Lord could there be? When a man subdues well his self, he gains a mastery which is hard to obtain.
      -- Canto XII.4 (160)

By oneself alone is evil done; it is self-born and self-generated. It crushes a fool even as a diamond grinds a precious gem.
      -- Canto XII.5 (161)

Very easy is it to do that which is not good and which is harmful to oneself. But exceedingly difficult is it to do that which is beneficial and good.
      -- Canto XII.7 (163)

By oneself alone is evil done, by oneself alone is one defiled. By oneself alone is evil undone, by oneself alone is one purified. Purity and impurity depend on oneself. No one can purify another. C
      -- anto XII.9 (165)

Whosoever looks upon the world as one would view a bubble or a mirage, the King of Death finds him not.
      -- Canto XIII.4 (170)

Whosoever by a good deed covers the evil done brightens this world like the mood freed from clouds. (Spoken about Angulimala)
      -- Canto XIII.7 (173)

This world is wrapped in darkness; few there be who can see therein. Only few are those who go to realms of bliss like birds escaping from a net.
      -- Canto XIII.8 (174)

Hard is it to find birth as a human being; hard is the life of mortals; hard is the hearing of the sublime dhamma, and hard, indeed, is the emergence of a Buddha.
      -- Canto XIV.4 (182)

Not to slander, not to harm, restraint in accordance with the patimokkha rules, moderation in food, dwelling in solitude, devotion to mental culture - this is the Teaching of the Buddhas.
      -- Canto XIV.7 (185)

Not by a shower of gold coins is there any satiation of sensory pleasures. Of little sweetness and much pain are sensory pleasures. He who knows this is a wise man. Canto XIV.8 (186)

Verily, the fear-stricken seek for refuge in many places - mountains, forests, groves, trees and shrines. Indeed, no such refuge is safe, no such refuge is supreme. Not by resorting to any such refuge is one freed from all sorrow.
      -- Canto XIV.10, XIV.11 (188, 189)

Whosoever seeks refuge in the Buddha, the dhamma and the sangha sees, with true insight, the Four Noble Truths: Suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the Noble Eightfold Path which leads to the cessation of suffering. That, verily, is a safe refuge, that is the supreme refuge. Seeking such refuge, one is freed from all sorrow.
      -- Canto XIV.12, XIV.13, XIV.14 (190 - 192)