Chanakya Quotes on Wisdom & Knowledge (14 Quotes)

Wise men should never go into a country where there are no means of earning one's livelihood, where the people have no dread of anybody, have no sense of shame, no intelligence, or a charitable disposition.

For one whose heart melts with compassion for all creatures what is the necessity of knowledge, liberation, matted hair on the head, and smearing the body with ashes.

How can he who seeks sense gratification acquire knowledge, and he who possesses knowledge enjoy mundane sense pleasure

That man who is without religion and mercy should be rejected. A guru without spiritual knowledge should be rejected. The wife with an offensive face should be given up, and so should relatives who are without affection.

Knowledge is lost without putting it into practice a man is lost due to ignorance an army is lost without a commander and a woman is lost without a husband.

The hand is not so well adorned by ornaments as by charitable offerings one does not become clean by smearing sandalwood paste upon the body as by taking a bath one does not become so much satisfied by dinner as by having respect shown to him and salvation is not attained by self-adornment as by cultivation of spiritual knowledge.

He who is not shy in the acquisition of wealth, grain and knowledge, and in taking his meals, will be happy

Do not inhabit a country where you are not respected, cannot earn your livelihood, have no friends, or cannot acquire knowledge.

He is a pandit (man of knowledge) who speaks what is suitable to the occasion, who renders loving service according to his ability, and who knows the limits of his anger.

There is no disease (so destructive) as lust no enemy like infatuation no fire like wrath and no happiness like spiritual knowledge.

One whose knowledge is confined to books and whose wealth is in the possession of others, can use neither his knowledge nor wealth when the need for them arises.

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.

As the man who digs obtains underground water by use of a shovel, so the student attains the knowledge possessed by his preceptor through his service.

He who gives up shyness in monetary dealings, in acquiring knowledge, in eating and in business, becomes happy.