On passion: “If anything is worth doing, do it with all your heart.”
On mindset: “All that we are is the result of
what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.”
On character: "Let them not
do the slightest thing that the wise would later reprove."
On responsibility: “By oneself is evil
done; by oneself is one defiled. By oneself is evil left undone; by
oneself is one made pure. Purity and impurity depend on oneself; no
one can purify another.”
On commitment: “As an elephant in
the battlefield withstands arrows from bows shot all around, even so shall I
endure abuse.”
On self-control: "Whoever
doesn't flare up at someone who's angry wins a battle that's hard to win."
On trust: “Doubt separates people. It is a
poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations."
On generosity: “If you knew what I
know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass with
sharing it in some way.”
On patience: "A jug fills drop by drop."
Whenever I
read little kernels of wisdom like these, I take a moment to reflect on whether
I'm actually operating in these ways, or simply nodding and agreeing that I
should. I want to make the effort to be the best leader and the best
person I can; as the Buddha also says, "Irrigators channel waters, fletchers
straighten arrows, carpenters bend wood, the wise master themselves."