Dhammapada

"All conditioned things are impermanent" — when one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering. This is the path to purification. (Verse 277)"

"If by leaving a small pleasure one sees a great pleasure, let a wise man leave the small pleasure, and look to the great. (Verse 290)"

"In the same way that a wrongly handled blade of grass will cut one's hand, so a badly fulfilled life in religion will drag one down to hell. (Verse 311)"

"Trained mules are excellent, and so are thoroughbred horses from the Sindh, and so are great battle elephants, but more excellent than them all is a disciplined man. (Verse 322)"

"If you find an intelligent companion, a wise and well-behaved person going the same way as yourself, then go along with him, overcoming all dangers, pleased at heart and mindful. (Verse 328)"

"Let go of the past, let go of the future, let go of the present, and cross over to the farther shore of existence. With mind wholly liberated, you shall come no more to birth and death. (Verse 348)"

"The monk who is calm in body, calm in speech, calm in thought, well-composed and who has spewn out worldliness — he, truly, is called serene. (Verse 378)"

"When a holy man has reached the summit of two paths (meditative concentration and insight), he knows the truth and all his fetters fall away. (Verse 384)"

"A man does not become a Brahmana by his platted hair, by his family, or by birth; in whom there is truth and righteousness, he is blessed, he is a Brahmana. (Verse 393)"

"If all of the New Testament had been lost, it has been said, and only the Sermon on the Mount had managed to survive these two thousand years of history, we would still have all that is necessary for following the teachings of Jesus the Christ..... Buddhist scripture is much more voluminous than the Bible, but... if everything else were lost, we would need nothing more than the Dhammapada to follow the way of the Buddha."