Kautilya Quotes

Those who seek to achieve things should show no mercy. Kautilya, Indian philosopher third century B.C. OBSERVANCE

The arrow shot by the archer may or may not kill a single person. But stratagems devised by wise men can kill even babes in the womb.

Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats the beauty and the youth.

Just as it is impossible to know when a swimming fish is drinking water, so it is impossible to find out when a government servant is stealing money

Every neighbouring state is an enemy and the enemy’s enemy is a friend.

As long as your body is healthy and under control and death is distant, try to save your soul; when death is immanent what can you do?

for in the absence of a magistrate (dandadharabhave), the strong will swallow the weak; but under his protection, the weak resist the strong.

Dharma is law in its widest sense—spiritual, moral, ethical and temporal. Every individual, whether the ruler or the ruled, is governed by his or her own dharma. To the extent that society respected dharma, society protected itself; to the extent society offended it, society undermined

The straight trees are cut down, the crooked ones are left standing. Kautilya, Indian philosopher, third century B.C. KEYS

Kautilya makes Machiavelli look like Mother Teresa

mentioned only in the two lists and his duties are not spelt out anywhere. It is possible that this designation is a retention from earlier texts and, in the Arthashastra, is used only to represent a higher grade for salary and

not be treated as the main one at a given time; only one of the neighbours is the main enemy. The other difference is that, in {7.6.1}, the enemy is to be outmanoeuvred but in {7.7.1} a neighbour’s help is to be accepted.

Kautilya advises, “Just as an elephant, blinded by intoxication and mounted by an intoxicated driver, crushes whatever it finds (on the way), so the king, not possessed of the eye of science, and (hence) blind, has risen to destroy the citizens and the country people.” (1.14.7)

The arrow shot by the archer may or may not kill a single person. But stratagems devised by a wise man can kill even babes in the womb.

كتاب شاناق الهندي في الآداب خمسة أبواب وكتاب شاناق الهندي في أمرتدبير الحرب وما ينبغي للملك أن يتخذ من 4 الرجال وفي أمر الأساورة والطعام والسم (Chanakya Kautilya)

The arrow shot by the archer may or may not kill a single person. But stratagems devised by a wise man can kill even babes in the womb. KAUTILYA, INDIAN PHILOSOPHER, THIRD CENTURY B.C.

A king will come under the power of as many people as he reveals a secret to, becoming powerless because of that act.

An arrow unleashed by an archer may kill a single man or not kill anyone; but a strategy unleashed by a wise man kills even those still in the womb (10.6.51)

the mind of the valiant, though naturally kept steadfast, may not, when once vitiated and repelled under the four kinds of allurements, return to and recover its original form.

Such brave desperados of the country who, reckless of their own life, confront elephants or tigers in fight mainly for the purpose of earning money are termed fire-brands or fiery spies (tíkshna).

The same rule shall apply to women with shaved head (munda), as well as to those of súdra caste. All these are wandering spies (sancháráh).

To many he was known as Kautilya—the crooked one; to his childhood acquaintances he was Vishnugupta; but to most he was Chanakya—illustrious son of the great and learned Chanak, the most renowned teacher in all of Magadha. He

Those who seek to achieve things should show no mercy. Kautilya, Indian philosopher third century B.C.

है, उसे मोक्ष की प्राप्ति होती है। यदि वर्णों के धर्मों

Deterrence: "Let them hate us as long as they fear us." — Caligula [Oderint dum metuant.] Deterrence: "The whole world stands in awe of the king ready to strike." — Arthasastra of Kautilya Deterrence: "From the point of view of deterrence a seeming weakness will have the same consequence as an actual one. A gesture intended as a bluff but taken seriously is more useful as a deterrent than a bona fide threat interpreted as a bluff. Deterrence requires a combination of power, the will to use it, and the assessment of these by the potential aggressor. Moreover, deterrence is a product of those factors and not a sum. If any one of them is zero, deterrence fails. Strength, no matter how overwhelming, is useless without the will to resort to it. Power combined with willingness will be ineffective if the aggressor does not believe in it or if the risks of war do not appear sufficiently unattractive to him." — Henry A. Kissinger, 1960 Deterrence: "When the aggressor judges a commitment to be lacking, the most rational strategy available to him for challenging the status quo is the fait accompli — the quick, decisive use of ample force to achieve the object before the potential defender of the state subjected to attack can reconsider its policy and decide to intervene." — Alexander L. George, 1993

If you want to wear a crown, you must become a king.