Gautama Buddha Portrait

"You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger."

— Gautama Buddha

You Will Not Be Punished For

You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.

— Gautama Buddha

About this quote

This is one of the most viral "Buddha quotes" on the internet, but it does not appear in the Pali Canon. Researchers trace its likely origin to a 1993 book by Eknath Easwaran, who wrote — without quotation marks — that "the Buddha says we are not punished for our anger, we are punished by our anger," summarizing a Buddhist teaching rather than quoting scripture. The phrase was then converted into a direct quotation by subsequent writers. The authentic Dhammapada (verse 223) expresses a related but distinct idea: "Conquer the angry one by not getting angry; conquer the wicked by goodness."

Source

Attributed, based on Dhammapada, Chapter 17 (Pali Canon)