As a tree with strong uninjured roots, though cut down, grows up again, so, when deep craving is not rooted out, suffering arises again and again.
-Dhammapada
Don't strain. Don't force anything or make grand, exaggerated efforts. Meditation is not aggressive. There is no place or need for violent striving. Just let your effort be relaxed and steady.
-Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
Dwelling in kindness, a monk
with faith in the Awakened One's teaching,
would attain the good state,
the peaceful state:
stilling-of-fabrications ease.
Monk, bail out this boat.
It will take you lightly when bailed.
Having cut through passion, aversion,
you go from there to Unbinding.
-Dhammapada
Abandon wrongdoing. It can be done. If there were no likelihood, I would not ask you to do it. But since it is possible and since it brings blessing and happiness, I do ask of you: abandon wrongdoing.
Cultivate doing good. It can be done. If it brought deprivation and sorrow, I would not ask you to do it. But since it brings blessing and happiness, I do ask of you: cultivate doing good.
-Anguttara Nikaya
Excessive anger is a great harm, but greater still is
The unmindfulness born of excessive pleasure.
Just as perpetual poverty slowly slays one's knowledge,
So does frequent forgetfulness destroy one's prestige.
-Tirukkural
Strive constantly to serve the welfare of the world; by devotion to selfless work one attains the supreme goal of life. Do your work with the welfare of others always in mind.
-Bhagavad Gita