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By oneself the evil is done, by oneself one suffers; by oneself evil is left undone, by oneself one is purified. Purity and impurity belong to oneself, no one can purify another.
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“By oneself the evil is done, by oneself one suffers; by oneself evil is left undone, by oneself one is purified. Purity and impurity belong to oneself, no one can purify another.”

The Dhammapada

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Source
The Dhammapada
Date
ancient
English wording
F. Max Müller — Translator · from Pali
Meaning

Meaning of “By oneself the evil is done, by oneself…”

The passage insists on personal moral agency: other people can help, but they cannot perform the work of one’s choices, restraint, and ethical development on one’s behalf.

Source context

Where does it come from?

Dhammapada 165, Chapter XII “Self,” Max Müller translation; “purity” is religious-ethical language from the source, not a claim about personal worth or bodily purity.

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Change and GrowthDecisionGrowthIdentityIndependenceIntegrityLoveResponsibilitySelf ImprovementSelf LoveSelf RelianceSelf TrustWisdom Quotes About Judgment & Living WellSpiritual
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“What the superior man seeks, is in himself. What the mean man seeks, is in others.”

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Meaning & context

Mature judgment begins with one’s own conduct and capacities rather than making other people the first explanation for every outcome.

Source details

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Self-development is a higher duty than self-sacrifice.
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“Self-development is a higher duty than self-sacrifice.”

Elizabeth Cady Stanton · The Woman's Bible · 1898
Meaning & context

Stanton challenges a moral standard that praises women mainly for self-denial, arguing instead that developing one’s capacities is itself an important obligation.

Source details

The Woman’s Bible, Stanton commentary; the line appears in her critique of idealizing women’s self-sacrifice and is preserved in the Project Gutenberg text.

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My first duty is to develop all the powers given to me and to make the most of myself and my own life.
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“My first duty is to develop all the powers given to me and to make the most of myself and my own life.”

Elizabeth Cady Stanton · The Woman's Bible · 1898
Voice: Imagined speaker · Jephthah’s daughter (imagined by Stanton)
Meaning & context

The imagined speaker refuses to let another person dispose of her life, grounding dignity in the responsibility to develop her own capacities and possibilities.

Source details

The Woman's Bible, The Book of Judges, Chapter II, Judges xi, Project Gutenberg #9880. Stanton imagines Jephthah's unnamed daughter rejecting sacrifice: ‘My first duty is to develop all the powers given to me and to make the most of myself and my own life.’ This is Stanton's invented protest voice within her commentary, not a biblical quotation or speech preserved in Judges.

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The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual.
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“The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual.”

Samuel Smiles · Self-Help · 1859
Meaning & context

Personal development begins with active responsibility for one’s own effort and choices, even when circumstances and institutions still matter.

Source details

Self-Help, Chapter I, “Self-Help—National and Individual,” Project Gutenberg #935. This is the opening chapter’s statement of Smiles’s self-help argument, where individual initiative is presented as a source of personal growth and, in his period framework, national strength.

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Self-respect, originating in self-love, instigates the first step of improvement.
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“Self-respect, originating in self-love, instigates the first step of improvement.”

Samuel Smiles · Thrift · 1875
Meaning & context

Improvement can begin when a person values themselves enough to believe that their conduct, circumstances, and future are worth deliberate effort.

Source details

Thrift, Chapter II, “Habits of Thrift,” Project Gutenberg #14418. In a discussion of self-improvement and moral independence, Smiles presents self-respect as the impulse that makes a person rise, develop intelligence and improve condition.

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