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Victory breeds hatred, for the conquered is unhappy. He who has given up both victory and defeat, he, the contented, is happy.
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“Victory breeds hatred, for the conquered is unhappy. He who has given up both victory and defeat, he, the contented, is happy.”

The Dhammapada

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

Meaning of “Victory breeds hatred, for the conquered is unhappy.…”

The verse questions identity built around winning: contentment becomes more available when life is not constantly interpreted as a contest that somebody else must lose.

Source context

Where does it come from?

Dhammapada 201, Max Müller translation; the line appears in the chapter on happiness and contrasts competitive victory with contentment.

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Themes

Ideas connected with this quotation

Acceptance Quotes About Reality, Limits & ChangeCalmForgivenessHappinessInner PeaceLetting Go Quotes About Release & Moving ForwardMoving OnPeaceConflictLife Goes OnSpiritual
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There is no fire like passion; there is no losing throw like hatred; there is no pain like this body; there is no happiness higher than rest.
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“There is no fire like passion; there is no losing throw like hatred; there is no pain like this body; there is no happiness higher than rest.”

The Dhammapada · The Dhammapada · ancient
Meaning & context

Rest here means a deeper release from agitating passions and hatred, not merely physical inactivity; the verse places inward quiet above the disturbances it has just named.

Source details

Dhammapada 202 in Max Müller’s translation; “rest” belongs to the Buddhist religious context of release and should be read within that framework.

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What’s done cannot be undone.
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“What’s done cannot be undone.”

William Shakespeare · Macbeth · c. 1606
Voice: Fictional character · Lady Macbeth
Meaning & context

Some consequences cannot be reversed, so the practical question becomes how to respond now rather than how to erase the past.

Source details

Macbeth, Act V, Scene I, reviewed against the scan-backed 1918 Yale text. Lady Macbeth says 'What's done cannot be undone' during the sleepwalking scene; the dramatic context is guilt and psychological disintegration, not generic advice that consequences should simply be accepted.

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He who binds to himself a joy does the winged life destroy.
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“He who binds to himself a joy does the winged life destroy.”

William Blake · Eternity · c. 1790s
Meaning & context

Trying to possess a joyful moment permanently can damage it, while accepting impermanence allows experience to remain alive and free.

Source details

Short poem commonly titled “Eternity”; Blake contrasts grasping with the passing movement of joy.

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To mourn a mischief that is past and gone is the next way to draw new mischief on.
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“To mourn a mischief that is past and gone is the next way to draw new mischief on.”

William Shakespeare · Othello · c. 1603
Voice: Fictional character · Duke of Venice
Meaning & context

Grief over what cannot be changed can become a second injury when it prevents attention to what can still be done.

Source details

Othello, Act I, Scene III, reviewed against the scan-backed 1910 First Folio facsimile on Wikisource. The Duke's 'To mourne a Mischeefe that is past and gon' sentence is part of the same attempt to redirect Brabantio after Desdemona's marriage; this collection preserves modernized spelling and punctuation rather than Folio orthography.

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