The scent of flowers does not travel against the wind, nor (that of) sandal-wood, or of Tagara and Mallika flowers; but the odour of good people travels even against the wind.
Buddha Dhammapada, Verse 54, Flowers (300 BCE) Translated by F. Max Müller
Source checked by an editor
When and why it was written
- When
- From the chapter on flowers in the Dhammapada.
- Why
- The verse compares the reach of fragrance with the reach of goodness.
What it means
Fragrance only goes where the wind takes it. Goodness, the verse says, reaches people even against the current.
Kindness travels further than we expect, often to people we never see again.
Our reading of the passage cited above, not a quotation from a commentary.
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Dhammapada by Traditional (Pali Canon), 300 BCE
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