Greater in battle than the man who would conquer a thousand-thousand men, is he who would conquerjust one—himself. Better to conquer yourself than others. When you’ve trained yourself, living in constant self-control, neither a deva nor gandhabba, nor a Mara banded with Brahmas, could turn that triumph back into defeat.

Siddhartha Gautama (c. 563–c. 483 BCE), also known as the Buddha, was an ancient Indian philosopher, spiritual teacher, and religious leader whose teachings are the basis of the religion of Buddhism today. Born into an aristocratic family, his discovery of the nature of suffering and his attempts to follow various spiritual disciplines of the time led him to ultimately discover “The Middle Way” between sensual indulgence and spiritual asceticism, which brought him to spiritual enlightenment.