Here are a handful of the Udāna’s most oft-quoted “Exalted Utterances,” each crackling with timeless insight:

1. Hatred’s Cure (Udāna 1.10)
   “Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world. By non-hatred alone is hatred appeased. This is an eternal law.”
   – A pithy reminder that responding to aggression with aggression only fans the flames. It’s the very principle behind modern restorative justice.

2. Attachment’s Power (Udāna 5.1)
   “There is, monks, a mother of the world: attachment. If one were to sever that mother at the root, one would be free from birth, aging, and death.”
   – In an age of endless scrolling and consumer culture, this verse cuts through the noise: true freedom lies in loosening the grip on craving.

3. The Muddy Lotus (Udāna 2.3)
   “Just as a lotus, though it springs from mud, remains unstained and beautiful, so the wise, though living in the world, remain untouched by defilements.”
   – Think of urban mindfulness practitioners meditating amid honking horns: purity needn’t require pristine surrounds.

4. The Mustard Seed (Udāna 5.5)
   “If a tiny mustard seed were to sprout and flourish in well-fertilized soil, it would spread far and wide. Even so, when the heart is nourished by wholesome qualities, liberation grows swiftly.”
   – These days, motivational coaches echo this: small daily habits, sown in fertile intention, transform lives.

5. The Unborn (Udāna 8.3)
   “There is, monks, an unborn, unbecome, unmade, uncompounded. If there were not that unborn, escape from the born would not be possible.”
   – An invitation to explore a dimension beyond cause and effect, resonating oddly with contemporary conversations around quantum mystery.

6. The Fierce Fire (Udāna 1.6)
   “Suppose a mighty fire blazed in the forest. Would it endure if water were poured upon it?”
   – Just as water quells flames, mindfulness and loving-kindness quench the fires of greed, hate, and delusion.

These snippets from the Udāna remain vivid today—whether lighting the path of a smartphone-wielding urbanite or bolstering resilience in activists facing climate upheaval. Their punchy, metaphor-rich style still feels like receiving postcards of wisdom from 2,500 years ago—yet somehow eerily in tune with contemporary quests for peace.