“If You Cannot Help, At Least Do No Harm” — Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama offers an ethic simple enough to carry through any day: our time here is short, so spend it helping where you can — and where you can’t, at the very least, do no harm. Here is the line, its real wording, and its source.
“Our visit to this planet is short, so we should use our time meaningfully, which we can do by helping others wherever possible. And if we cannot help others, at least we should try not to create pain and suffering for them.” — The 14th Dalai Lama
What it means
The thought moves in two steps. First, a fact: our “visit to this planet is short.” Given that, the question becomes how to spend the time meaningfully — and the Dalai Lama’s answer is consistent across his whole life: by helping others. That is the high bar.
But he is realistic. We cannot always help; sometimes we lack the means, the wisdom, or the opening. So he names a floor beneath the bar: even then, “at least we should try not to create pain and suffering.” Non-harming (ahiṃsā) is the irreducible minimum — the one thing always within reach. You may not be able to fix a situation, but you can almost always refrain from making it worse.
It is a deceptively gentle teaching. There is no demand for heroics, no guilt for not saving the world — just a clear, two-level invitation: help when you can; harm no one when you can’t. Lived honestly, it would transform most days.
A note on the wording
This is one of the Dalai Lama’s most-shared lines, usually in the crisp form “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.” That punchy version is a paraphrase; the sentence above is the fuller wording traceable to his book. We quote the sourced form and attribute it to him.
Where it comes from
From Kindness, Clarity, and Insight (Snow Lion, 1984, p. 159). The principle of non-harming it rests on is the bedrock of all Buddhist ethics, and the active “help others” half is the spirit of engaged Buddhism and of the Tibetan tradition the Dalai Lama leads.
Browse more sourced lines in our Buddhist quotes collection.
Frequently asked questions
What is the real Dalai Lama 'do no harm' quote?
The popular short form is 'Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them.' That is a paraphrase. The fuller, sourced wording is: 'Our visit to this planet is short, so we should use our time meaningfully, which we can do by helping others wherever possible. And if we cannot help others, at least we should try not to create pain and suffering for them.'
What does it mean?
It sets out a simple, two-level ethic. Life is short, so spend it usefully — and the most meaningful use of it is helping others. But where help isn't possible, there is still a floor beneath which we should not fall: at the very least, do no harm. Non-harming is the irreducible minimum of a decent life.
Where is it from?
From the Dalai Lama's book Kindness, Clarity, and Insight (Snow Lion, 1984, p. 159). We attribute the words to him, not the Buddha. The punchy short version circulates widely; the sentence above is the one traceable to a published source.
Sources
- His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Kindness, Clarity, and Insight, trans./ed. Jeffrey Hopkins & Elizabeth Napper (Snow Lion, 1984), p. 159.