Krishna's answer to a warrior who won't fight: act, but let go of the result

Arjuna drops his bow on the battlefield, paralyzed at the thought of killing his own kinsmen. Krishna's response isn't to soften the violence — it's to redefine right action itself: perform your duty fully, but renounce any claim on its outcome. This idea, nishkama karma, is one of the Gita's central contributions to ethics: separating whether an act is right from whether it gets you what you want.

— Traditionally attributed to Vyasa, within the Mahabharata, Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2 (Sankhya Yoga), verse 47 — Composed roughly 2nd century BC - 2nd century AD
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