Non-Violence

Greater in combat
Than a person who conquers
A thousand times a thousand people
Is the person who conquers herself

Certainly it is better to conquer
Oneself than others.
For someone who is self-restrained
And always lives with mastery,
Neither a god, a gandhabba (heavenly being)
Nor Mara [*1] and Brahma [*2]
Could turn conquest into defeat
[Dharmapadda Verse 103 - 105]

[*1] - In Buddhist cosmology, Mara personifies unskillfulness, the "death" of the spiritual life. He is a tempter, distracting humans from practicing the spiritual life by making the mundane alluring or the negative seem positive.

[*2] - In Vedic tradition, Brahmā appears as the creator of the universe.