from an Edward Conze book. I think this is a nice statement of basic buddhist ethics and right-living:

Of whatever teachings, you can assure yourself that they are conducive to dispassion, and not to passion; detachment, and not to bondage; to decrease of worldly gains, and not to their increase; to frugality, and not to coveting; to content, and not to discontent; to solitude, and not to company; to energy, and not to sluggishness; to delight in good, and not to delight in evil. Of such teachings, you may with certainty affirm; this is the norm; this is the discipline; this is the master's message.