"On the empiric plane the Gītā teaches theism; it is not, then, surprising to find—still on the empiric plane—an emphasis on ethics absent from the earlier Upaniṣads. Krishna is never weary of telling Arjuna to be virtuous; his own sympathies are decidedly on the side of righteousness; it is to reestablish right when wrong prevails that he takes birth as man."

“Fools scorn me when I dwell in human form: my higher being they know not as Great Lord of beings.”

“Kṛiṣṇa says that the man of knowledge affirms that Vāsudeva is All. This is the central doctrine of the Bhagavadgītā. Kṛiṣṇa Vāsudeva is one with Brahman, the ultimate unity that lies behind this manifold universe, the changeless truth behind impermanent appearance.”

“Guarded by Bhīṣma, this our force is all too weak; and all too strong that force of theirs, by Bhīma guarded.”

“If Dhṛtarāṣṭra's men, with weapons in their hands, should slay me in the fight, unresisting and unarmed, that were happier for me!”

“To Vivasvat I expounded this immutable doctrine of control; to Manu did Vivasvat declare it; Manu told it to Ikṣvāku.”

“The Bhagavadgītā presents the doctrine that Kṛiṣṇa Vāsudeva, who helped the Pāṇḍava princes at the battle of Kurukṣetra as Arjuna's charioteer, was Supreme God, a descent of the Absolute into the world of men. Kṛiṣṇa is called Bhagavat, and the poem is a product of the Bhāgavata or Vāsudeva sect, which at the time of its composition was beginning to identify Kṛiṣṇa with Viṣṇu.”