Book of Wise Sayings
The interval is immense between corporeal qualifications and
sciences: the body in a moment is extinct, but knowledge endureth to
the end of time.
_Hitopadesa._
205.
If thou lackest knowledge, what hast thou then acquired? Hast thou
acquired knowledge, what else dost thou want?
_Talmud._
206.
Be modest and simple in your deportment, and treat with indifference
whatever lies between virtue and vice. Love the human race; obey
God.
_Marcus Aurelius._
207.
Bootless grief hurts a man's self, but patience makes a jest of an
injury.
_R. Chamberlain._
208.
Poverty without debt is independence.
_Arabic._
209.
Just as the track of birds that cleave the air
Is not discovered, nor yet the path of fish
That skim the water, so the course of those
Who do good actions is not always seen.
_Mahabharata._
210.
He who has wealth has friends; he who has wealth has relations; he
who has wealth is a hero among the people; he who has wealth is even
a sage.
_Hitopadesa._
211.
Like a beautiful flower, full of colour but without scent, are the
fine but fruitless words of him who does not act accordingly.
_Dhammapada._
212.
When men are doubtful of the true state of things, their wishes lead
them to believe in what is most agreeable.
_Arrianus._
213.
Most men the good they have despise,
And blessings which they have not prize:
In winter, wish for summer's glow,
In summer, long for winter's snow.
_Sanskrit._
214.
The best conduct a man can adopt is that which gains him the esteem
of others without depriving him of his own.
_Talmud._
215.
Whoso associates with the wicked will be accused of following their
ways, though their principles may have made no impression upon him;
just as if a person were in the habit of frequenting a tavern, he
would not be supposed to go there for prayer, but to drink
intoxicating liquor.
_Sa'di._
216.
The loss of a much-prized treasure is only half felt when we have
not regarded its tenure as secure.
_Goethe._
217.
The dull-hued turkey apes the gait
Of lordly peacock, richly plumed;
And thus the poetaster shows
When he would fain his verse recite.
_Hindu Poetess._
218.
Knowledge acquired by a man of low degree places him on a level with
a prince, as a small river attains the irremeable ocean; and his
fortune is then exalted.
_Hitopadesa._
219.
An evil-minded man is quick to see
His neighbour's faults, though small as mustard seed;
But when he turns his eyes towards his own,
Though large as _bilva_ fruit, he none descries.
_Mahabharata._
220.
Two persons die remorseful: he who possessed and enjoyed not, and he
who knew but did not practise.
_Sa'di._
221.
With regard to a secret divulged and kept concealed, there is an
excellent proverb, that the one is an arrow still in our possession,
the other is an arrow sent from the bow.
_Jami._
222.
The thing we want eludes our grasp,
Some other thing is given; sometimes
Our wish is gained, and gifts unsought
Are ours; these all are God's own work.
_Hindu Poetess._
223.
If a man conquer in battle a thousand times a thousand men, and if
another conquer himself, he is the greater of conquerors.[10]
_Dhammapada._
[10] Cf. Prov. XVI, 32.
224.
The man who is in the highest state of prosperity, and who thinks
his fortune is most secure, knows not if it will remain unchanged
till the evening.
_Demosthenes._
225.
Amongst all possessions knowledge appears pre-eminent. The wise call
it supreme riches, because it can never be lost, has no price, and
can at no time be destroyed.
_Hitopadesa._
226.
The shadows of the mind are like those of the body. In the morning
of life they all lie behind us, at noon we trample them under foot,
and in the evening they stretch long, broad, and deepening before
us.
_Longfellow._
227.
He who is full of faith and modesty, who shrinks from sin, and is
full of learning, who is diligent, unremiss, and full of
understanding--he, being replete with these seven things, is
esteemed a wise man.
_Burmese._
228.
If your foot slip, you may recover your balance, but if your tongue
slip, you cannot recall your words.
_Telugu._
229.
A vacant mind is open to all suggestions, as the hollow mountain
returns all sounds.
_Chinese._
230.
Women are ever masters when they like,
And cozen with their kindness; they have spells
Superior to the wand of the magicians;
And from their lips the words of wisdom fall,
Like softest music on the listening ear.
_Firdausi._
231.
A man cannot possess anything that is better than a good wife, or
anything that is worse than a bad one.
_Simonides._
232.
The wife of bad conduct--constantly pleased with quarrelling--she is
known by wise men to be cruel Old Age in the form of a wife.
_Panchatantra._
233.
I have often thought that the cause of men's good or ill fortune
depends on whether they make their actions fit with the times. A man
having prospered by one mode of acting can never be persuaded that
it may be well for him to act differently, whence it is that a man's
Fortune varies, because she changes her times and he does not his
ways.
_Machiavelli._
234.
By nature all men are alike, but by education very different.
_Chinese._
235.
Whilom, ere youth's conceit had waned, methought
Answers to all life's problems I had wrought;
But now, grown old and wise, too late I see
My life is spent, and all my lore is nought.
_Omar Khayyam._
236.
Weak men gain their object when allied with strong associates: the
brook reaches the ocean by the river's aid.
_Magha._
237.
A swan is out of place among crows, a lion among bulls, a horse
among asses, and a wise man among fools.
_Burmese._
238.
Whosoever does not persecute them that persecute him; whosoever
takes an offence in silence; he who does good because of love; he
who is cheerful under his sufferings--these are the friends of God,
and of them the Scripture says, "They shall shine forth like the sun
at noontide."
_Talmud._
239.
It is intolerable that a silly fool, with nothing but empty birth to
boast of, should in his insolence array himself in the merits of
others, and vaunt an honour which does not belong to him.
_Boileau._
240.
Ask not a man who his father was but make trial of his qualities,
and then conciliate or reject him accordingly. For it is no disgrace
to new wine, if only it be sweet, as to its taste, that it was the
juice [or daughter] of sour grapes.
_Arabic._
241.
The sun opens the lotuses, the moon illumines the beds of
water-lilies, the cloud pours forth its water unasked: even so the
liberal of their own accord are occupied in benefiting others.
_Bhartrihari._
242.
We blame equally him who is too proud to put a proper value on his
own merit and him who prizes too highly his spurious worth.
_Goethe._
243.
Men are so simple, and yield so much to necessity, that he who will
deceive may always find him that will lend himself to be deceived.
_Machiavelli._
244.
Obstinate silence implies either a mean opinion of ourselves, or a
contempt for our company; and it is the more provoking, as others do
not know to which of these causes to attribute it--whether humility
or pride.
_Hazlitt._
245.
If thou desire not to be poor, desire not to be too rich. He is
rich, not that possesses much, but he that covets no more; and he is
poor, not that enjoys little, but he that wants too much. The
contented mind wants nothing which it hath not; the covetous mind
wants, not only what it hath not, but likewise what it hath.
_Quarles._
246.
Those noble men who falsehood dread
In wealth and glory ever grow,
As flames with greater brightness glow
With oil in ceaseless flow when fed.
But like to flames with water drenched,
Which, faintly flickering, die away,
So liars day by day decay,
Till all their lustre soon is quenched.
_Sanskrit._
247.
Watch over thy expenditure, for he who through vain glory spendeth
uselessly what he hath on empty follies, will receive neither return
nor praise from anyone.
_Firdausi._
248.
If thou art a man, speak not much about thine own manliness, for not
every champion driveth the ball to the goal.
_Sa'di._
249.
The potter forms what he pleases with soft clay, so a man
accomplishes his works by his own act.
_Hitopadesa._
250.
No man of high and generous spirit is ever willing to indulge in
flattery; the good may feel affection for others, but will not
flatter them.
_Aristotle._
251.
An ass will with his long ears fray
The flies that tickle him away;
But man delights to have his ears
Blown maggots in by flatterers.
_Butler._
252.
Books are pleasant, but if by being over-studious we impair our
health and spoil our good humour, two of the best things we have,
let us give it over. I, for my part, am one of those who think no
fruit derived from them can recompense so great a loss.
_Montaigne._
253.
He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.