Thirukkural in English - From chapters 081 to 090

Division II. Wealth - From chapters 081 to 090

081 Familiarity

0801 Call that an old friendship
Where liberties are not resented.

0802 True friendship permits liberties and to concede to it
Is the duty of the wise. *

0803 What is that intimacy which does not approve
And reciprocate liberties?

0804 The wise take in good spirit if friends, by right of familiarity,
Do things without asking. *

0805 When friends hurt, attribute it to either ignorance
Or privileges of friendship. *

0806 Those bound by intimacy never desert their old pals
Even if they bring loss. *

0807 In a friendship built on love, friends do not cease to love
Even when there is betrayal. *

0808 Close friends who won't listen to friend's faults,
Hail in silence the day they offend. *

0809 The world will cherish those friends
Who never forsake old, unbroken friendships.

0810 Even adversaries admire the character of old friends
Who don't part.


082 Bad friendship

0811 The hypocrite's flattering friendship pleases more
As it wanes than as it grows. *

0812 What matters if one gain or lose that unsettling friendship
Which sticks and ends at will?

0813 Those who weigh friendship for gain
Are no different from whores and frauds.

0814 Better to be alone than befriend those,
Who, like a broken horse, throw you down.

0815 Better to forfeit than seek the friendship of the base
Who betray at need. *

0816 A wise man's enmity is a million of times better
Than a fool's fast friendship. *

0817 Ten million times better the enmity of foes
Than the friendship of jesters and fools. *

0818 Drop silently the friends who pose
And won't help when they can.

0819 Friends whose words differ from their deeds
Distress even in dreams.

0820 Keep them far off who are friends at home
And foes in public.

083 False friendship

0821 Posing friends treat you like an anvil
To strike you at the opportune time. *

0822 Fickle as a woman's heart is the friendship of those
Who act like friends.

0823 Hard for the ignoble to be good-hearted,
No matter how well educated they are. *

0824 Beware of those deceits who, with a smiling face,
Conceal bitterness in their hearts.

0825 Trust not the mere words of those
Whose minds don't agree with us. *

0826 A foe's words though seem friendly and good
Can be read at once. *

0827 Trust not the bowing speech of your foe.
A bending bow is a sign of imminent danger.

0828 Like a dagger concealed in folded hands
Is the mourning tears of foes. *

0829 Cajole and crush with friendly guise
Those who flatter you but despise within. *

0830 While playing a friend to foes, keep a friendly face
But banish them from thy heart.

084 Folly

0831 If there is a thing called folly,
It is seizing what brings ill and letting the good slip. *

0832 Folly among follies is the fondness for doing things
Beyond one's reach. *

0833 Shamelessness, aimlessness, callousness and listlessness
Are marks of foolishness. *

0834 There is no greater fool than he
Who has studied and taught, but lacks control.

0835 A fool does deeds in a single birth
That will plunge him in hell in the succeeding seven.

0836 When a half-baked fool takes on a task,
The task is undone, and so is he! *

0837 Should a fool get hold of a great fortune,
Strangers will feast while his kindred starve. *

0838 A fool getting hold of wealth
Is like a lunatic getting drunk.

0839 Sweet indeed is a fool's friendship,
For when it breaks there is no pain.

0840 A fool's entry into a learned assembly
Is like entering a shrine with unclean legs.


085 Inflated ignorance

0841 The lack of lacks is the lack of knowledge.
Other lacks are not deemed such by the world.

0842 Should a fool gift a thing heartily, it is nothing but
Due to the penance of the recipient. *

0843 The harm fools do to themselves
Is beyond anything their foes do to them.

0844 What is stupidity? It is that vanity
Which dares to declare, "I am wise."

0845 Pretence to learning not learnt,
Calls in question the learning learnt.

0846 Can a fool be said to be clothed
When his faults lie exposed?

0847 A fool who can't hold on to rare secrets
Does great harm to himself.

0848 Heeds no advice; knows nothing wise;
His life is an illness till he dies.

0849 He is a fool, who tries to open the eyes of a fool,
For a fool sees things only his own way. *

0850 He who denies what the world affirms
Will be thought a demon on earth. *


086 Hostility

0851 Hatred, they say, is the disease
That spreads the plague of discord among all life. *

0852 Even if disagreeable things are done to cause rift,
Better do nothing painful to avoid conflict. *

0853 If that dire disease called hostility is discarded,
What yields is undying everlasting fame. *

0854 When the misery of miseries called malice ceases,
There comes the joy of joys. *

0855 Who can ever overcome the one,
Who refuses to give in to feelings of hatred?

0856 Want and ruin will soon befall the life of one
Who delights in excess hostility. *

0857 Those learned rapt up in destructive hate
Will never see the triumphant nature of truth. *

0858 To resist hatred is a gain.
Yielding to it, one is overcome by ruin. *

0859 Destined to prosper one will not look at hatred.
Destined for ruin, one will see it all the time.

0860 From hatred comes all evil.
And from friendship the pride of goodness.


087 Might of enemies

0861 Avoid opposing the strong.
Cherish your desire of enmity with the weak. *

0862 No love, great support, or own strength has he!
How can he survive a strong enemy? *

0863 A coward, ignorant, unsocial and mean
Is an easy prey to his enemy.

0864 The unrestrained and angry are an easy prey
To anyone, anytime, anywhere.

0865 Foes prefer the tactless and shameless one
Who cares not for codes and scorns.

0866 Those with blind fury and inordinate lust
Are vulnerable enemies to be nursed with.

0867 He is a foe worth purchasing
Who starts a fight and does all wrong.

0868 Enemies will rejoice the one
With no virtues, many vices, and no allies. *

0869 Enemies' joy has no bounds
When they get a fool and coward as a foe. *

0870 No glory or gain can ever come to one
Who cannot overcome an ignorant foe. *


088 Knowing enemy's strength

0871 One should never wish for the accursed thing
Called enmity, even in jest.

0872 Make foes, if you must, with bowmen
And never of men whose weapon is their tongue. *

0873 It is worse than madness for one who has no allies,
To make numerous enemies.

0874 The world is secure under one
Whose nature can make friends of foes.

0875 While facing two foes, unaided and alone,
Make one your friend. *

0876 In times of crisis, be wary of joining or opposing any,
Whether tested or untested. *

0877 Keep your sorrows from strangers
And your weakness from foes. *

0878 Engineer, execute and defend.
Thus keep the pride of your foes at bay.

0879 Cut a thorny shrub when young.
Allowed to grow, it injures the hand that cuts.

0880 Those who can't crush the pride of defying foes
Will cease to breathe long. *


089 Foe within

0881 Even shade and water unwholesome can harm
Likewise one’s kinsmen if they hurt. * (PS)

0882 No need to fear an enemy wielding a sword.
Beware of enemies posing as friends. *

0883 Guard against the foe within, lest he strike you
In times of peril like the potter's knife. *

0884 When hidden hatreds lurk in the mind,
Myriad miseries manifest among kin. *

0885 Hidden hatred amongst kinsman
Can cause all sorts of deadly sorrows. *

0886 Unanimity will disappear for ever
Once disunity arises within a union.

0887 A house that harbours hatred, like a vial and its lid,
Seems one but comes apart. *

0888 A family with internal frictions wears out
And loses its strength like gold being filed. *

0889 Even a dissent as small as a seed,
Can trigger that destructive internal hatred.

0890 To partner one with a hidden hate
Is to share a hut with a cobra.


090 Not offending the great

0891 The best way to guard oneself is to not spite
The powers of the prowess. *

0892 Irreverence to the great will lead
To endless trouble through them.

0893 If destruction you desire, provoke those
Who in turn can destroy as they desire. *

0894 For the weak to challenge the mighty
Is to summon yama with the hand.

0895 Where can he go and how can he thrive,
Who falls foul of a powerful king?

0896 One may survive even if burnt in fire
But no survival for those who offend the great. *

0897 What avails glorious life and great wealth
If one incurs the wrath of the virtuous great? *

0898 If you underestimate the eminent,
You will be shaken off the earth of all your ties. *

0899 Even the mightiest of kings can perish midway
If men of high repute burst in rage. *

0900 Even men with all their might and aid
Cannot be saved if great sages frown.