Division III. Love - From chapters 109 to 120
109 Fascination
1081 "A goddess, a rare peahen or a woman
Decked with jewels?" My heart is amazed!
1082 She returns my look with looks that strike
Like darts of an armed angel.
1083 I never knew yama before, but now I realize
That it is feminine and has warring eyes.
1084 She may have that feminine grace
But her look sucks life out of men who gaze.
1085 Is it death's dart, or eye's beams, or fawn's glance?
Her look has all these three.
1086 It’s only when her callous eyebrows bend and veil her eyes
That my heart’s flutters cease.
1087 Like the veil over the face of a rutting elephant
Is the vest that veils her buxom breasts.
1088 Ah, there goes all my might which foes dread in fight,
When I face her brows beaming bright!
1089 What use are jewels to a damsel
Adorned with modesty and meek looks of a hind?
1090 Wine delights only when imbibed,
But never at mere look like love!
110 Reading hints
1091 Her painted eyes have a double effect:
One glance brings pain and the other cures.
1092 A single sneaky glance of her eyes
Is more than half the pleasure of love.
1093 She looked, and dropped her head,
And so watered the plant of love.
1094 When I look, she looks to the ground.
When I don't, she looks and gently smiles!
1095 Without looking straight,
She passes a slanting glance and smiles.
1096 They may speak like strangers, but the words
Will soon reveal their intimacy.
1097 Words that look unfriendly and looks that look offending
Are signs of love in disguise.
1098 Her gentle smile to my pleading look
Adds beauty to her gentle nature.
1099 To look at each other as if they were strangers
Belongs to lovers alone.
1100 When eyes with eyes commingle,
What do words avail?
111 Bliss of union
1101 In her alone, my jewel, can I find the five senses of
Sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch.
1102 The cure for a disease is always different.
But this jewel is both disease and cure.
1103 Is heaven sweeter than slumbering
On the soft shoulders of the women you love?
1104 Whence did she get the fire
Which burns when far, and cools when near?
1105 Her flower-decked shoulders
Give me whatever I need, then and there.
1106 Her shoulders must verily be nectar
For they refresh my life whenever I touch.
1107 Like sharing one’s food at one’s own home
Is the embrace of this fair maid.
1108 Sweet indeed is that embrace
Wherein not a breath comes between.
1109 To fall out, make up, and unite again are the gains
Reaped by those obsessed with love.
1110 The more you indulge, the more you realize your ignorance.
Be it love or learning.
112 Expressing her charms
1111 Hail thee, aniccham, the soft flower!
The damsel I dote is softer than thee!
1112 O heart, why get distracted seeing common flowers
And match them with her eyes!
1113 She has a slender frame, pearly smile, fragrant breath,
Lancet eyes and bamboo shoulders.
1114 Unable to match the eyes of this jewel,
Lilies droop down earthwards in shame.
1115 The solemn drums will blare if her waist is crushed
By the aniccham she wore with its stalk.
1116 The perplexed stars are all over the place,
Unable to tell the moon from her face.
1117 Are there spots on my love’s face
Like the spots on the shining moon?
1118 Hail O moon! If you could also shine as my love’s face,
You too I shall love.
1119 O moon, if you imitate my flower-eyed jewel’s face,
Stop revealing thyself to all.
1120 Even aniccham flower and swan's down
Are as nerunji fruit to my maidens’ feet.
113 Excellence of love
He
1121 Like a mixture of milk and honey,
Is the drool that drips through her pearly teeth.
1122 The bond between me and this damsel
Is like the union of body and soul.
1123 O pupil of my eye! Be gone,
For there is no place for the maiden I love.
1124 Life is lively when she is around,
But dreadful when she leaves.
1125 Recollection is needed if only I forget.
How can I forget her dazzling warring eyes!
She
1126 So subtle is my lover’s form that he neither leaves my eyes
Nor is he hurt when I wink.
1127 I will not paint my eyes and so lose
Even for a trice the sight of my love.
1128 I dare not swallow anything hot
Lest it hurt my lover within me!
1129 My eyes don’t close for fear of losing him.
Seeing this, folks blame him for desertion.
1130 He dwells gladly forever in my heart.
And the folks say he is loveless and has left me.
114 Abandonment of reserve
1131 Those that enjoyed love and now mourn in affliction
Have nothing but the madal for strength.
1132 Away with shame! Soul and body can bear no more,
And will mount the madal.
1133 Modesty and manliness once I owned,
But now only the madal ridden by the lustful.
1134 Alas, the raft of modesty and manliness is swept away
By the rushing tide of lust!
1135 The maiden with her armlets of garland
Gave me the madal and the pangs of eventide.
1136 Even at midnight I think of riding the madal,
Unable to close my eyes because of her.
1137 Nothing grandeur than women! Their love may rage like sea,
Yet don’t mount the madal!
1138 Pitiless love with no regard for modesty,
Betrays itself to reveal the secrets public.
1139 Perplexed is my passion that it roves in public
With complaints of being unnoticed.
1140 Fools laugh so as to be seen by us,
Not having endured what we have.
115 Spreading romours
1141 Rumours revive hope; Those that spread them
Luckily don't know this.
1142 Rumours have gifted me this flowery-eyed belle;
The public know not her preciousness.
1143 Should I not welcome their rumours
Which give that feel of owning whom I own not?
1144 Rumours enhance my love which might have
Otherwise waned losing its power.
1145 Wine delights with every sip.
So does love with every disclosure.
1146 Our meeting was but for a day, but the outcry is
As if a serpent has swallowed the moon.
1147 The village gossip manures my love,
And my mother's reproaches water it.
1148 To suppress love with scandal
Is to put fire out with ghee!
1149 He who said “fear not” has flared up rumour.
Why then should I blush for this outcry?
1150 This village gossip is what we desire,
For it serves the desire of my lover.
116 Sufferings of separation
1151 Tell me if you are not leaving. Bid farewell to those
Who can survive to see your return.
1152 His mere look was once a delight; but now
Even his embrace saddens, fearing separation.
1153 How hard it is to trust when even he who knows
Breaks his word and goes!
1154 How can I be blamed for trusting one
Who left me after assuring “fear not”?
1155 If you would serve me, stop him going.
Gone we shall not meet again.
1156 When he is stubborn to announce separation,
It is futile to hope for reunion.
1157 Do not the bangles sliding down my arms
Forebode the departure of my lord?
1158 It is bitter to live among strangers.
Bitter still is to part with one's love.
1159 Can fire, which hurts when touched,
Hurt like the passion of love even untouched?
1160 Strange how many can bear separation,
Survive sorrow, and live!
117 Love sickness
1161 I would hide this sickness, but it wells up
Like water drawn from a spring.
1162 Hide this sickness, I cannot.
To tell him who caused it, I am ashamed.
1163 Love and shame hang poised on my life.
My body unable to bear them.
1164 There is indeed a flood of lust;
But no safe raft to swim across it.
1165 If his friendship can bring so much misery,
How will it be in enmity?
1166 The pleasure of love is as vast as the sea.
Vaster still is the sorrow of its hurt.
1167 Whirling in the stormy sea of love, I find no shore;
Even at midnight I am alone.
1168 Poor night, putting all things to sleep,
Has only me for company.
1169 Even crueler than my cruel lord
Are the long nights of these days.
1170 If eyes could also reach him like the heart,
They won’t be swimming in a flood of tears.
118 Languishing eyes
1171 Why the same eyes that showed him to me
And caused this fever, now cry in anguish?
1172 Why do these eyes, once thoughtlessly looked at him,
Now not repent but grieve?
1173 Funny the very same eyes that once
Eagerly looked at him are now in tears!
1174 Having driven me to this incurable fever,
My eyes have dried up, drained of all tears.
1175 My eyes plunged me in a raging sea of love
And for this must suffer sleepless pain.
1176 How nice! The eyes that caused this torment
Are themselves tormented.
1177 Let tears dry up pining and pining in the eyes
That eyed him longing and longing.
1178 He made love with words, not with heart.
Yet my eyes pine, seeing him not.
1179 Sleepless when he is not here, sleepless when he is,
Either way my eyes never rest.
1180 With eyes that drum up and declare my grief,
It is hard to conceal secrets from these folks!
119 The hues of pallor
1181 Having agreed to part my love,
How can I complain of my pallor to others?
1182 Claiming that it begot through him,
Pallor creeps over my body with pride.
1183 He robbed me first of my beauty and shame,
And gave in exchange sickness and pallor.
1184 His words I recollect and prowess I chant.
Yet, how does pallor sneak in?
1185 There goes my lover and here comes the pallor
To creep over my body.
1186 Darkness lies in wait for the lamp to go out,
And pallor for the embrace to break.
1187 Locked in embrace, I turned a little.
Seizing that moment, pallor seized me in full.
1188 "Pallid has she become” blame everyone,
But none say “He parted her”.
1189 If my lord who left me remains free of guilt,
My pallor is worth all the grief.
1190 I don’t mind being called pallid, so long as
They don’t blame him for causing it.
120 Torture of loneliness
1191 Only those blessed with the love of being loved
Are blessed with the seedless fruit of love.
1192 Like the heavenly showers to living men
Is the blessing of grace by lovers to their beloved.
1193 They alone can have the pride of living together
Who are loved by their beloved.
1194 Even if loved by others, they are luckless
Unless loved by those they love.
1195 What more can I expect of my lord
If he does not love me as much as I love him?
1196 One-sided love pains like lopsided kavadi.
It is sweet only when shared by both sides.
1197 Can't the god of Love, lodged in me alone
Causing distress, see my pallor and pain?
1198 Hard is the heart that can survive this world
Without a word of love from the beloved.
1199 Though my beloved bestows nothing,
Still any news about him is sweet to my ears.
1200 O heart, why pour your concerns to the unconcerned?
As well dump into the sea!
Saturday, 28 May 2011
Thirukkural in English - From chapters 101 to 108
Division II. Wealth - From chapters 101 to 108
101 Useless wealth
1001 A miser makes of his pile of vast wealth,
No more use than a corpse.
1002 Believing wealth is everything, yet giving nothing,
The miser is ensnared in the misery of birth.
1003 Their very sight is a burden to earth
Who hoard wealth and not renown.
1004 What legacy can one, who is loved by none,
Think of leaving behind?
1005 Wealth, though millions manifold, amounts to nothing
If one neither gives nor enjoys it.
1006 Riches are a curse when neither enjoyed,
Nor given to the worthy.
1007 Wealth not given to the needy goes waste
Like a lovely spinster growing old.
1008 The wealth of the unloved is like a poisonous tree
That ripens in the heart of a village.
1009 Strangers shall possess that wealth
Amassed without love, comfort or scruples.
1010 The brief want of the benign rich
Is like the monsoon clouds just shed its moisture.
102 Being ashamed
1011 Real shyness is to shy away from shameful acts.
The rest are like shyness of pretty women.
1012 Food, clothing and the rest are common to all.
Distinction comes from sensitivity to shame.
1013 All souls abide in the body
And the goodness called modesty in perfection.
1014 Is not modesty the jewel of the great,
And without it a curse for their pride and demeanor?
1015 To the world, the sense of shame resides in them
Who blush for their and others’ blame.
1016 The great would rather defend with modesty's barricade
Than breach it to acquire the vast world.
1017 Men of honour give up life for honour’s sake,
But never abandon honour to save life.
1018 Virtue will shy away from one who does not shy away
From what others shy from.
1019 Lapse in manners injures the family,
But every good is lost by lack of shame.
1020 The moves of those devoid of conscience
Are like those of puppets moved by a string.
103 Social service
1021 There is nothing more glorious than to persist
In the advance of the community.
1022 Manly exertion and sound knowledge:
A community progresses with these two.
1023 The Lord himself will wrap his robes
And lead the one bent on social service.
1024 Success will come by itself to the one
Who tirelessly strives for his society.
1025 The world will flock round the one
Leading a blameless life doing social service.
1026 True valour lies in raising the community
One is born into.
1027 As in the battlefield, the burden of social work
Also falls on the capable.
1028 There is no set time for social service.
To put off is to ruin repute.
1029 Is the body that protects one’s family against hurdles
A receptacle for hardships alone?
1030 Society will crash axed by misfortune
Without good men to support it.
104 Agriculture
1031 Wherever it whirls, the world must follow the farmer.
Thus despite hardships, farming is the best.
1032 Farmers are the linchpin of the world
For they support all others who cannot till.
1033 They only live who live by the plough.
The rest must stoop and trail behind.
1034 The reign of many kingdoms comes under
The reign of those with abundant grain.
1035 Those who eat what their hands produce
Neither beg nor refuse a beggar.
1036 Even the desire-free hermits will lose their state
If ploughmen fold their hands.
1037 If ploughed and dried to quarter its size,
The soil yields plenty sans even handful manure.
1038 Manuring is crucial than ploughing. After weeding,
Protection is crucial than watering.
1039 If the landlord neglects his field visits,
The angry land will sulk like a neglected wife.
1040 Mother Earth laughs at the sight of those
Who remain idle pleading poverty.
105 Poverty
1041 What is more painful than poverty?
The pain of poverty itself!
1042 The demon of poverty takes away
The joys of this life and the next.
1043 That cancer called poverty destroys at once
The honor of ancient descent and clout.
1044 Even in those of high birth, poverty will produce
The fault of uttering mean words.
1045 That misery called poverty brings with it
A diversity of sufferings.
1046 A poor man's words carry no weight,
However meaningful and profound.
1047 Poverty, destitute of all virtues, alienates a man
Even from the mother who bore him.
1048 Will that hunger which almost killed me yesterday,
Pester me even today?
1049 One may sleep even in the midst of fire,
But by no means in the midst of poverty.
1050 The poverty stricken has a chance to renounce,
Lest he hang around for salt and gruel.
106 Begging
1051 Beg if you meet men of means.
If they refuse, the fault is theirs, not yours.
1052 Begging is a pleasure if what is asked
Comes without pain.
1053 There is beauty even in begging
If it is before dutiful men with generous heart.
1054 Begging from men who do not refuse even in their dreams
Is as honorable as bestowing.
1055 Men stand expectant only because
The world has a few who won't refuse.
1056 All ills of begging will flee at the sight of those
Who are free from the ills of refusal.
1057 The glad heart rejoices within
When it sees one who gives without scorn.
1058 Without beggars this vast scenic world
Would be a stage of puppets that come and go.
1059 What fame can givers achieve
If there is none to beg and receive?
1060 The denied suppliant should not chafe.
His own want is proof enough.
107 Dread of begging
1061 It is worth millions not to beg
Even from the precious ones who delight in giving.
1062 If some must beg and live, let the Creator of the world
Himself roam and perish!
1063 No greater audacity that the audacity of hoping
Begging will rid the misery of poverty.
1064 No place can hold the greatness of those
Who don’t beg even during troubled times.
1065 There is nothing sweeter than even the watery gruel
Earned by one's own labour.
1066 No greater disgrace for the tongue than to beg
Even if only water for a cow.
1067 This I beg of all beggars,
"If beg you must, beg not from misers."
1068 The hapless ship of begging will split
The moment it strikes the rock of refusal.
1069 The heart melts at the thought of begging
And dies at the thought of denial.
1070 Where will the niggard’s life seek refuge
When the beggar’s life is taken by refusal?
108 Wickedness
1071 The wicked look utterly like men!
Such close mimics we have never seen!
1072 More blessed than the good are the base,
For they have no scruples.
1073 The base are like the gods.
They also do whatever they like.
1074 The base are proud when they find men
Meaner than themselves.
1075 Fear is the base man's only code;
Sometimes, greed a little.
1076 The base are like drum, for they sound off to others
Every secret they hear.
1077 The base won’t even shake their wet hands
Unless their jaws are shaken with clenched fists.
1078 A word will move the noble;
While the base, like sugarcane, must be crushed.
1079 The base excel in finding faults of others
When they see them well clothed and fed.
1080 What use are the base in a crisis,
Save to rush and sell themselves?
101 Useless wealth
1001 A miser makes of his pile of vast wealth,
No more use than a corpse.
1002 Believing wealth is everything, yet giving nothing,
The miser is ensnared in the misery of birth.
1003 Their very sight is a burden to earth
Who hoard wealth and not renown.
1004 What legacy can one, who is loved by none,
Think of leaving behind?
1005 Wealth, though millions manifold, amounts to nothing
If one neither gives nor enjoys it.
1006 Riches are a curse when neither enjoyed,
Nor given to the worthy.
1007 Wealth not given to the needy goes waste
Like a lovely spinster growing old.
1008 The wealth of the unloved is like a poisonous tree
That ripens in the heart of a village.
1009 Strangers shall possess that wealth
Amassed without love, comfort or scruples.
1010 The brief want of the benign rich
Is like the monsoon clouds just shed its moisture.
102 Being ashamed
1011 Real shyness is to shy away from shameful acts.
The rest are like shyness of pretty women.
1012 Food, clothing and the rest are common to all.
Distinction comes from sensitivity to shame.
1013 All souls abide in the body
And the goodness called modesty in perfection.
1014 Is not modesty the jewel of the great,
And without it a curse for their pride and demeanor?
1015 To the world, the sense of shame resides in them
Who blush for their and others’ blame.
1016 The great would rather defend with modesty's barricade
Than breach it to acquire the vast world.
1017 Men of honour give up life for honour’s sake,
But never abandon honour to save life.
1018 Virtue will shy away from one who does not shy away
From what others shy from.
1019 Lapse in manners injures the family,
But every good is lost by lack of shame.
1020 The moves of those devoid of conscience
Are like those of puppets moved by a string.
103 Social service
1021 There is nothing more glorious than to persist
In the advance of the community.
1022 Manly exertion and sound knowledge:
A community progresses with these two.
1023 The Lord himself will wrap his robes
And lead the one bent on social service.
1024 Success will come by itself to the one
Who tirelessly strives for his society.
1025 The world will flock round the one
Leading a blameless life doing social service.
1026 True valour lies in raising the community
One is born into.
1027 As in the battlefield, the burden of social work
Also falls on the capable.
1028 There is no set time for social service.
To put off is to ruin repute.
1029 Is the body that protects one’s family against hurdles
A receptacle for hardships alone?
1030 Society will crash axed by misfortune
Without good men to support it.
104 Agriculture
1031 Wherever it whirls, the world must follow the farmer.
Thus despite hardships, farming is the best.
1032 Farmers are the linchpin of the world
For they support all others who cannot till.
1033 They only live who live by the plough.
The rest must stoop and trail behind.
1034 The reign of many kingdoms comes under
The reign of those with abundant grain.
1035 Those who eat what their hands produce
Neither beg nor refuse a beggar.
1036 Even the desire-free hermits will lose their state
If ploughmen fold their hands.
1037 If ploughed and dried to quarter its size,
The soil yields plenty sans even handful manure.
1038 Manuring is crucial than ploughing. After weeding,
Protection is crucial than watering.
1039 If the landlord neglects his field visits,
The angry land will sulk like a neglected wife.
1040 Mother Earth laughs at the sight of those
Who remain idle pleading poverty.
105 Poverty
1041 What is more painful than poverty?
The pain of poverty itself!
1042 The demon of poverty takes away
The joys of this life and the next.
1043 That cancer called poverty destroys at once
The honor of ancient descent and clout.
1044 Even in those of high birth, poverty will produce
The fault of uttering mean words.
1045 That misery called poverty brings with it
A diversity of sufferings.
1046 A poor man's words carry no weight,
However meaningful and profound.
1047 Poverty, destitute of all virtues, alienates a man
Even from the mother who bore him.
1048 Will that hunger which almost killed me yesterday,
Pester me even today?
1049 One may sleep even in the midst of fire,
But by no means in the midst of poverty.
1050 The poverty stricken has a chance to renounce,
Lest he hang around for salt and gruel.
106 Begging
1051 Beg if you meet men of means.
If they refuse, the fault is theirs, not yours.
1052 Begging is a pleasure if what is asked
Comes without pain.
1053 There is beauty even in begging
If it is before dutiful men with generous heart.
1054 Begging from men who do not refuse even in their dreams
Is as honorable as bestowing.
1055 Men stand expectant only because
The world has a few who won't refuse.
1056 All ills of begging will flee at the sight of those
Who are free from the ills of refusal.
1057 The glad heart rejoices within
When it sees one who gives without scorn.
1058 Without beggars this vast scenic world
Would be a stage of puppets that come and go.
1059 What fame can givers achieve
If there is none to beg and receive?
1060 The denied suppliant should not chafe.
His own want is proof enough.
107 Dread of begging
1061 It is worth millions not to beg
Even from the precious ones who delight in giving.
1062 If some must beg and live, let the Creator of the world
Himself roam and perish!
1063 No greater audacity that the audacity of hoping
Begging will rid the misery of poverty.
1064 No place can hold the greatness of those
Who don’t beg even during troubled times.
1065 There is nothing sweeter than even the watery gruel
Earned by one's own labour.
1066 No greater disgrace for the tongue than to beg
Even if only water for a cow.
1067 This I beg of all beggars,
"If beg you must, beg not from misers."
1068 The hapless ship of begging will split
The moment it strikes the rock of refusal.
1069 The heart melts at the thought of begging
And dies at the thought of denial.
1070 Where will the niggard’s life seek refuge
When the beggar’s life is taken by refusal?
108 Wickedness
1071 The wicked look utterly like men!
Such close mimics we have never seen!
1072 More blessed than the good are the base,
For they have no scruples.
1073 The base are like the gods.
They also do whatever they like.
1074 The base are proud when they find men
Meaner than themselves.
1075 Fear is the base man's only code;
Sometimes, greed a little.
1076 The base are like drum, for they sound off to others
Every secret they hear.
1077 The base won’t even shake their wet hands
Unless their jaws are shaken with clenched fists.
1078 A word will move the noble;
While the base, like sugarcane, must be crushed.
1079 The base excel in finding faults of others
When they see them well clothed and fed.
1080 What use are the base in a crisis,
Save to rush and sell themselves?
Thirukkural in English - From chapters 091 to 100
Division II. Wealth - From chapters 091 to 100
091 Uxoriousness
0901 Wives unduly exalted impede greatness.
Ambitious men avoid that very thing. *
0902 The affluence of a careless uxorious man
Will buy him only shameful shame. *
0903 Habitual submission to one’s wife
Will always bring disrepute among the good.
0904 The deeds of one who dreads his wife
Merits little in this life or the next. *
0905 A man who fears his wife will always fear
To do good things to good people. *
0906 Those who fear their wives' slender shoulders
May live like gods but are not men.
0907 Modest womanhood is greater than the manhood
Which thrives on obeisance to wife. *
0908 Men governed by their fair ladies cannot address
The needs of friends nor do any good.
0909 Virtuous deeds, exalted wealth and other deeds
Are not for the henpecked. *
0910 The thoughtful and firm-willed never indulge
In the folly of doting on their wives. *
092 Public women
0911 Fraught with disgrace are the sweet words
Of jeweled women who desire wealth, not love. *
0912 See through and avoid the immoral women
Who talk of morals with a purpose.
0913 A harlot’s false embrace for money is like one hired
To clasp an alien corpse in a dark room. *
0914 The wise who treasure grace desire not the false charms
Of those who treasure wealth. *
0915 Sensible men of lofty wisdom will find no joy
In the cheap delight of public women. *
0916 Those who would spread their own good will not touch
Others who spread their charms for money. *
0917 The empty-hearted alone will embrace
The hearts that go not with their bodies.
0918 Only those who can’t see through a false woman’s embrace
Consider her to be an angel. *
0919 The soft arms of those who sell their charm
Are a hell that plunge the base. *
0920 Fortune leaves those whose associates are
Treacherous women, wine and dice. *
093 Avoiding alcohol
0921 Those who always love wine
Will neither inspire fear in others nor retain their fame. *
0922 Drink no wine, or let them drink
Who do not care what wise men think.
0923 When a drunkard's glee hurts his own mother,
Why speak of the wise?
0924 The good lady Shame turns her back to men
Addicted to the grave vice drunkenness. *
0925 It is sheer ignorance to spend one’s substance
And obtain in return only insensibility. *
0926 Slumbers are no different from the dead.
Nor alcoholics from consumers of poison.
0927 Those who often get drunk in private
Will soon become a laughing stock in public.
0928 Stop pretending to have not drunk.
Out will come the secrets from the heart.
0929 To reason with one drowned in drink is like
Searching with a candle for a man drowned in water. *
0930 When a drunkard sober sees another drunk,
Why does he not note his own damage?
094 Gambling
0931 Don’t gamble even if you win for it draws you in
Like fishes drawn to shining baits.
0932 Can gamblers gain anything good in life
Who gain one and lose a hundred? *
0933 To be lost all the time in the rolling dice
Is to lose your hoarded wealth to others.
0934 There is nothing like gambling to bring
Poverty, sorrow and disgrace.
0935 They lose all who will not give up the dice,
The board and the throw.
0936 Those blindfolded by the dark ogress called dice
Will starve and suffer in distress. *
0937 Time wasted in a gambling house
Will end one’s ancestral wealth and worth. *
0938 Dicing loses wealth, imposes lies,
Kills grace and causes sorrow.
0939 Gambling will make one lose these five:
Riches, food, fame, learning and clothes.
0940 Like the attachment to life despite sufferings
Is the love for gambling despite loss. *
095 Medicine
0941 Three things beginning with wind, say the experts,
In excess or lacking cause disease.
0942 The body needs no drugs if what is eaten
Is digested before the next meal.
0943 Once digested, eat with moderation.
That prolongs the life of one embodied. *
0944 Assured of digestion and real hunger,
Eat with care what is agreeable. *
0945 No harm to life if what is eaten
Does not include disagreeable food.
0946 As pleasure dwells with a moderate eater,
So is disease with a voracious glutton. *
0947 Unlimited eating beyond one’s measure
Leads to unlimited number of ills.
0948 Diagnose the illness, trace its cause,
Seek the proper remedy and apply it with skill.
0949 A doctor should have the measure of the patient,
Disease and its stage, and treat.
0950 Any treatment involves these four orders:
The patient, doctor, medicine and the nurse.
096 Lineage
0951 None except the well-born
Have that natural sense of integrity and shame. *
0952 Men of birth will never deviate from these three:
Good manners, truthfulness and modesty. *
0953 A smiling face, a generous heart, sweet words and no scorn;
These four are said to mark the well-born. *
0954 Men of birth will not indulge in mean acts
Even if offered millions manifold.
0955 An ancient family may default in charity,
But never in their conduct. *
0956 Those wedded to their spotless heritage
Will do nothing deceitful and ignoble. *
0957 Defects in people of noble descent
Appear prominently as spots on the moon.
0958 Want of affection from one of good family
Calls in question his descent from it. *
0959 Nature of sprout indicates the quality of soil;
So does the quality of speech one’s descent.
0960 There is no good without a sense of shame,
Nor high birth without politeness.
097 Honour
0961 Reject base actions even if such rejection
Makes life impossible.
0962 Those who desire fame with honour
Will not sacrifice honour for fame.
0963 In prosperity, bend low.
In adversity, stand straight.
0964 Men fallen from high stature
Are like hair fallen from the head. *
0965 Even a hill-like eminence can be brought low
By deeds as small as a speck. *
0966 Why go behind those who scorn when it yields
Neither fame nor place in heaven? *
0967 Better said doomed that state of life
Spent clinging on to those who scorn.
0968 Is body as precious as ambrosia that men desire to save it
Even at the cost of honour?
0969 The yak, sheared of its hair, does not survive.
The noble, stripped of their honour, prefer death.
0970 The world will admire and worship the glory of men
Who prefer death to dishonour. *
098 Pride/Greatness
0971 Honour is to crave for excellence.
Dishonor is to say: “I shall live without it”.
0972 By birth all men are equal. Differences in their action
Render their worth unequal.
0973 Neither the high-born who act low are high,
Nor the low-born who act high, low. *
0974 Even greatness, like a woman’s chastity,
Belongs only to him who guards himself.
0975 If the great achieve anything,
It will be deeds rare in achievement. *
0976 It is not in the nature of the small to have
That outlook of emulating the great. *
0977 If any distinction falls on the little minded,
Their insolence will know no bounds. *
0978 The great are always humble,
And the small lost in self-admiration.
0979 The great are never puffed up,
While the small are inordinately proud. *
0980 The great hide others' faults.
Only the small talk of nothing else.
099 Goodness
0981 All virtues are said to be natural to those
Who acquire character as a duty.
0982 No other goodness than good character
Is deemed good by the noble.
0983 The pillars of excellence are five:
Love, modesty, altruism, compassion, truthfulness.
0984 The characteristic of penance is non-killing,
And that of goodness not speaking others’ faults.
0985 Humility is the strength of the strong and the weapon
The wise use to conquer their foes.
0986 The touchstone of goodness is to own
One's defeat even to inferiors.
0987 What good is that goodness if it does not return good
Even to those who cause evil? *
0988 Poverty is no disgrace to one
Who has the strength called character.
0989 The depth of goodness is said to be the never changing attitude
In spite of ever changing fortunes.
0990 The earth will cease to bear its burden
If perfect men fall short of perfection.
100 Courtesy
0991 The demeanor called courtesy, they say,
Comes easily to those easily accessible to all.
0992 Kindness and exalted birth: these two
Constitute the demeanor called courtesy.
0993 What binds humanity together is not physical proximity,
But that binding of courteousness.
0994 The world applauds the conduct of those
Who help with impartiality and generosity. *
0995 Mockery hurts even in jest, and hence the considerate
Are courteous even to their foes. *
0996 The world goes on because of civilized men.
Without them it would collapse into dust. *
0997 Men without character, despite their sharp minds,
Are no better than blocks of wood.
0998 It is disgraceful to be discourteous,
Even towards the unfriendly who treat you unjustly.
0999 To those who cannot laugh,
This big world is all darkness even during the day.
1000 The great wealth kept by the uncultured
Is clean milk gone sour in a can unclean.
091 Uxoriousness
0901 Wives unduly exalted impede greatness.
Ambitious men avoid that very thing. *
0902 The affluence of a careless uxorious man
Will buy him only shameful shame. *
0903 Habitual submission to one’s wife
Will always bring disrepute among the good.
0904 The deeds of one who dreads his wife
Merits little in this life or the next. *
0905 A man who fears his wife will always fear
To do good things to good people. *
0906 Those who fear their wives' slender shoulders
May live like gods but are not men.
0907 Modest womanhood is greater than the manhood
Which thrives on obeisance to wife. *
0908 Men governed by their fair ladies cannot address
The needs of friends nor do any good.
0909 Virtuous deeds, exalted wealth and other deeds
Are not for the henpecked. *
0910 The thoughtful and firm-willed never indulge
In the folly of doting on their wives. *
092 Public women
0911 Fraught with disgrace are the sweet words
Of jeweled women who desire wealth, not love. *
0912 See through and avoid the immoral women
Who talk of morals with a purpose.
0913 A harlot’s false embrace for money is like one hired
To clasp an alien corpse in a dark room. *
0914 The wise who treasure grace desire not the false charms
Of those who treasure wealth. *
0915 Sensible men of lofty wisdom will find no joy
In the cheap delight of public women. *
0916 Those who would spread their own good will not touch
Others who spread their charms for money. *
0917 The empty-hearted alone will embrace
The hearts that go not with their bodies.
0918 Only those who can’t see through a false woman’s embrace
Consider her to be an angel. *
0919 The soft arms of those who sell their charm
Are a hell that plunge the base. *
0920 Fortune leaves those whose associates are
Treacherous women, wine and dice. *
093 Avoiding alcohol
0921 Those who always love wine
Will neither inspire fear in others nor retain their fame. *
0922 Drink no wine, or let them drink
Who do not care what wise men think.
0923 When a drunkard's glee hurts his own mother,
Why speak of the wise?
0924 The good lady Shame turns her back to men
Addicted to the grave vice drunkenness. *
0925 It is sheer ignorance to spend one’s substance
And obtain in return only insensibility. *
0926 Slumbers are no different from the dead.
Nor alcoholics from consumers of poison.
0927 Those who often get drunk in private
Will soon become a laughing stock in public.
0928 Stop pretending to have not drunk.
Out will come the secrets from the heart.
0929 To reason with one drowned in drink is like
Searching with a candle for a man drowned in water. *
0930 When a drunkard sober sees another drunk,
Why does he not note his own damage?
094 Gambling
0931 Don’t gamble even if you win for it draws you in
Like fishes drawn to shining baits.
0932 Can gamblers gain anything good in life
Who gain one and lose a hundred? *
0933 To be lost all the time in the rolling dice
Is to lose your hoarded wealth to others.
0934 There is nothing like gambling to bring
Poverty, sorrow and disgrace.
0935 They lose all who will not give up the dice,
The board and the throw.
0936 Those blindfolded by the dark ogress called dice
Will starve and suffer in distress. *
0937 Time wasted in a gambling house
Will end one’s ancestral wealth and worth. *
0938 Dicing loses wealth, imposes lies,
Kills grace and causes sorrow.
0939 Gambling will make one lose these five:
Riches, food, fame, learning and clothes.
0940 Like the attachment to life despite sufferings
Is the love for gambling despite loss. *
095 Medicine
0941 Three things beginning with wind, say the experts,
In excess or lacking cause disease.
0942 The body needs no drugs if what is eaten
Is digested before the next meal.
0943 Once digested, eat with moderation.
That prolongs the life of one embodied. *
0944 Assured of digestion and real hunger,
Eat with care what is agreeable. *
0945 No harm to life if what is eaten
Does not include disagreeable food.
0946 As pleasure dwells with a moderate eater,
So is disease with a voracious glutton. *
0947 Unlimited eating beyond one’s measure
Leads to unlimited number of ills.
0948 Diagnose the illness, trace its cause,
Seek the proper remedy and apply it with skill.
0949 A doctor should have the measure of the patient,
Disease and its stage, and treat.
0950 Any treatment involves these four orders:
The patient, doctor, medicine and the nurse.
096 Lineage
0951 None except the well-born
Have that natural sense of integrity and shame. *
0952 Men of birth will never deviate from these three:
Good manners, truthfulness and modesty. *
0953 A smiling face, a generous heart, sweet words and no scorn;
These four are said to mark the well-born. *
0954 Men of birth will not indulge in mean acts
Even if offered millions manifold.
0955 An ancient family may default in charity,
But never in their conduct. *
0956 Those wedded to their spotless heritage
Will do nothing deceitful and ignoble. *
0957 Defects in people of noble descent
Appear prominently as spots on the moon.
0958 Want of affection from one of good family
Calls in question his descent from it. *
0959 Nature of sprout indicates the quality of soil;
So does the quality of speech one’s descent.
0960 There is no good without a sense of shame,
Nor high birth without politeness.
097 Honour
0961 Reject base actions even if such rejection
Makes life impossible.
0962 Those who desire fame with honour
Will not sacrifice honour for fame.
0963 In prosperity, bend low.
In adversity, stand straight.
0964 Men fallen from high stature
Are like hair fallen from the head. *
0965 Even a hill-like eminence can be brought low
By deeds as small as a speck. *
0966 Why go behind those who scorn when it yields
Neither fame nor place in heaven? *
0967 Better said doomed that state of life
Spent clinging on to those who scorn.
0968 Is body as precious as ambrosia that men desire to save it
Even at the cost of honour?
0969 The yak, sheared of its hair, does not survive.
The noble, stripped of their honour, prefer death.
0970 The world will admire and worship the glory of men
Who prefer death to dishonour. *
098 Pride/Greatness
0971 Honour is to crave for excellence.
Dishonor is to say: “I shall live without it”.
0972 By birth all men are equal. Differences in their action
Render their worth unequal.
0973 Neither the high-born who act low are high,
Nor the low-born who act high, low. *
0974 Even greatness, like a woman’s chastity,
Belongs only to him who guards himself.
0975 If the great achieve anything,
It will be deeds rare in achievement. *
0976 It is not in the nature of the small to have
That outlook of emulating the great. *
0977 If any distinction falls on the little minded,
Their insolence will know no bounds. *
0978 The great are always humble,
And the small lost in self-admiration.
0979 The great are never puffed up,
While the small are inordinately proud. *
0980 The great hide others' faults.
Only the small talk of nothing else.
099 Goodness
0981 All virtues are said to be natural to those
Who acquire character as a duty.
0982 No other goodness than good character
Is deemed good by the noble.
0983 The pillars of excellence are five:
Love, modesty, altruism, compassion, truthfulness.
0984 The characteristic of penance is non-killing,
And that of goodness not speaking others’ faults.
0985 Humility is the strength of the strong and the weapon
The wise use to conquer their foes.
0986 The touchstone of goodness is to own
One's defeat even to inferiors.
0987 What good is that goodness if it does not return good
Even to those who cause evil? *
0988 Poverty is no disgrace to one
Who has the strength called character.
0989 The depth of goodness is said to be the never changing attitude
In spite of ever changing fortunes.
0990 The earth will cease to bear its burden
If perfect men fall short of perfection.
100 Courtesy
0991 The demeanor called courtesy, they say,
Comes easily to those easily accessible to all.
0992 Kindness and exalted birth: these two
Constitute the demeanor called courtesy.
0993 What binds humanity together is not physical proximity,
But that binding of courteousness.
0994 The world applauds the conduct of those
Who help with impartiality and generosity. *
0995 Mockery hurts even in jest, and hence the considerate
Are courteous even to their foes. *
0996 The world goes on because of civilized men.
Without them it would collapse into dust. *
0997 Men without character, despite their sharp minds,
Are no better than blocks of wood.
0998 It is disgraceful to be discourteous,
Even towards the unfriendly who treat you unjustly.
0999 To those who cannot laugh,
This big world is all darkness even during the day.
1000 The great wealth kept by the uncultured
Is clean milk gone sour in a can unclean.
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.
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.
Thirukkural in English - From chapters 071 to 080
Division II. Wealth - From chapters 071 to 080
071 Mind reading
0701 He is a jewel on this sea-girt earth
Who can read a thought without being told.
0702 Deem that man on par with God
Who can divine with conviction what is in the heart.
0703 He is worth any price who by intuition
can read another's thought.
0704 A thought reader may resemble other men
But is a class apart.
0705 What use are the eyes among senses,
If they cannot read a man's thoughts on his face?
0706 Like a mirror that shows what is in front,
The face reveals the affairs of the mind.
0707 What can be more expressive than the face
To reveal the mind's pleasure and pain?
0708 Just standing in front would suffice
For those who can read the mind on face.
0709 Those familiar with the language of eyes
Can read from eyes both love and hatred.
0710 You will find smart people use nothing but eyes
As a yardstick for measure.
072 Knowing an assembly
0711 Meticulous masters of words
Must judge the council before they speak.
0712 Should skilled orators wish to speak,
Let them study the occasion with care.
0713 Only poor orators, good for nothing, speak at length
Without knowing the audience.
0714 Before the bright, be brilliant light.
Before the dull, assume mortar white.
0715 The best amongst all good qualities
Is the modesty to holdback before elders.
0716 To slip before men of wide learning
Is like slipping from the path of righteousness.
0717 The scholarship of a scholar shines
In an assembly of meticulous scholars.
0718 Speaking before a receptive audience
Is like watering a nursery of growing plants.
0719 Don't tell an assembly of fools even forgetfully
Things meant for the wise.
0720 To deliberate with people of dissimilar interests
Is like spilling nectar in the drain.
073 Fearlessness in assembly
0721 The pure skillful orators, knowing the council's strength,
Never fail in their speech.
0722 Most learned among the learned is he
Whose learning the learned accept.
0723 Many are ready to even die in battle,
But few can face an assembly without nerves.
0724 Let the learned learn from you,
And you from one more learned.
0725 Study the science of logic so that you may
Fearlessly reply in any assembly.
0726 What use is a sword to cowards
And books to those who fear assembly?
0727 As a sword to a eunuch before his foes,
Is the learning to one who fears assembly.
0728 They are useless however learned
Who cannot impress a learned assembly.
0729 Scholars dread of facing an assembly of good men
Are ranked lower than the ignorant.
0730 Those stage-fearing who keep their learning to themselves,
Though living, are dead.
074 Country
0731 Unfailing harvests, learned men and honest traders
Constitute a country.
0732 A land is known for its great wealth
Of abundant produce that never declines.
0733 An ideal land bears all burdens that befall
And yet pays all taxes to the king.
0734 That is a land which is free of much hunger,
Incessant plagues and ravaging enemies.
0735 That is a land free from factions,
Ruinous traitors and terrorists harassing kings.
0736 Call that a leading land that knows no evil days,
And whose yields don't cease even if they come.
0737 A land's limbs are waters from rains,
Springs and well placed hills, and strong fortress.
0738 A country's jewels are these five: Unfailing health,
Fertility, joy, security and wealth.
0739 Call that a land which yields without toil.
That is no land where toil precedes yield.
0740 Even if endowed with all blessings, a country is no worth
If not blessed with a ruler.
075 Fortress
0741 A fortress is an asset to the offender
As well as to those who seek refuge in defence.
0742 Blue water, open space, hills and thick forests
Constitute a fortress.
0743 Books declare that a fort should have these four:
Height, breadth, strength and difficult access.
0744 A fortress, ample in space and easy to defend,
Spoils the might of the foe.
0745 A good fortress is hard to seize, well-supplied
And suited to those within.
0746 With all materials stocked inside,
A fort should have brave soldiers as well.
0747 Hard to capture a fort that withstands
Besieging, artillery and treachery.
0748 Even if encircled by besieging foes,
A fortress enables the besieged to win.
0749 A good fort gains fame frustrating its siege
At the outset of the battle.
0750 A fortress, however grand, amounts to nothing
If its defenders are meek.
076 Acquiring wealth
0751 There is nothing like wealth
To make the worthless worthy.
0752 Everyone despises the poor
While the rich are exalted by all.
0753 The unfailing light called wealth can dispel darkness
Even in far reaching lands.
0754 Wealth acquired sinless and well,
Yields both virtue and happiness.
0755 Discard and let go the wealth
Obtained without love and grace.
0756 Unclaimed wealth, spoils of war and wealth from taxes
Are all rulers' wealth.
0757 The offspring of love 'graciousness' is nursed
By that generous foster-mother 'wealth'.
0758 A wealthy man's undertakings
Are like elephant-fights witnessed from a hill.
0759 Stock wealth: no steel sharper than that
To cut down your foe's pride.
0760 He who makes glorious wealth in plenty,
Gains the other two treasures together.
077 Excellence of an army
0761 A well organized army unafraid of obstacles
Is a ruler's greatest of all possessions.
0762 Only seasoned armies show courage in dire straits,
To stand fearless despite decimation.
0763 So what if an army of rats roar like the sea?
The hiss of a cobra will silence it.
0764 A true army has a long tradition of valour
And knows neither defeat nor desertion.
0765 A capable army stands together and defies
Even if yama attacks in fury.
0766 Valour, honour, tradition of chivalry and credibility;
These four alone are an army's safeguards.
0767 An army should withstand and confound
The foe's tactics, and advance.
0768 Even if lacking in virtue of offence and defence,
An army can gain fame by virtue of its size
0769 An army can triumph if it is free from diminution,
Irrevocable aversion and poverty.
0770 However many and solid the soldiers,
An army without a chief will lose its way.
078 Pride of an army
0771 "Foes! Don't stand before my chief.
Many who stood now stand as stones!"
0772 Better collect the spear that missed an elephant
Than the arrow that killed a hare.
0773 Fierce courage is what they call valour,
But to help a foe in distress cuts deeper.
0774 Losing his spear hurled at a tusker,
A hero grabs happily the one that pierced him.
0775 Is it not shameful for a hero to even let his
Watchful eyes wink when a spear is hurled?
0776 The brave shall deem all the days devoid of battle wounds
As days gone waste.
0777 That hero, who gives up his life for fame,
Is worthy of being adorned with the anklet.
0778 Even a king's wrath cannot hold back heroes
Who do not fear their lives in battle.
0779 Who dares to despise a man for not fulfilling
A pledge he died to fulfill?
0780 If death lies in glory that draws tears from the ruler,
It is worth seeking even in alms.
079 Friendship
0781 What greater security exists than a secure friendship
As a protection against foes?
0782 Wise men's friendship waxes like the crescent
And fools', like the full moon, wanes.
0783 Being with good friends is like reading good books.
More time you spend, more the delight.
0784 Friendship is not for merriment
But for stern reproach when friends go astray.
0785 Identity of feelings makes friendship.
No need for friends to meet and long together.
0786 A smiling face alone makes no friendship,
But the heart should also smile with the face.
0787 Friendship saves from ruin, guides towards right,
And shares the pain of distress.
0788 Swift as the hand seizing a slipping garment,
Friendship acts to assuage a friend in distress.
0789 What is the throne of friendship? It is that resolve
Of unfailing support given at all time.
0790 To boast, "He means so much to me and I to him,"
Merely demeans a friendship.
080 Choosing friends
0791 Nothing worse than befriending one untried,
For friends once made should last forever.
0792 Friendship made without enquiries
Can cause lifetime trouble.
0793 Make one a friend after knowing his nature,
Family, fellows and flaws.
0794 A man of birth and scrupulous honour
Is worth seeking even at a price.
0795 Seek a friend who will make you cry,
Rail and rate when you go astray.
0796 Is there any yardstick better than adversity,
To spread out and measure friends?
0797 It is a gain by itself if one gets away
From the friendship of fools.
0798 Dwell not in thoughts that dim your spirit
And befriend not those who desert in affliction.
0799 The thought of friend's betrayal in need
Rankles even on the deathbed.
0800 Seek the friendship of the pure, and shake off
The worthless even at a price.
071 Mind reading
0701 He is a jewel on this sea-girt earth
Who can read a thought without being told.
0702 Deem that man on par with God
Who can divine with conviction what is in the heart.
0703 He is worth any price who by intuition
can read another's thought.
0704 A thought reader may resemble other men
But is a class apart.
0705 What use are the eyes among senses,
If they cannot read a man's thoughts on his face?
0706 Like a mirror that shows what is in front,
The face reveals the affairs of the mind.
0707 What can be more expressive than the face
To reveal the mind's pleasure and pain?
0708 Just standing in front would suffice
For those who can read the mind on face.
0709 Those familiar with the language of eyes
Can read from eyes both love and hatred.
0710 You will find smart people use nothing but eyes
As a yardstick for measure.
072 Knowing an assembly
0711 Meticulous masters of words
Must judge the council before they speak.
0712 Should skilled orators wish to speak,
Let them study the occasion with care.
0713 Only poor orators, good for nothing, speak at length
Without knowing the audience.
0714 Before the bright, be brilliant light.
Before the dull, assume mortar white.
0715 The best amongst all good qualities
Is the modesty to holdback before elders.
0716 To slip before men of wide learning
Is like slipping from the path of righteousness.
0717 The scholarship of a scholar shines
In an assembly of meticulous scholars.
0718 Speaking before a receptive audience
Is like watering a nursery of growing plants.
0719 Don't tell an assembly of fools even forgetfully
Things meant for the wise.
0720 To deliberate with people of dissimilar interests
Is like spilling nectar in the drain.
073 Fearlessness in assembly
0721 The pure skillful orators, knowing the council's strength,
Never fail in their speech.
0722 Most learned among the learned is he
Whose learning the learned accept.
0723 Many are ready to even die in battle,
But few can face an assembly without nerves.
0724 Let the learned learn from you,
And you from one more learned.
0725 Study the science of logic so that you may
Fearlessly reply in any assembly.
0726 What use is a sword to cowards
And books to those who fear assembly?
0727 As a sword to a eunuch before his foes,
Is the learning to one who fears assembly.
0728 They are useless however learned
Who cannot impress a learned assembly.
0729 Scholars dread of facing an assembly of good men
Are ranked lower than the ignorant.
0730 Those stage-fearing who keep their learning to themselves,
Though living, are dead.
074 Country
0731 Unfailing harvests, learned men and honest traders
Constitute a country.
0732 A land is known for its great wealth
Of abundant produce that never declines.
0733 An ideal land bears all burdens that befall
And yet pays all taxes to the king.
0734 That is a land which is free of much hunger,
Incessant plagues and ravaging enemies.
0735 That is a land free from factions,
Ruinous traitors and terrorists harassing kings.
0736 Call that a leading land that knows no evil days,
And whose yields don't cease even if they come.
0737 A land's limbs are waters from rains,
Springs and well placed hills, and strong fortress.
0738 A country's jewels are these five: Unfailing health,
Fertility, joy, security and wealth.
0739 Call that a land which yields without toil.
That is no land where toil precedes yield.
0740 Even if endowed with all blessings, a country is no worth
If not blessed with a ruler.
075 Fortress
0741 A fortress is an asset to the offender
As well as to those who seek refuge in defence.
0742 Blue water, open space, hills and thick forests
Constitute a fortress.
0743 Books declare that a fort should have these four:
Height, breadth, strength and difficult access.
0744 A fortress, ample in space and easy to defend,
Spoils the might of the foe.
0745 A good fortress is hard to seize, well-supplied
And suited to those within.
0746 With all materials stocked inside,
A fort should have brave soldiers as well.
0747 Hard to capture a fort that withstands
Besieging, artillery and treachery.
0748 Even if encircled by besieging foes,
A fortress enables the besieged to win.
0749 A good fort gains fame frustrating its siege
At the outset of the battle.
0750 A fortress, however grand, amounts to nothing
If its defenders are meek.
076 Acquiring wealth
0751 There is nothing like wealth
To make the worthless worthy.
0752 Everyone despises the poor
While the rich are exalted by all.
0753 The unfailing light called wealth can dispel darkness
Even in far reaching lands.
0754 Wealth acquired sinless and well,
Yields both virtue and happiness.
0755 Discard and let go the wealth
Obtained without love and grace.
0756 Unclaimed wealth, spoils of war and wealth from taxes
Are all rulers' wealth.
0757 The offspring of love 'graciousness' is nursed
By that generous foster-mother 'wealth'.
0758 A wealthy man's undertakings
Are like elephant-fights witnessed from a hill.
0759 Stock wealth: no steel sharper than that
To cut down your foe's pride.
0760 He who makes glorious wealth in plenty,
Gains the other two treasures together.
077 Excellence of an army
0761 A well organized army unafraid of obstacles
Is a ruler's greatest of all possessions.
0762 Only seasoned armies show courage in dire straits,
To stand fearless despite decimation.
0763 So what if an army of rats roar like the sea?
The hiss of a cobra will silence it.
0764 A true army has a long tradition of valour
And knows neither defeat nor desertion.
0765 A capable army stands together and defies
Even if yama attacks in fury.
0766 Valour, honour, tradition of chivalry and credibility;
These four alone are an army's safeguards.
0767 An army should withstand and confound
The foe's tactics, and advance.
0768 Even if lacking in virtue of offence and defence,
An army can gain fame by virtue of its size
0769 An army can triumph if it is free from diminution,
Irrevocable aversion and poverty.
0770 However many and solid the soldiers,
An army without a chief will lose its way.
078 Pride of an army
0771 "Foes! Don't stand before my chief.
Many who stood now stand as stones!"
0772 Better collect the spear that missed an elephant
Than the arrow that killed a hare.
0773 Fierce courage is what they call valour,
But to help a foe in distress cuts deeper.
0774 Losing his spear hurled at a tusker,
A hero grabs happily the one that pierced him.
0775 Is it not shameful for a hero to even let his
Watchful eyes wink when a spear is hurled?
0776 The brave shall deem all the days devoid of battle wounds
As days gone waste.
0777 That hero, who gives up his life for fame,
Is worthy of being adorned with the anklet.
0778 Even a king's wrath cannot hold back heroes
Who do not fear their lives in battle.
0779 Who dares to despise a man for not fulfilling
A pledge he died to fulfill?
0780 If death lies in glory that draws tears from the ruler,
It is worth seeking even in alms.
079 Friendship
0781 What greater security exists than a secure friendship
As a protection against foes?
0782 Wise men's friendship waxes like the crescent
And fools', like the full moon, wanes.
0783 Being with good friends is like reading good books.
More time you spend, more the delight.
0784 Friendship is not for merriment
But for stern reproach when friends go astray.
0785 Identity of feelings makes friendship.
No need for friends to meet and long together.
0786 A smiling face alone makes no friendship,
But the heart should also smile with the face.
0787 Friendship saves from ruin, guides towards right,
And shares the pain of distress.
0788 Swift as the hand seizing a slipping garment,
Friendship acts to assuage a friend in distress.
0789 What is the throne of friendship? It is that resolve
Of unfailing support given at all time.
0790 To boast, "He means so much to me and I to him,"
Merely demeans a friendship.
080 Choosing friends
0791 Nothing worse than befriending one untried,
For friends once made should last forever.
0792 Friendship made without enquiries
Can cause lifetime trouble.
0793 Make one a friend after knowing his nature,
Family, fellows and flaws.
0794 A man of birth and scrupulous honour
Is worth seeking even at a price.
0795 Seek a friend who will make you cry,
Rail and rate when you go astray.
0796 Is there any yardstick better than adversity,
To spread out and measure friends?
0797 It is a gain by itself if one gets away
From the friendship of fools.
0798 Dwell not in thoughts that dim your spirit
And befriend not those who desert in affliction.
0799 The thought of friend's betrayal in need
Rankles even on the deathbed.
0800 Seek the friendship of the pure, and shake off
The worthless even at a price.
Thirukkural in English - From chapters 061 to 070
061 Avoiding sloth - From chapters 061 to 070
0601 The eternal flame of a family vanishes
When eclipsed by that dark cloud called laziness.
0602 Sloth is dismissed as sloth by those
Who wish to retain their family repute.
0603 A fool, who holds on to sloth,
Will ruin his household before he gets ruined.
0604 The society that broods in sloth without striving,
Decays and steeps in crime.
0605 The pleasure-junks of destruction are four:
Procrastination, forgetfulness, sloth and sleep.
0606 Seldom do men possessed by sloth achieve anything great
Even if they possess worldly wealth.
0607 The lazy ones, inept in noble exertion,
Must endure scolding and scorn.
0608 If sloth inhabits a family,
The family will soon be enslaved to its foes.
0609 Even inherent flaws in a family can be overcome
By getting rid of indolence.
0610 A king freed of sloth can get at once
All that the Lord had measured by his feet.
062 Manliness
0611 Do not give up saying "It is impossible".
Effort will overcome.
0612 Leave no task incomplete,
For the world gives up those who give up.
0613 The pride of being a philanthropist belongs to those
Who have that quality called perseverance.
0614 The liberality of the indolent man will not endure,
Like a sword in eunuch's hand.
0615 A pillar of comfort to his friends is he
Who scorns delight and loves labour.
0616 Exertion leads to wealth;
Lack of it brings forth poverty.
0617 The black ogress 'misfortune' lurks in laziness,
While goddess 'fortune' lingers in active men.
0618 Ill-luck is never blamed. What is blamed
Is knowledge without exertion.
0619 Even though God be against,
Effort is bound to pay the wages of labour.
0620 Those who never get tired of striving undauntedly
Shall leave even Fate behind.
063 Courage in trouble
0621 Laugh at misfortune. There is nothing so able,
To triumph over it.
0622 Misfortune may rise like a flood,
But the wise counter it by firm thoughts.
0623 Those whom grief cannot grieve
Can grieve grief itself.
0624 Trouble is troubled by him who like a bull
Drags his cart through every hurdle.
0625 The resolute can put their troubles to trouble
Even if it comes relentlessly.
0626 Will they whine "We have nothing",
Who never crowed "We have much?"
0627 Knowing body a target of miseries,
The great are not troubled in calamities.
0628 He will never be sad who scorns delight
And takes sorrow in his stride.
0629 He who never exulted in joy
Will not be depressed by sorrow.
0630 To take pain as pleasure
Is to gain your foe's esteem.
064 Ministers
0631 Call him minister who best contrives the means,
The time, the mode and the deed.
0632 A minister excels in firmness, protection,
Learning and perseverance, besides the five tactics.
0633 An able minister can disunite allies,
Cherish friends and reunite enemies.
0634 Call him a minister who comprehends things,
Executes them and directs others.
0635 A helpful counsellor knows the codes,
Is learned in discourse and ever resourceful.
0636 What is there too subtle to stand before men
Who add learning to their intelligence?
0637 Even if well-versed in theory,
Act as per the ways of the world.
0638 It is a minister's duty to advise aright
Though the ruler in ignorance may refute wisdom.
0639 Better seventy million open foes
Than one treacherous minister inside.
0640 The inefficient will leave undone
Even well-planned schemes.
065 Persuasiveness
0641 Real asset is the gift of speech.
That gift is a class apart from all other gifts.
0642 Speech can both make and mar,
And hence guard it from negligence.
0643 A speech should hold fast the convinced
And be pleasing even to the unconvinced.
0644 Speak to the capacity of the audience.
Nothing more virtuous or valuable than this.
0645 Utter not a word without making sure
There is no other word to beat it.
0646 To speak as desired and gain from what others say
Is the hallmark of spotless men.
0647 An eloquent, tireless and fearless speaker
Can rarely be prevailed upon by any one.
0648 The world will rush and listen to those
Who can to speak orderly and pleasingly.
0649 Those fond of talking much
Cannot be brief and faultless.
0650 Those who can't express what they have learnt
Are a bunch of flowers without scent.
066 Honest dealing
0651 Good alliance brings success;
And good deeds all one needs.
0652 Avoid always deeds that do not lead to
Lasting good and fame.
0653 Those who seek greatness must avoid
What will stain their name.
0654 Men of clear understanding
Will not do mean acts even in distress.
0655 Do not do what you will regret; and if you do,
Better not repeat the same.
0656 Do not do what the wise condemn
Even to save your starving mother.
0657 Better the pinching poverty of the wise
Than the pile of wealth hoarded by vice.
0658 Ends achieved without any regard to the means
Will bring grief..
0659 What's gained with other's tears will go in tears;
What's won fair, though lost, will surge again.
0660 Stocking ill-got wealth is like storing
Water in an unbaked pot.
067 Efficiency
0661 Efficiency consists in a resolute mind.
Other things come thereafter.
0662 To avoid failures and not to give up despite failures
Are the two traits scholars emphasize.
0663 Reveal thy means in the end. Premature disclosure
Can cause irrevocable damage.
0664 It is easy for anyone to speak,
But difficult to execute what has been spoken.
0665 Dynamic deeds of brave souls
Will reach the king to win his praise.
0666 What is sought will be got as desired
If only the seeker is determined.
0667 Despise not by looks! Even linchpins hold in place
The wheels of mighty chariots!
0668 Acts resolved without ambiguity
Should be unwaveringly carried out without delay.
0669 However great the hardship,
Pursue with firmness the act that yields bliss.
0670 The world has no place for those who,
Despite other strengths, have no strength of firmness.
068 Mode of execution
0671 The end of deliberation is decision.
To decide and dawdle is bad.
0672 Delay where delay is needed,
But do not delay when you must act.
0673 Better strike wherever possible;
Elsewhere, consider other feasible means.
0674 Both tasks and foes, if left unfinished,
Will destroy like fire left un-extinguished.
0675 Five things should be pondered before you act:
Resources, weapons, time, place and deed.
0676 Weigh well before you plunge:
The inputs, impediments and gain.
0677 Experts have the expertise.
Get that expertise by knowing him inside out.
0678 Let one target be achieved through one's action,
Like an elephant through another.
0679 More urgent than rewarding friends,
Is to befriend enemies.
0680 If you are weak and fear internal trouble,
Seize conciliation with the strong.
069 Envoys
0681 Kindliness, high birth, and a nature pleasing to kings
Are the qualities of an envoy.
0682 An envoy's three essentials
Are loyalty, intelligence and sagacious speech.
0683 An envoy should be a scholar among the learned
To succeed among the powerful.
0684 Let him go on a mission who has these three:
Wisdom, personality and scholarship.
0685 An envoy's words should be compact,
Unoffending, pleasant and useful.
0686 An envoy should be well-read, fearless, persuasive,
And know what fits the occasion.
0687 The best know their mission, bide their time,
Wait for the occasion and think before speaking.
0688 A truthful messenger should have these three qualities:
Goodness, friendliness and boldness.
0689 A king's herald will not even negligently
Utter words that leave a stain.
0690 A brave envoy braves his life to safeguard
The ruler's interests at any cost.
070 Moving with kings
0691 Courtiers round a king, like men before a fire,
Should be neither too far nor too near.
0692 The way to gain gifts from a king
Is not to covet what he covets.
0693 Beware and ward off faults.
Suspicion once aroused is hard to clear.
0694 Whisper not, nor exchange smiles,
Amidst illustrious august men.
0695 Don't eavesdrop or pursue a king's secret.
Rather listen when secrets are revealed.
0696 Know his mood, consider the moment,
Avoid the unpleasant and speak the needful.
0697 Tell the useful and even when asked
Avoid always the useless.
0698 Don't treat him lightly as young or kin
But act as befits his splendour.
0699 Those with unwavering vision
Do not misuse their privileges and do wrong.
0700 Unworthy acts under the trust of old friendship
Lead to ruinous woes.
0601 The eternal flame of a family vanishes
When eclipsed by that dark cloud called laziness.
0602 Sloth is dismissed as sloth by those
Who wish to retain their family repute.
0603 A fool, who holds on to sloth,
Will ruin his household before he gets ruined.
0604 The society that broods in sloth without striving,
Decays and steeps in crime.
0605 The pleasure-junks of destruction are four:
Procrastination, forgetfulness, sloth and sleep.
0606 Seldom do men possessed by sloth achieve anything great
Even if they possess worldly wealth.
0607 The lazy ones, inept in noble exertion,
Must endure scolding and scorn.
0608 If sloth inhabits a family,
The family will soon be enslaved to its foes.
0609 Even inherent flaws in a family can be overcome
By getting rid of indolence.
0610 A king freed of sloth can get at once
All that the Lord had measured by his feet.
062 Manliness
0611 Do not give up saying "It is impossible".
Effort will overcome.
0612 Leave no task incomplete,
For the world gives up those who give up.
0613 The pride of being a philanthropist belongs to those
Who have that quality called perseverance.
0614 The liberality of the indolent man will not endure,
Like a sword in eunuch's hand.
0615 A pillar of comfort to his friends is he
Who scorns delight and loves labour.
0616 Exertion leads to wealth;
Lack of it brings forth poverty.
0617 The black ogress 'misfortune' lurks in laziness,
While goddess 'fortune' lingers in active men.
0618 Ill-luck is never blamed. What is blamed
Is knowledge without exertion.
0619 Even though God be against,
Effort is bound to pay the wages of labour.
0620 Those who never get tired of striving undauntedly
Shall leave even Fate behind.
063 Courage in trouble
0621 Laugh at misfortune. There is nothing so able,
To triumph over it.
0622 Misfortune may rise like a flood,
But the wise counter it by firm thoughts.
0623 Those whom grief cannot grieve
Can grieve grief itself.
0624 Trouble is troubled by him who like a bull
Drags his cart through every hurdle.
0625 The resolute can put their troubles to trouble
Even if it comes relentlessly.
0626 Will they whine "We have nothing",
Who never crowed "We have much?"
0627 Knowing body a target of miseries,
The great are not troubled in calamities.
0628 He will never be sad who scorns delight
And takes sorrow in his stride.
0629 He who never exulted in joy
Will not be depressed by sorrow.
0630 To take pain as pleasure
Is to gain your foe's esteem.
064 Ministers
0631 Call him minister who best contrives the means,
The time, the mode and the deed.
0632 A minister excels in firmness, protection,
Learning and perseverance, besides the five tactics.
0633 An able minister can disunite allies,
Cherish friends and reunite enemies.
0634 Call him a minister who comprehends things,
Executes them and directs others.
0635 A helpful counsellor knows the codes,
Is learned in discourse and ever resourceful.
0636 What is there too subtle to stand before men
Who add learning to their intelligence?
0637 Even if well-versed in theory,
Act as per the ways of the world.
0638 It is a minister's duty to advise aright
Though the ruler in ignorance may refute wisdom.
0639 Better seventy million open foes
Than one treacherous minister inside.
0640 The inefficient will leave undone
Even well-planned schemes.
065 Persuasiveness
0641 Real asset is the gift of speech.
That gift is a class apart from all other gifts.
0642 Speech can both make and mar,
And hence guard it from negligence.
0643 A speech should hold fast the convinced
And be pleasing even to the unconvinced.
0644 Speak to the capacity of the audience.
Nothing more virtuous or valuable than this.
0645 Utter not a word without making sure
There is no other word to beat it.
0646 To speak as desired and gain from what others say
Is the hallmark of spotless men.
0647 An eloquent, tireless and fearless speaker
Can rarely be prevailed upon by any one.
0648 The world will rush and listen to those
Who can to speak orderly and pleasingly.
0649 Those fond of talking much
Cannot be brief and faultless.
0650 Those who can't express what they have learnt
Are a bunch of flowers without scent.
066 Honest dealing
0651 Good alliance brings success;
And good deeds all one needs.
0652 Avoid always deeds that do not lead to
Lasting good and fame.
0653 Those who seek greatness must avoid
What will stain their name.
0654 Men of clear understanding
Will not do mean acts even in distress.
0655 Do not do what you will regret; and if you do,
Better not repeat the same.
0656 Do not do what the wise condemn
Even to save your starving mother.
0657 Better the pinching poverty of the wise
Than the pile of wealth hoarded by vice.
0658 Ends achieved without any regard to the means
Will bring grief..
0659 What's gained with other's tears will go in tears;
What's won fair, though lost, will surge again.
0660 Stocking ill-got wealth is like storing
Water in an unbaked pot.
067 Efficiency
0661 Efficiency consists in a resolute mind.
Other things come thereafter.
0662 To avoid failures and not to give up despite failures
Are the two traits scholars emphasize.
0663 Reveal thy means in the end. Premature disclosure
Can cause irrevocable damage.
0664 It is easy for anyone to speak,
But difficult to execute what has been spoken.
0665 Dynamic deeds of brave souls
Will reach the king to win his praise.
0666 What is sought will be got as desired
If only the seeker is determined.
0667 Despise not by looks! Even linchpins hold in place
The wheels of mighty chariots!
0668 Acts resolved without ambiguity
Should be unwaveringly carried out without delay.
0669 However great the hardship,
Pursue with firmness the act that yields bliss.
0670 The world has no place for those who,
Despite other strengths, have no strength of firmness.
068 Mode of execution
0671 The end of deliberation is decision.
To decide and dawdle is bad.
0672 Delay where delay is needed,
But do not delay when you must act.
0673 Better strike wherever possible;
Elsewhere, consider other feasible means.
0674 Both tasks and foes, if left unfinished,
Will destroy like fire left un-extinguished.
0675 Five things should be pondered before you act:
Resources, weapons, time, place and deed.
0676 Weigh well before you plunge:
The inputs, impediments and gain.
0677 Experts have the expertise.
Get that expertise by knowing him inside out.
0678 Let one target be achieved through one's action,
Like an elephant through another.
0679 More urgent than rewarding friends,
Is to befriend enemies.
0680 If you are weak and fear internal trouble,
Seize conciliation with the strong.
069 Envoys
0681 Kindliness, high birth, and a nature pleasing to kings
Are the qualities of an envoy.
0682 An envoy's three essentials
Are loyalty, intelligence and sagacious speech.
0683 An envoy should be a scholar among the learned
To succeed among the powerful.
0684 Let him go on a mission who has these three:
Wisdom, personality and scholarship.
0685 An envoy's words should be compact,
Unoffending, pleasant and useful.
0686 An envoy should be well-read, fearless, persuasive,
And know what fits the occasion.
0687 The best know their mission, bide their time,
Wait for the occasion and think before speaking.
0688 A truthful messenger should have these three qualities:
Goodness, friendliness and boldness.
0689 A king's herald will not even negligently
Utter words that leave a stain.
0690 A brave envoy braves his life to safeguard
The ruler's interests at any cost.
070 Moving with kings
0691 Courtiers round a king, like men before a fire,
Should be neither too far nor too near.
0692 The way to gain gifts from a king
Is not to covet what he covets.
0693 Beware and ward off faults.
Suspicion once aroused is hard to clear.
0694 Whisper not, nor exchange smiles,
Amidst illustrious august men.
0695 Don't eavesdrop or pursue a king's secret.
Rather listen when secrets are revealed.
0696 Know his mood, consider the moment,
Avoid the unpleasant and speak the needful.
0697 Tell the useful and even when asked
Avoid always the useless.
0698 Don't treat him lightly as young or kin
But act as befits his splendour.
0699 Those with unwavering vision
Do not misuse their privileges and do wrong.
0700 Unworthy acts under the trust of old friendship
Lead to ruinous woes.
Thirukkural in English - From chapters 051 to 060
Division II. Wealth - From chapters 051 to 060
051 Testing and choosing
0501 Before you trust, test people's attitude to these four:
Virtue, wealth, love and survival.
0502 Noble heritage, freedom from faults and shame of blame
Are some norms to choose.
0503 Even the widely-read and faultless, when scrutinized,
Are rarely found free of ignorance.
0504 Weigh a man's merits and also his defects.
Whichever weighs more is his nature.
0505 A man's deeds are the touchstone of his
Greatness and littleness.
0506 Choose not men who have no kindred.
With no bonds to restrain, they dread no shame.
0507 To favour and select the incompetent out of love,
Leads to folly in all forms.
0508 To choose a stranger untried
Will trouble one's line without end.
0509 Trust none untried, and after trial
Entrust him with the trusted job.
0510 Trusting those untested and suspecting those tested,
Both lead to endless trouble.
052 Testing and deployment
0511 Employ those who prefer to do the good
After scanning both good and bad.
0512 Entrust the job to one who can augment revenue,
Foster wealth and find out hurdles.
0513 The qualified possess these four:
Affection, wisdom, clarity and contentment.
0514 Put into many tests, they pass.
Yet when subjected to different tasks, many fail.
0515 Where knowledge and diligence are required,
Don't entrust tasks on personal loyalty.
0516 Weigh well the agent, the task
And the time before you act.
0517 Assured this man will do this task this way,
Leave it to him.
0518 After ascertaining what work befits a man,
Assign him the responsibility.
0519 Fortune deserts him who doubts
The liberties taken by a devout worker.
0520 Nothing goes wrong in the state of a king
Who often checks his officials for any wrong.
053 Cherishing the kindred
0521 Only the kindred, because of their old contact,
Show attachment even in adversity.
0522 When kindred show unfailing love,
Wealth of all kinds never fail to flow.
0523 The life of an unattached man
Is like a boundless pond flowing unbound.
0524 To be circled by circles of kin is the benefit
One gains by gaining wealth.
0525 Generosity and sweet words enable a man
To be circled by circles of kin.
0526 None in this world has a larger kinship than he
Who is liberal and curbs his wrath.
0527 Crows trumpet their finds and share them.
Prosperity also abides with such men.
0528 Many thrive seeing a king who sees case by case,
Not seeing mere sameness in all.
0529 Associates who left will return,
Once the cause of dissociation is removed.
0530 The king should ascertain the motive of the deserters
Who wish to come back.
054 Avoiding slackness
0531 Worse than too much wrath is the laxity
Due to too much exultation.
0532 Just as constant want crushes the intellect,
Negligence kills repute.
0533 All writings of the world conclude the same
That fame is not for the lax.
0534 There is no refuge for the coward,
Nor is there anything good for the lax.
0535 The negligent unmindful of threats beforehand
Will repent for the mistakes later on.
0536 Nothing can equal never being lax
With anyone at any time without fail.
0537 There is nothing too difficult for a man
Armed with vigilance.
0538 Cherish and perform praiseworthy acts.
To neglect and put off deprives one in seven births.
0539 When the mind is elated with joy,
Think of those who were ruined by neglect.
0540 What is aimed is easy to achieve,
If only the mind is set on what is aimed.
055 Right governance
0541 The way is to launch an enquiry, investigate with impartiality,
And dispense as per norms.
0542 All the world looks up to heaven for rain
And the subjects to their king for justice.
0543 The scepter of the king furnishes the basic support
To virtue and scriptures.
0544 A great kingdom's monarch who rules embracing his subjects
Has the world embrace his feet.
0545 The king who rules according to the law
Never lacks rain and corn.
0546 Not his spear but a straight scepter
Is what gives a monarch his triumph.
0547 The king guards all the land, and his own rule
Will guard him if he is straight.
0548 An indifferent unjust king beyond the reach of his subjects
Will sink beyond and perish.
0549 For a king who would guard and cherish his people,
To punish crimes is a duty, not defect.
0550 A king punishing criminals by execution
Is like a farmer removing weeds from his fields.
056 Misrule
0551 More malicious than a murderer is the king
Who rules with injustice and oppression.
0552 A tyrant taxing his subjects
Is like an armed dacoit extorting money.
0553 A king who fails in his day today affairs
Loses his kingdom day by day.
0554 A thoughtless king who abuses his scepter
Will lose at once his wealth and subjects.
0555 It is the tears of those groaning under oppression
That wear out the prosperity of the king.
0556 Just rule stabilizes a king.
Lacking it his glory fades.
0557 How fares the earth without rain?
So fares life under a ruthless king.
0558 Possessions are worse than poverty
Under the scepter of an unjust king.
0559 If a king acts contrary to justice,
Monsoons fail and clouds shed no rain.
0560 Cows yield less and priests forget their hymns
If the protector fails to protect.
057 Avoiding tyranny
0561 Call him king who probes and whose punishment
Is deterrent and proportionate.
0562 Raise your hand forcibly but bring it lightly
To have a lasting effect.
0563 A dictator causing oppression
Will have a speedy and certain end.
0564 When a king is decried a tyrant,
His life is shortened and end becomes imminent.
0565 The great wealth of one inaccessible and sour-faced
Is no better than a demon's.
0566 If he is unkind and speaks harsh,
His lofty wealth ends there without lasting long.
0567 Harsh words and excessive punishments
Are files that grind down a king's might.
0568 The king who rages but not reflect on his counsel,
Will soon see his wealth shrink.
0569 A king who neglects his defences,
Will die of fright at the time of war.
0570 The earth bears no heavier burden
Than a tyrant surrounded by ignorant men.
058 Compassion
0571 What truly moves this world
Is that ravishing beauty called compassion.
0572 Compassion sustains the world.
Without it men are but a burden on earth.
0573 What use is a rāgā that cannot be sung?
Or eyes without sympathy?
0574 What use are eyes that look like eyes
But lack boundless sympathy?
0575 Compassion is an ornament of the eyes.
Without it eyes are deemed sores.
0576 Like trees earth-bound which cannot move
Are eyes unmoved by pity.
0577 Men without sympathy have no eyes;
Nor those who have eyes lack sympathy.
0578 This world is theirs who compassionately perform
Their duties without fail.
0579 That quality of forbearance and sympathy is the best,
Even to those who hurt us.
0580 Those desirous of refinement will drink with smile
Even hemlock when offered.
059 Espionage
0581 Spies and classics on statecraft:
These two are a king's pair of eyes.
0582 A king's job is to know in time everything
That happens to everyone every day.
0583 No king has ever succeeded
Without considering the news of the spies.
0584 Employees, kinsmen and enemies
Are the people a spy should cover.
0585 Able spies are always elusive
With perfect guise and fearless eyes.
0586 Disguised as a monk a spy should probe all places
Unperturbed despite hardships.
0587 A spy should ferret out hidden facts
And get them verified beyond doubt.
0588 Even what one spy has spied
Must be spied through another.
0589 Let not one spy know another.
And act when three spies agree.
0590 Never honour a spy in public
Lest your secret should be out.
060 Possessing vigour
0591 What is one's own is one's vigour.
Without it what does one own?
0592 Real asset is the asset of a resolute mind.
Material assets stay not but flee.
0593 Those who have vigour will not lament saying:
"We have suffered loss".
0594 To a man of unshaken vigour,
Wealth will ask and find its way.
0595 Water level determines the lotus height.
A man's stature by the level of his mind.
0596 Let all thy aims be high.
Failure then is as good as success.
0597 An elephant pierced by arrows stands unperturbed.
The courageous relent not in adversities.
0598 The poor in spirit can never attain the pride of being
The generous patrons of the world.
0599 Though huge and sharp-tusked,
An elephant fears a tiger when attacked.
0600 Energy is a man's strength: the immobile are
Trees in human form.
051 Testing and choosing
0501 Before you trust, test people's attitude to these four:
Virtue, wealth, love and survival.
0502 Noble heritage, freedom from faults and shame of blame
Are some norms to choose.
0503 Even the widely-read and faultless, when scrutinized,
Are rarely found free of ignorance.
0504 Weigh a man's merits and also his defects.
Whichever weighs more is his nature.
0505 A man's deeds are the touchstone of his
Greatness and littleness.
0506 Choose not men who have no kindred.
With no bonds to restrain, they dread no shame.
0507 To favour and select the incompetent out of love,
Leads to folly in all forms.
0508 To choose a stranger untried
Will trouble one's line without end.
0509 Trust none untried, and after trial
Entrust him with the trusted job.
0510 Trusting those untested and suspecting those tested,
Both lead to endless trouble.
052 Testing and deployment
0511 Employ those who prefer to do the good
After scanning both good and bad.
0512 Entrust the job to one who can augment revenue,
Foster wealth and find out hurdles.
0513 The qualified possess these four:
Affection, wisdom, clarity and contentment.
0514 Put into many tests, they pass.
Yet when subjected to different tasks, many fail.
0515 Where knowledge and diligence are required,
Don't entrust tasks on personal loyalty.
0516 Weigh well the agent, the task
And the time before you act.
0517 Assured this man will do this task this way,
Leave it to him.
0518 After ascertaining what work befits a man,
Assign him the responsibility.
0519 Fortune deserts him who doubts
The liberties taken by a devout worker.
0520 Nothing goes wrong in the state of a king
Who often checks his officials for any wrong.
053 Cherishing the kindred
0521 Only the kindred, because of their old contact,
Show attachment even in adversity.
0522 When kindred show unfailing love,
Wealth of all kinds never fail to flow.
0523 The life of an unattached man
Is like a boundless pond flowing unbound.
0524 To be circled by circles of kin is the benefit
One gains by gaining wealth.
0525 Generosity and sweet words enable a man
To be circled by circles of kin.
0526 None in this world has a larger kinship than he
Who is liberal and curbs his wrath.
0527 Crows trumpet their finds and share them.
Prosperity also abides with such men.
0528 Many thrive seeing a king who sees case by case,
Not seeing mere sameness in all.
0529 Associates who left will return,
Once the cause of dissociation is removed.
0530 The king should ascertain the motive of the deserters
Who wish to come back.
054 Avoiding slackness
0531 Worse than too much wrath is the laxity
Due to too much exultation.
0532 Just as constant want crushes the intellect,
Negligence kills repute.
0533 All writings of the world conclude the same
That fame is not for the lax.
0534 There is no refuge for the coward,
Nor is there anything good for the lax.
0535 The negligent unmindful of threats beforehand
Will repent for the mistakes later on.
0536 Nothing can equal never being lax
With anyone at any time without fail.
0537 There is nothing too difficult for a man
Armed with vigilance.
0538 Cherish and perform praiseworthy acts.
To neglect and put off deprives one in seven births.
0539 When the mind is elated with joy,
Think of those who were ruined by neglect.
0540 What is aimed is easy to achieve,
If only the mind is set on what is aimed.
055 Right governance
0541 The way is to launch an enquiry, investigate with impartiality,
And dispense as per norms.
0542 All the world looks up to heaven for rain
And the subjects to their king for justice.
0543 The scepter of the king furnishes the basic support
To virtue and scriptures.
0544 A great kingdom's monarch who rules embracing his subjects
Has the world embrace his feet.
0545 The king who rules according to the law
Never lacks rain and corn.
0546 Not his spear but a straight scepter
Is what gives a monarch his triumph.
0547 The king guards all the land, and his own rule
Will guard him if he is straight.
0548 An indifferent unjust king beyond the reach of his subjects
Will sink beyond and perish.
0549 For a king who would guard and cherish his people,
To punish crimes is a duty, not defect.
0550 A king punishing criminals by execution
Is like a farmer removing weeds from his fields.
056 Misrule
0551 More malicious than a murderer is the king
Who rules with injustice and oppression.
0552 A tyrant taxing his subjects
Is like an armed dacoit extorting money.
0553 A king who fails in his day today affairs
Loses his kingdom day by day.
0554 A thoughtless king who abuses his scepter
Will lose at once his wealth and subjects.
0555 It is the tears of those groaning under oppression
That wear out the prosperity of the king.
0556 Just rule stabilizes a king.
Lacking it his glory fades.
0557 How fares the earth without rain?
So fares life under a ruthless king.
0558 Possessions are worse than poverty
Under the scepter of an unjust king.
0559 If a king acts contrary to justice,
Monsoons fail and clouds shed no rain.
0560 Cows yield less and priests forget their hymns
If the protector fails to protect.
057 Avoiding tyranny
0561 Call him king who probes and whose punishment
Is deterrent and proportionate.
0562 Raise your hand forcibly but bring it lightly
To have a lasting effect.
0563 A dictator causing oppression
Will have a speedy and certain end.
0564 When a king is decried a tyrant,
His life is shortened and end becomes imminent.
0565 The great wealth of one inaccessible and sour-faced
Is no better than a demon's.
0566 If he is unkind and speaks harsh,
His lofty wealth ends there without lasting long.
0567 Harsh words and excessive punishments
Are files that grind down a king's might.
0568 The king who rages but not reflect on his counsel,
Will soon see his wealth shrink.
0569 A king who neglects his defences,
Will die of fright at the time of war.
0570 The earth bears no heavier burden
Than a tyrant surrounded by ignorant men.
058 Compassion
0571 What truly moves this world
Is that ravishing beauty called compassion.
0572 Compassion sustains the world.
Without it men are but a burden on earth.
0573 What use is a rāgā that cannot be sung?
Or eyes without sympathy?
0574 What use are eyes that look like eyes
But lack boundless sympathy?
0575 Compassion is an ornament of the eyes.
Without it eyes are deemed sores.
0576 Like trees earth-bound which cannot move
Are eyes unmoved by pity.
0577 Men without sympathy have no eyes;
Nor those who have eyes lack sympathy.
0578 This world is theirs who compassionately perform
Their duties without fail.
0579 That quality of forbearance and sympathy is the best,
Even to those who hurt us.
0580 Those desirous of refinement will drink with smile
Even hemlock when offered.
059 Espionage
0581 Spies and classics on statecraft:
These two are a king's pair of eyes.
0582 A king's job is to know in time everything
That happens to everyone every day.
0583 No king has ever succeeded
Without considering the news of the spies.
0584 Employees, kinsmen and enemies
Are the people a spy should cover.
0585 Able spies are always elusive
With perfect guise and fearless eyes.
0586 Disguised as a monk a spy should probe all places
Unperturbed despite hardships.
0587 A spy should ferret out hidden facts
And get them verified beyond doubt.
0588 Even what one spy has spied
Must be spied through another.
0589 Let not one spy know another.
And act when three spies agree.
0590 Never honour a spy in public
Lest your secret should be out.
060 Possessing vigour
0591 What is one's own is one's vigour.
Without it what does one own?
0592 Real asset is the asset of a resolute mind.
Material assets stay not but flee.
0593 Those who have vigour will not lament saying:
"We have suffered loss".
0594 To a man of unshaken vigour,
Wealth will ask and find its way.
0595 Water level determines the lotus height.
A man's stature by the level of his mind.
0596 Let all thy aims be high.
Failure then is as good as success.
0597 An elephant pierced by arrows stands unperturbed.
The courageous relent not in adversities.
0598 The poor in spirit can never attain the pride of being
The generous patrons of the world.
0599 Though huge and sharp-tusked,
An elephant fears a tiger when attacked.
0600 Energy is a man's strength: the immobile are
Trees in human form.
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