Trees bend low with ripened fruit; clouds hang down with gentle rain; noble people bow graciously. This is the way of generous things.
For a moment man is a boy, for a moment a lovesick youth, for a moment bereft of wealth, for a moment in the height of prosperity; then at life's end with limbs worn out by old age and wrinkles adorning his face, like an actor he retires behind the curtain of death.
A good man may fall, but he falls like a ball [and rebounds]; the ignoble man falls like a lump of clay.
Idleness is a great enemy to mankind. There is no friend like energy, for, if you cultivate that, it will never fail.
What is the most profitable? Fellowship with the good. What is the worst thing in the world? The society of evil men. What is the greatest loss? Failure in one?s duty. Where is the greatest peace? In truth and righteousness. Who is the hero? The man who subdues his senses. Who is the best beloved? The faithful wife. What is wealth? Knowledge. What is the most perfect happiness? Staying at home.
Neither rings, bright chains, nor bracelets, perfumes, flowers, nor well-trimmed hair, Grace a man like polished language, th' only jewel he should wear.
There is no medicine to cure a fool!
The moth unwitting rushes on the fire, Through ignorance the fish devours the bait, We men know well the foes that lie in wait, Yet cannot shun the meshes of desire.
Knowledge is wonderful and truth serene But man in their service bleeds.
Even the severed branch grows again, and the sunken moon returns: wise men who ponder this are not troubled in adversity.
Kindness can turn the bad man's heart, and fools convert to wise, Make poison into nectar-juice, and friends of enemies.
The good man shuns evil and follows good; he keeps secret that which ought to be hidden; he makes his virtues manifest to all; he does not forsake one in adversity; he gives in season: such are the marks of a worthy friend.
I have not wasted life, but life hath wasted me.
Fate's sentence written on the brow no hand can e'er efface.
Trees loaded with fruit are bent down; the clouds when charged with fresh rain hang down near the earth: even so good men are not uplifted through prosperity. Such is the natural character of the liberal.
The constant man loses not his virtue in misfortune. A torch may point towards the ground, but its flame will still point upwards.
The pearl on my beloved's neck, Afflicted sore the oyster!
Three courses open lie to wealth, to give, enjoy, or lose, Who shrinketh from the former two, perforce the third doth choose.
Man is but a beast without it: such a glorious god is Learning.
I've wandered over many lands, and reaped withal no fruit, I've laid my pride of rank aside, and pressed my baffled suit, At stranger boards, like shameless crow, I've eaten bitter bread, But fierce Desire, that raging fire, still clamours to be fed.
Our life is like th' unstable wave, Our bloom of youth decays. Our joys are brief as lightning flash In summer's cloudy days, Our riches fleet as swift as thought; Faith in the One Supreme Alone will bear us o'er the gulfs Of Being's stormy stream.
Let us keep a firm grip upon our money, for without it the whole assembly of virtues are but as blades of grass.
Those who possess that treasure which no thief can take away, Which, though on suppliants freely spent, increaseth day by day, The source of inward happiness which shall outlast the earth-- To them e'en kings should yield the palm, and own their higher worth.
Those from whom we were born have long since departed, and those with whom we grew up exist only in memory. We, too, through the approach of death, become, as it were, trees growing on the sandy bank of a river.
