Thiruvalluvar Quotes Page 5

“There is in giving up a joy of its own.
Give up, give up now, to taste that joy unknown.”

“Thinking ‘Oh who’ll ever know?’ do not to temptation bow.
Wealth’s stealth will out one day; so quit that thought right now.”

“Those who children rear.
The mesh of rebirth will spare.”

“Trifling are the five-fold senses’ refrain.
Unless on them an inner light you train.”

“Very cunning is desire
In its consequences dire.”

“Virtue confers honour and makes prosperity swell.
In the virtuous life alone does fortune dwell.”

“What is meat but the wounded flesh of that which was once alive?
Think before the once-throbbing morsel you next try to hive.”

“What ought to be done is on virtue built.
What ought not, on guilt.”

“When envy, rage, lust and foul speech, these four.
Don’t deflect you, you’re on virtue’s path secure.”

“When lust, wrath and delusion no more strangle you.
From all pain you’ll be, believe me, through.”

“When the wrong done to you hurts like a sore.
Recall one good the wrong-doer may’ve done and forget the woe.”

“Who in god’s praise builds his life
Protects his home from care and strife.”

“Who speaks without purpose, measure or sense.
Declares to the world his mind’s incompetence.”

“Words must be spoken to some purpose.
Tattle’s more offensive than the tattler may suppose.”

“You’ll never keep what’s not yours even if you bury it deep.
You won’t lose what’s rightly yours, left open as you sleep.”