Book of Wise Sayings: Selected Largely from Eastern SourcesClouston, W. A. (William Alexander)
Philosophy
Book of Wise Sayings: Selected Largely from Eastern Sources
Clouston, W. A. (William Alexander)
Maxims; Quotations
The mind alike,
Vigorous or weak, is capable of culture,
But still bears fruit according to its nature.
’Tis not the teacher’s skill that rears the scholar:
The sparkling gem gives back the glorious radiance
It drinks from other light, but the dull earth
Absorbs the blaze, and yields no gleam again.
_Bhavabhūti._
271.
One man envies the success in life of another, and hates him in
secret; nor is he willing to give him good advice when he is
consulted, except it be by some wonderful effort of good feeling,
and there are, alas, few such men in the world. A real friend, on
the other hand, exults in his friend’s happiness, rejoices in all
his joys, and is ready to afford him the best advice.
_Herodotus._
272.
This body is a tent which for a space
Does the pure soul with kingly presence grace;
When he departs, comes the tent-pitcher, Death,
Strikes it, and moves to a new halting-place.
_Omar Khayyām._
273.
Speak but little, and that little only when thy own purposes require
it. Heaven has given thee two ears but only one tongue, which means:
listen to two things, but be not the first to propose one.
_Hāfiz._
274.
The natural hostility of beasts is laid aside when flying from
pursuers; so also when danger is impending the enmity of rivals is
ended.
_Bhāravi._
275.
He who toils with pain will eat with pleasure.
_Chinese._
276.
A day of fortune is like a harvest-day, we must be busy when the
corn is ripe.
_Goethe._
277.
The fame of good men’s actions seldom goes beyond their own doors,
but their evil deeds are carried a thousand miles’ distance.
_Chinese._
278.
A subtle-witted man is like an arrow, which, rending little surface,
enters deeply, but they whose minds are dull resemble stones dashing
with clumsy force, but never piercing.
_Māgha._
279.
It is good to tame the mind, which is difficult to hold in, and
flighty, rushing wheresoever it listeth: a tamed mind brings
blessings.
_Dhammapada._
280.
The man who every sacred science knows,
Yet has not strength to keep in check the foes
That rise within him, mars his Fortune’s fame,
And brings her by his feebleness to shame.
_Bhāravi._
281.
What a rich man gives and what he consumes, that is his real worth.
_Hitopadesa._
282.
He who does not think too much of himself is much more esteemed than
he imagines.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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