orning dawn. Says the cock to the owl, 'Light profits me, but how
does it profit thee?' Youth is a crown of roses, old age a crown of
thorns. Many preach well, but do not practise well. It is the punishment
of liars, that men don't listen to them when they speak truth. Every man
who is proud is an idolater. To slander is to murder. Whosoever humbles
himself, God exalts him; whosoever exalts himself, God humbles him. Men
see every leprosy except their own. He who daily looks after his property
finds a coin. The post does not honor the man; but the man the post. Every
man is not so lucky as to have two tables. Not what thou sayest about
thyself, but what thy companions say. The whole and broken tables of the
Law lie in the ark. The salt of money is almsgiving. He who walks four
cubits in the land of Israel is sure of being a child of the world to
come. The plague lasted seven years, and no man died before his time. Let
the drunkard only go, he will fall of himself. Be rather the one cursed
than the one cursing. The world is like an inn, but the world to come is
the real home. The child loves its mother more than its father: it fears
its father more than its mother. Repent one day before thy death. If your
God is a friend of the poor, why does He not support them? A wise man
answered, 'Their case is left in our hands, that we may thereby acquire
merits and forgiveness of sin.' The house that does not open to the poor
shall open to the physician. He who visits the sick takes away
one-sixtieth part of their pain. Descend a step in choosing a wife; mount
a step in choosing a friend. An old woman in a house is a treasure.
Whosoever does not persecute them that persecute him, whosoever takes an
offence in silence, whosoever does good from love, whosoever is cheerful
under his sufferings, they are friends of God, and of them says the
Scripture, 'they shall shine forth as the sun at noonday.' " R. Phineas,
son of Jair, said, "Industry brings purity--purity, cleanness--cleanness,
holiness--holiness, humbleness--humbleness, fear of sin--and fear of sin,
partaking of the Holy Ghost."

Ideas of God are gathered from the occupations which the authors of the
Talmud assign to him. "The day contains twelve hours. The first three
hours the Holy One, blessed be He, sits and studies the Law. The second
three hours He sits and judges the whole world. When He sees that the
world deserves destruction, He stands up from the throne of judgment, an