Be her pasture ne'er so bitter, yet the cow's milk will taste sweet."

"Trust not water, trust not weapons; trust not clawed nor horned
things;
Neither give thy soul to women, nor thy life to Sons of Kings."

* * * * *

"Look! the Moon, the silver roamer, from whose splendour darkness
flies,
With his starry cohorts marching, like a crowned king, through the
skies:
All his grandeur, all his glory, vanish in the Dragon's jaw;
What is written on the forehead, that will be, and nothing more."

* * * * *

"Counsel in danger; of it
Unwarned, be nothing begun;
But nobody asks a Prophet,
Shall the risk of a dinner be run?"

* * * * *

"Avarice begetteth anger; blind desires from her begin;
A right fruitful mother is she of a countless spawn of sin."

* * * * *

"Be second and not first!--the share's the same
If all go well. If not, the Head's to blame."

* * * * *

"Passion will be Slave or Mistress: follow her, she brings to woe;
Lead her, 'tis the way to Fortune. Choose the path that thou wilt go."

"When the time of trouble cometh, friends may ofttimes irk us most:
For the calf at milking-hour the mother's leg is tying-post."

* * * * *

"In good-fortune not elated, in ill-fortune not dismayed,
Ever eloquent in council, never in the fight affrayed,
Proudly emulous of honour, steadfastly on wisdom set;
These six virtues in the nature of a noble soul are met.
Whoso hath them, gem and glory of the three wide worlds is he;
Happy mother she that bore him, she who nursed him on her knee."

* * * * *

"Small things wax exceeding mighty, being cunningly combined;
Furious elephants are fastened with a rope of grass-blades twined."

"Let the household hold together, though the house be ne'er so small;
Strip the rice-husk from the rice-grain, and it groweth not at all."

"Sickness, anguish, bonds, and woe
Spring from wrongs wrought long ago."

* * * * *

"Keep wealth for want, but spend it for thy wife,
And wife, and wealth, and all, to guard thy life."