give,
Breathe he like a blacksmith's bellows, yet in truth he doth not live."

"Gifts, bestowed with words of kindness, making giving doubly dear:
Wisdom, deep, complete, benignant, of all arrogancy clear;
Valour, never yet forgetful of sweet Mercy's pleading prayer;
Wealth, and scorn of wealth to spend it--oh! but these be virtues
rare!"

* * * * *

"Sentences of studied wisdom, nought avail they unapplied;
Though the blind man hold a lantern, yet his footsteps stray aside."

* * * * *

"Would'st thou, know whose happy dwelling Fortune entereth unknown?
His, who careless of her favour, standeth fearless in his own;
His, who for the vague to-morrow barters not the sure to-day--
Master of himself, and sternly steadfast to the rightful way:
Very mindful of past service, valiant, faithful, true of heart--
Unto such comes Lakshmi smiling--comes, and will not lightly part."

* * * * *

"Be not haughty, being wealthy; droop not, having lost thine all;
Fate doth play with mortal fortunes as a girl doth toss her ball."

"Worldly friendships, fair but fleeting; shadows of the clouds at noon;
Women, youth, new corn, and riches; these be pleasures passing soon."

* * * * *

"For thy bread be not o'er thoughtful--Heav'n for all hath taken
thought:
When the babe is born, the sweet milk to the mother's breast is
brought.

"He who gave the swan her silver, and the hawk her plumes of pride,
And his purples to the peacock--He will verily provide."

"Though for good ends, waste not on wealth a minute;
Mud may be wiped, but wise men plunge not in it."

* * * * *

"Brunettes, and the Banyan's shadow,
Well-springs, and a brick-built wall,
Are all alike cool in the summer,
And warm in the winter--all."

* * * * *

"Ah! the gleaming, glancing arrows of a lovely woman's eye!
Feathered with her jetty lashes, perilous they pass thee by:
Loosed at venture from the black bows of her arching brow, they part,
All too penetrant and deadly for an undefended heart."

* * * * *

"Beautiful the Koil seemeth for the sweetness of his song,