Sage Advice

A trained orator, old, aged,
First meditates and then speaks;
Do not speak without consideration:
Speak well, and if slow--what matters it?
Deliberate--and then begin to talk.
Sy thyself enough, before others say enough.
By speech a man is better than a brute,
But a beast is better unless thou speakest properly.
How can a man fabricate a good sword of bad iron?
Oh sage! Who is nobody becomes not somebody by education.
The rain, in the beneficence of whose nature is no flaw,
Will cause tulips to grow in a garden, and weeds in bad soil.
Saline earth will not produce hyacinths:
Throw not away thy seeds or work thereon.
To do good to wicked persons is like
Doing evil to good men.

Straightness is the means of acceptance to God;
I saw no one lost on the straight road.

If people injure thee, grieve not;
Because neither rest nor grief come from the people.
Be aware that the contrasts of friend and foe are from God,
Because the hearts of both are in His keeping.
Although the arrow is shot from the bow,
Wise men look at the archer!

Oh thou! who showest virtues on the palms of the hand,
But concealest thy errors under the armpit,
What wilt thou purchase, oh vainglorious fool,
On the day of distress with counterfeit silver?