The Kural or the Maxims of Tiruvalluvar/Chapter 102
CHAPTER 102
SENSITIVENESS TO SHAME
1011. The blush of the worthy is for action that become them not : it is therefore quite different to the blush of the fair.
1012. Food, clothing, and progeny are common unto all men : it is in the sensibility to shame that they differ from one another.
1013. The body is the seat of all life : but a virtuous blush is the dwelling place of worth.
1014. Is not the jewel of the worthy their sense of shame? And when a man hath it not, is not his swagger an affliction unto the eye to behold ?
1015. Behold the men that blush as much for others' disgrace as for their own : they will be called the very dwelling place of delicacy.
1016. The worthy refuse to acquire even kingdoms save by means for which they shall not have to blush.
1017. Behold the men that have a delicate sense of shame: they will renounce their lives to save themselves from a disgrace, but will not swallow their shame even in order to save their lives.
1018. If a man blush not for those things that call forth a blush in others, Righteousness will have cause to blush for him.
1019. By neglecting ceremonial observances a man loseth only his family : but every good is lost when he is lost to shame.
1020. The men that are dead to shame live not: they merely feign life even as wooden marionettes that are moved by strings.
