The Kural or the Maxims of Tiruvalluvar/Chapter 21
CHAPTER 21
FEAR OF EVIL-DOING
201. The evil fear not the folly called sin : but the worthy flee from it.
202. Evil bringeth forth evil: evil therefore shall be feared even more than fire.
203. The chiefest wisdom, they say, is to abstain from injury even to an enemy.
204. Let not a man compass another's ruin even by oversight : for Justice will compass the ruin of him that plotteth evil.
205. Let not a man work evil saying, I am poor: for, if he do, he will sink into a lower destitution than before.
206. Whoso desireth not to be saddened by ills, let him abstain from doing injury to others.
207. There is a way of escape from every other enemy: but ill deeds never die but pursue and destroy their author.
208. As the shadow leaveth not a man but doggeth his steps wherever he goeth, even so do evil deeds pursue their author and work his destruction.
209. If a man love his own self, let him not incline toward evil in any degree.
210. Know that man to be secure from ills who leaveth not the straight path in order to commit wrong.
