The Kural or the Maxims of Tiruvalluvar/Chapter 85
CHAPTER 85
CONCEITED FOLLY
841. The veritable poverty is the poverty of sense : the world regardeth not other poverty as poverty.
842. When a fool bestoweth a gift of his own free will, it is simply the good fortune of the receiver and nothing else.
843. The troubles that a fool bringeth down on his head, it is hard even for his enemies to cause him.
844. Dost thou want to know what is shallowness of wit? It is the conceit that sayeth to itself, I am wise.
845. Behold the fool that pretendeth unto knowledge that be possesseth not : he raiseth doubts even as to those things that he really knoweth.
846. Where is the good of the fool covering his nakedness, if the deformities of his mind are still left uncovered ?
847. Behold the shallow man that cannot keep a secret to himself: he will bring down great calamities on his own head.
848. Behold the man who neither listeneth to advice nor knoweth for himself what is right : all the days of his life he is a plague to his fellows.
849. He that trieth to open the eyes of a fool is a fool himself : for the fool seeth but one way and that way is never wrong in his eyes.
850. Behold the man who denieth what all the world doth assert: he will be looked upon as a devil in human shape.
