The Good Book (72 page)

5. Books give no wisdom where there was not wisdom before.

6. Rather a study full of books than a purse full of money.

7. There is nothing so old as a new book.

8. The best companions are good books.

9. The books that help most are those that prompt most thought.

10. The virtue of books is to be readable.

11. There is no frigate like a book to take us to lands far away.

12. Wear the old coat and buy the new book.

13. The world may know me by my book, and my book by me.

14. Word by word the great books are written.

15. The reader’s fancy makes the fate of books.

Chapter 23: Borrowing

  1. A borrowed cloak does not keep one warm.

  2. Borrowed clothes never fit well.

  3. Better buy than borrow.

  4. Creditors have better memories than debtors.

  5. With a horse of your own you can borrow another.

  6. Who borrows must pay again with shame or loss.

  7. They that borrow, sorrow.

  8. If you would know the value of money, try borrowing some.

  9. Borrowing is the mother of trouble.

10. Borrowing thrives but once.

Chapter 24: Bread

  1. Acorns were good till bread was found.

  2. Bread and cheese are shields against death.

  3. Eaten bread is forgotten.

  4. Whose bread I break, his song I sing.

  5. Others’ bread has seven crusts.

  6. Another’s bread costs dear.

  7. I know what I say when I ask for bread.

  8. A knife is soon found for bread.

Chapter 25: Breeding

  1. Better unborn than unbred.

  2. Birth is much, breeding is more.

  3. They are not well bred that cannot abide ill breeding in others.

  4. Vipers breed vipers.

  5. What is born of a cat will catch mice.

Chapter 26: Bribes

  1. A bribe will enter without knocking.

  2. All have their price.

  3. Bribery and theft are first cousins.

  4. Few people have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.

  5. Honesty stands at the gate, bribery enters in.

  6. A greased mouth cannot say no.

Chapter 27: Burdens

  1. Every ass thinks his own load heaviest.

  2. Let every pedlar carry his own pack.

  3. Light burdens are heavy when borne far.

  4. None knows the weight of an­­­other’s burden.

  5. The back is shaped to the burden.

  6. It is base to flinch under a burden.

  7. The burden grows light when well borne.

  8. Place the burden on the slow donkey.

  9. The burden is light on another’s shoulder.

Chapter 28: Business

  1. Whoever does not smile should not open a shop.

  2. Fuel is not sold in the forest, nor fish by a lake.

  3. Drive your business or it will drive you.

  4. Everyone lives by selling something.

  5. Ill ware is never cheap.

  6. Keep your shop and it will keep you.

  7. Good merchandise finds a ready buyer.

  8. Do not buy everything that is cheap.

  9. Buy at a fair, sell at home.

10. There are more foolish buyers than foolish sellers.

11. The buyer needs a hundred eyes, the seller needs not one.

Chapter 29: Chance

  1. Chance may win what mischance lost.

  2. He who leaves nothing to chance will do little ill, but will do little anyway.

  3. Something must be left to chance.

  4. Too late to grieve when the chance is past.

  5. He that waits on chance is never sure of his dinner.

  6. Chance is always on the side of the prudent.

  7. Chance and valour are blended in one.

  8. Chance is another master.

  9. Chance and justice are unequally matched.

10. Probabilities direct the conduct of the wise.

11. What chance made yours is not really yours.

12. Whom chance passes by, it finds them at last.

Chapter 30: Character

  1. Character is easier kept than recovered.

  2. Character is what you are in the dark.

  3. No one climbs beyond the limits of character.

  4. There is much unmapped territory within us.

  5. People show their character by what they laugh at.

  6. Character is nurtured amidst the tempests of the world.

  7. Character is destiny.

  8. Character is habit long continued.

  9. Character is the result of conduct.

10. Trust more in character than promises.

11. To the bad character good doctrine avails nothing.

12. One’s character is the arbiter of one’s fortune.

Chapter 31: Charity

  1. Who gives to be seen will not help in the dark.

  2. Better feed ten drones than let one bee starve.

  3. Better to give one than promise two.

  4. Rather not live than to live by alms.

  5. They give twice who give quickly.

  6. Do good, and ask not for whom.

Chapter 32: Cheapness

  1. Cheap things are not good, good things are not cheap.

  2. Cheap bargains are dear.

  3. The cheap buyer takes bad meat.

  4. To buy cheap, buy of a needy fool.

Chapter 33: Children

  1. A pet child has many names.

  2. Children and drunkards speak truth.

  3. A spoiled child never loves its mother.

  4. Better a little chiding than a great heartbreak.

  5. Children and fools have merry lives.

  6. Children and fools must avoid edged tools.

  7. Children are certain cares but uncertain comforts.

  8. Children are poor men’s riches.

  9. Children have wide ears and long tongues.

10. Children pick up words as pigeons pick peas.

11. Children suck the mother when young, and the father when old.

12. Children when young make parents fools; when older, make them mad.

13. For a little child a great mourning.

14. Give the child his will and he will turn out ill.

15. Happy are those who are happy in their children.

16. Those without children do not know love.

17. Better to have one plough going than two cradles.

18. As the twig is bent, the tree inclines.

19. Late children, early orphans.

20. The child says nothing but what is heard by the fire.

21. The sports of children satisfy the child.

22. Unruly children make their sire stoop.

23. When children stand still, they have done some ill.

24. Children have more need of example than criticism.

25. Better the child should cry than the parent.

26. The neighbour’s children are always the worst.

27. What the parents spin the children must reel.

28. You can do anything with children if only you will play with them.

29. Children are deceived with candies and men with promises.

30. Better bind children with respect than fear.

Chapter 34: Company

  1. A crowd is not company.

  2. Company in misery makes it light.

  3. Company keeps your mind from coarsening.

  4. Ill company is like a dog, which dirties most those it most loves.

  5. The company makes the feast.

  6. If you live with the lame you learn to limp.

  7. Jackdaw to jackdaw.

  8. Who lies down with dogs will rise with fleas.

  9. No road is long in good company.

10. The smaller the company, the better the feast.

Chapter 35: Conceit

  1. Conceit is the comfort of little men.

  2. To be full of oneself is to be empty.

  3. Those who are in love with themselves will have no rivals.

  4. He thinks his farthing good silver.

Chapter 36: Confidence

  1. Confidence is a plant of slow growth.

  2. No one can be forced into trust.

  3. Skill and confidence make an unconquerable army.

  4. Confidence arises from caution.

Chapter 37: Conscience

  1. An evil deed has a witness in the bosom.

  2. A burdened conscience needs no hangman.

  3. A clear conscience bears any trouble.

  4. A good conscience is a soft pillow.

  5. A guilty conscience never feels safe.

  6. Conscience tells us what is honour.

  7. A quiet conscience sleeps through thunder.

  8. Who has no conscience has nothing.

  9. The worm of conscience consorts with the owl.

10. A clear conscience is a wall of brass.

11. A bad conscience is a snake in one’s breast.

Chapter 38: Contentment

  1. Those who are content can never be ruined.

  2. A contented mind is a kingdom.

  3. Better a little with content than much with contention.

  4. Contentment lodges oftener in cottages than castles.

  5. Contentment surpasses wealth.

Chapter 39: Courage

  1. If you do not enter the tiger’s den, you cannot get his cubs.

  2. Courage is never out of fashion.

  3. Courage scorns the death it cannot shun.

  4. Courage should have eyes as well as arms.

  5. It is easier to use a weapon than to show courage.

  6. The test of courage is bearing defeat without losing heart.

  7. Where the brave man is, is the thickest of the battle.

  8. Courage does more than rage can.

  9. You cannot know your courage until you have tasted danger.

10. All are brave when the enemy flies.

11. They need heels who have no heart.

12. Courage in danger is half the battle.

13. Courage champions right.

14. True courage grapples misfortune.

15. It is the courage, not the weapon, that wins.

16. There is always safety in valour.

Chapter 40: Courtesy

  1. All doors open to courtesy.

  2. Courtesy costs nothing.

  3. Courtesy unanswered does not last long.

  4. Do not limp before the lame.

  5. The courteous learn their courtesy from the discourteous.

Chapter 41: Cowardice

  1. To see what is right and not do it, is cowardice.

  2. A coward’s fear can make a coward valiant.

  3. Cowards are cruel.

  4. Cowards die many deaths.

  5. Cowards in scarlet pass for men of war.

  6. Cowards show no mercy.

  7. Many would be cowards if they had courage enough.

  8. There grows no herb to heal a coward’s heart.

  9. Better be a coward than a fool.

10. One coward makes ten.

11. The coward makes threats only when he is safe.

12. Strength is no use to the coward.

13. Who cannot strike the ass may strike the saddle.

14. Cowards call themselves cautious, misers call themselves thrifty.

Chapter 42: Credit

  1. Better take eight than sell for ten on credit.