Kural 658 · கடிந்த கடிந்தொரார் செய்தார்க்கு அவைதாம்
For those who do what the wise have forbidden without avoiding it, such acts bring trouble even when they succeed.
The Eighteen Lesser Texts, including the Thirukkural.
For those who do what the wise have forbidden without avoiding it, such acts bring trouble even when they succeed.
All that is gained by making others weep will go away weeping; what comes by good ways, even if lost midway, yields later.
Gathering wealth by guile and trying to keep it is like pouring water in an unbaked clay pot and trying to preserve it.
Firmness in action is nothing but firmness of the doer's mind; all other things are secondary.
To avoid what cannot succeed, and not to falter when hardship comes after one has begun: these two, they say, are the doctrine of the wise.
To keep the purpose unrevealed until it is accomplished is the skill of the doer; if it is disclosed midway, it brings troubles that cannot be removed.
To speak is easy for everyone; to do exactly as one has spoken is rare.
The firmness in action of those who have won distinction is held in the king's regard and remembered by all.
If those who resolve are also firm, they obtain what they have resolved, in the way they resolved it.
One should not despise anyone by appearance; there are some like the small axle-pin of a great rolling chariot.