"Concise sentences," says Bacon, "like darts, fly abroad and make
impressions, while long discourses are flat things, and not regarded."
And Seneca has remarked that "even rude and uncultivated minds are
struck, as it were, with those short but weighty sentences which
anticipate all reasoning by flashing truths upon them at once." Wise men
in all ages seem to have been fully aware of the advantage of condensing
into pithy sentences the results of their observations of the course of
human life; and the following selection of sayings of the Jewish
Fathers, taken from the _Pirke Aboth_ (the 41st treatise of the Talmud,
compiled by Nathan of Babylon, A.D. 200), and other sources, will be
found to be quite as sagacious as the aphorisms of the most celebrated
philosophers of India and Greece:
This world is like an ante-chamber in comparison with the world to come;
prepare thyself in the ante-chamber, therefore, that thou mayest enter
into the dining-room.
Be humble to a superior, and affable to an inferior, and receive all men
with cheerfulness.
Be not scornful to any, nor be opposed to all things; for there is no
man that hath not his hour, nor is there anything which hath not its
place.
Attempt not to appease thy neighbour in the time of his anger, nor
comfort him in the time when his dead is lying before him, nor ask of
him in the time of his vowing, nor desire to see him in the time of his
calamity.[96]
[96] "Do not," says Nakhshabí, "try to move by persuasion the
soul that is afflicted with grief. The heart that is
overwhelmed with the billows of sorrow will, by slow
degrees, return to itself."
Hold no man responsible for his utterances in times of grief.
Who gains wisdom? He who is willing to receive instruction from all
sources. Who is rich? He who is content with his lot. Who is deserving
of honour? He who honoureth mankind. Who is the mighty man? He who
subdueth his temper.[97]
[97] "He who subdueth his temper is a mighty man," says the
Talmudist; and Solomon had said so before him: "He that
is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that
ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city" (Prov.
xvi, 32). A curious parallel to these words is found in
an ancient Buddhistic work, entitled _Buddha's
Dhammapada_, or Path of Virtue, as follows: "If one man
conquer in battle a thousand times a thousand men, and
if another conquer himself, he is the greatest of
conquerors." (Professor Max Müller's translation,
prefixed to _Buddhagosha's Parables_, translated by
Captain Rogers.)
When a liar speaks the truth, he finds his punishment in being generally
disbelieved.
The physician who prescribes gratuitously gives a worthless
prescription.
He who hardens his heart with pride softens his brains with the same.
The day is short, the labour vast; but the labourers are still slothful,
though the reward is great, and the Master presseth for despatch.[98]
[98] Cf. Saádí, _ante_, page 41, "Life is snow," etc.
He who teacheth a child is like one who writeth on new paper; and he who
teacheth old people is like one who writeth on blotted paper.[99]
[99] Locke was anticipated not only by the Talmudist, as
above, but long before him by Aristotle, who termed the
infant soul _tabula rasa_, which was in all likelihood
borrowed by the author of the Persian work on the
practical philosophy of the Muhammedans, entitled
_Akhlák-i-Jalaly_, who says: "The minds of children are
like a clear tablet, equally open to all inscriptions."
First learn and then teach.