_On the Bad Effects of Pleasantry and Jocularity_
O thou who dost aspire to repose in this world and in the next, who dost
seek the way of peace of soul, abandon not thyself to pleasantries and
jokes! This habit plunges into trouble all those who contract it.
Sacrifice not thy friend to a play on words; throw not to the wind the
rights of bread and salt. Pleasantry breaks the ties of intimacy, and
its results are sad and painful. However brilliant it may be, it
inflicts none the less deep wounds. How can the name of pleasantries be
given to those burning arrows aimed at a friend’s heart?
How many sallies, impregnated with venomous spleen, have filled with
anger and rage those whom thou dost love! True wit is that which is
appropriate, brief in expression, full of sense, innocent and
inoffensive, like a blooming rose of the heart’s garden, whose charms
attract from afar all the nightingales. Its perfume, breathed with
delight, drives from the heart all thoughts of hate. It charms the ear
like good tidings, and all who hear it are filled with joy. It is
carried from city to city, and passes into a proverb from age to age.
Nothing is more charming than such a pleasantry; if it is otherwise, it
were better to refrain from making it.
Beware of fault-finding and backbiting: a shame for all wise men. No
pleasure nor profit can be found therein, and a very great sin is
committed in yielding to it. The confidence of thy friends is lost; and
thy name is detested where it is uttered. Fault-finding and backbiting
render one as odious as does calumny. May God preserve thee from this
scourge; mayst thou live in purity of heart and tranquillity of body!