Hebraic Literature; Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and Kabbala Part 63

The doctor who prescribes gratuitously gives a worthless prescription.

The rose grows among thorns.

The wine belongs to the master but the waiter receives the thanks.

He who mixes with unclean things becomes unclean himself; he whose a.s.sociations are pure becomes more holy with each day.

No man is impatient with his creditors.

Make but one sale, and thou art called a merchant.

Mention not a blemish which is thy own, in detraction of thy neighbor.

If certain goods sell not in one city, try another place.

He who reads the letter should execute the message.

A vessel used for holy purposes should not be put to uses less sacred.

Ornament thyself first, then magnify others.

Two pieces of coin in one bag make more noise than a hundred.

Man sees the mote in his neighbor's eye, but knows not of the beam in his own.

The rivalry of scholars advances science.

If thou tellest thy secret to three persons, ten know of it.

When love is intense both find room enough upon one board of the bench; afterward they may find themselves cramped in a s.p.a.ce of sixty cubits.

When wine enters the head the secret flies out.

When a liar speaks the truth he finds his punishment in the general disbelief.

Sorrow for those who disappear never to be found.

The officer of the king is also a recipient of honors.

He who studies cannot follow a commercial life; neither can the merchant devote his time to study.

There is no occasion to light thy lamp at noontide.

If thy friends agree in calling thee an a.s.s, go and get a halter around thee.

At the gate of abundance there are many brothers and friends; at the gate of misery there is neither brother not friend.

The consciousness of G.o.d's presence is the first principle of religion.

A man's home means his wife.

He who divorces his wife is hated before G.o.d.

If thy wife is small, bend down to take her counsel.

The daughter is as the mother was.

Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time.

What the child says out of doors he has learned indoors.

This world is an ante-chamber to the next.

The just of all nations have a portion in the future reward.

Every nation has its special guardian angel, its horoscopes, its ruling planets and stars. But there is no planet for Israel. Israel shall look but to G.o.d. There is no mediator between those who are called His children and their Father which is in heaven.

From the very spoon that the carver carved, he has to swallow hot mustard.

The laborer is allowed to shorten his prayers.

He who teaches his son to trade is as if he taught him to steal.

The laborer at his work need not rise before the greatest doctor.

Life is a pa.s.sing shadow, says the Scripture. Is it the shadow of a tower or a tree? A shadow which prevails for a while? No. It is the shadow of a bird in its flight--away flies the bird, and there is neither bird nor shadow.

Man's pa.s.sions at first are like a cobweb's thread, at last become like the thickest cable.

Were it not for the existence of pa.s.sions no one would build a house, marry a wife, beget children, or do any work.

There is not a single bird more persecuted than the dove, yet G.o.d has chosen her to be offered upon the altar. The bull is hunted by the lion, the sheep by the wolf, the goat by the tiger. And G.o.d said: "Bring me a sacrifice, not from those that persecute, but from them that are persecuted."

Prayer is Israel's only weapon, a weapon inherited from his fathers, a weapon tried in a thousand battles.

When the righteous die, they live; for their example lives.

Let the fruit pray for the welfare of the leaf.

Meat without salt is fit only for the dogs.

Trust not thyself until the day of thy death.

Woe to the country which hath lost its leader; woe to the ship when its captain is no more.

He who increaseth his flesh but multiplieth food for the worms.

The day is short, the labor great, and the workman slothful.