85. Ignorance

Dearth of wisdom is the direst destitution.
Other poverties the world deems less impoverishing.

If any merit is gained when a fool gives a gift, however gladly,
it is due to the recipient's past penance and nothing else.

The suffering that ignorant men inflict upon themselves 
can hardly be contrived by their enemies. 

What is stupidity, you ask? It is the conceit
that dares to declare, "I am wise."

He who pretends to knowledge he does not possess 
raises doubts about the things he really knows. 

Fools follow a perverse path, clothing their well-formed naked body,
yet never thinking to conceal their deformed mind.

Neglecting valuable advice, an ignorant man
becomes the cause of his own misery. 

That soul who neither follows another's orders nor fathoms what to 
do himself creates nothing but torment until he leaves this life.

As an unseeing man sees only the ways of his own mind, whoever 
attempts to open the eyes of those who will not see is himself blind.

He who denies as false what the world declares
to be true is deemed to be an earthly demon.