Chapter 84: Folly

Verse 836
A carpenter attempts to build a hut for a client, but it is unstable, for he does not know how to do it. He soon finds himself in trouble as the people witnessing this ask him to return the money that they have loaned him for the task.

TAKA Presents the Tirukural

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Weaver’s Wisdom

Verse 831

What is folly? It is holding on to that which is harmful
and throwing away that which is helpful.

Verse 832

The folly of all follies is to find pleasure in
doing what one is forbidden to do.

Verse 833

To be shameless, uninquisitive, loveless and uncaring
are four failings common among all fools.

Verse 834

No fool is more foolish than one who eagerly expounds
his learning to others while failing to follow it himself.

Verse 835

It only takes a single birth for a fool to earn by his efforts
a morass of misery in the succeeding seven births.

Verse 836

Not knowing how to act, when a fool undertakes an enterprise,
he doesn’t just fail, he shackles himself in chains.

Verse 837

Should a fool fall upon a great fortune,
strangers will feast while his family starves.

Verse 838

If a fool happens to acquire something of value,
he will behave like a drunken lunatic.

Verse 839

Friendship among fools is particularly sweet,
for there is not the slightest pain when they part.

Verse 840

A fool’s stepping into a saintly council
is like entering a clean bed with filthy feet.