Chapter 85: Ignorance
Kural 841
Dearth of wisdom is the direst destitution.
Other poverties the world deems less impoverishing.
Kural 842
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.
Kural 843
The suffering that ignorant men inflict upon themselves
can hardly be contrived by their enemies.
Kural 844
What is stupidity, you ask? It is the conceit
that dares to declare, "I am wise."
Kural 845
He who pretends to knowledge he does not possess
raises doubts about the things he really knows.
Kural 846
Fools follow a perverse path, clothing their well-formed naked body,
yet never thinking to conceal their deformed mind.
Kural 847
Neglecting valuable advice, an ignorant man
becomes the cause of his own misery.
Kural 848
That soul who neither follows another's orders nor fathoms what to
do himself creates nothing but torment until he leaves this life.
Kural 849
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.
Kural 850
He who denies as false what the world declares
to be true is deemed to be an earthly demon.