To get wealth and security by guile Is like one who pours water into a pot of unbaked clay.
— ThiruvalluvarVerse LXVI.10
Use itGS4 on ill-gotten wealth: gains by deceit dissolve like water in unbaked clay.
Quotes / Thinkers / Thiruvalluvar
Thinker · 11 quotes
Thiruvalluvar quotes for UPSC
11 sourced quotes by Thiruvalluvar on character & virtue, compassion & empathy, emotions & self-control, integrity & honesty, economy, development & poverty, with a use case for each in GS4, Essay and interviews.
✓ Attributions checked against Wikiquote's sourced list
There is no greater wealth than Virtue, And no greater loss than to forget it.
— ThiruvalluvarVerse IV.2
Use itGS4 intro: virtue as the greatest wealth; forgetting it the greatest loss.
The lotus’ stem is as long as the depth of water, So men’s height is just as great as their inner strength.
— ThiruvalluvarVerse LX.5
Use itLife: like a lotus, your height equals your inner strength.
Real kindness seeks no return; What return can the world make to rain clouds?
— ThiruvalluvarVerse XXII.1
Use itGS4 on altruism: true kindness, like rain, expects no return.
To use bitter words, when kind words are at hand, Is like picking unripe fruit when the ripe fruit is there.
— ThiruvalluvarVerse X.10
Use itGS4 on communication: choose kind words over harsh ones.
If men must beg to live, May the Creator also go wandering and perish.
— ThiruvalluvarVerse CVII.2
Use itEssay on poverty: a world where people must beg indicts its very order.
When you are about to badger the weak, Then imagine yourself before a more powerful man.
— ThiruvalluvarVerse XXV.10
Use itGS4 on abuse of power: before harassing the weak, imagine yourself before the powerful.
They who in trouble untroubled are Will trouble trouble itself.
— ThiruvalluvarVerse LXIII.3
Use itLife: stay calm in crisis and trouble itself is defeated.
Anger kills both laughter and joy; What greater foe is there than anger?
— ThiruvalluvarVerse XXXI.4
Use itGS4 on anger management: anger destroys joy; no greater foe.
The wound that’s made by fire will heal, But the wound that’s made by tongue will never heal.
— ThiruvalluvarVerse XIII.9
Use itLife/GS4: harsh words wound permanently; guard your tongue.
As the quality of water changes with the nature of the soil; So will a man’s reason vary with the quality of his friends.
— ThiruvalluvarVerse XLVI.2
Use itLife: choose friends carefully; company shapes your thinking.