Don't try to be saintly or wise,
That is not the way to live a decent life.
Give up niceness and morals,
So we can be good and ethical.
Make a fortune, and protect it cleverly,
Even cleverer thieves will appear.
Chasing the appearance of quality
Will not create better selves.
Live simple kindness, and you will be seen as a saint.
Make decent choices, you will live with the result of good choices.
Want less, and you have less to lose.
To cock a snook. To make a long nose; to put the thumb to the nose and spread wide the fingers. This is a very ancient gesture of disrespect, contempt, or defiance.
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1963, p 217.
4 comments:
Isn't Brewer's Dictionary cool? And today's Tao verse is one of my favorites.
I love the first two lines!
snook- also a fish-wonder what it looks like?!
gz,
Link added. Thanks, I had no idea about the fish.
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