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The Maxims of Good Discourse
Jun. 3rd, 2017 03:09 pmI'm currently reading a French detective novel set in Ancient Egypt (by Christian Jacq), and there I found some words of wisdom from Ptahotep. Amazingly apt in today's world, so I wanted to share it with you.
Here's from around 2200 years BC:
The fool who does not listen,
can accomplish nothing at all.
He sees knowledge as ignorance,
usefulness as harmfulness.
He does all that is detestable,
and is blamed for it each day.
He lives on that by which one dies,
he feeds on damned speech.
The French translation was even better for the last line: discours tordu, twisted speech.
If you want to read more, here is the website where I found the English translation and the confirmation that Ptahotep exists and is not a character invented by Christian Jacq. In these days one wants to check one's facts.
Here's from around 2200 years BC:
The fool who does not listen,
can accomplish nothing at all.
He sees knowledge as ignorance,
usefulness as harmfulness.
He does all that is detestable,
and is blamed for it each day.
He lives on that by which one dies,
he feeds on damned speech.
The French translation was even better for the last line: discours tordu, twisted speech.
If you want to read more, here is the website where I found the English translation and the confirmation that Ptahotep exists and is not a character invented by Christian Jacq. In these days one wants to check one's facts.