LXVI
Purity of Action
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Alliances bring success unto a man: but purity of action fulfilleth his every desire.
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Always turn thy face away from those deeds that bring not glory as well as profit.
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Those that desire to rise in the world, let them abjure all action that can tarnish their glory.
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Behold the men who see things in their right proportions: even when fallen on evil days they stoop not to action that is dishonourable and mean.
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Let not a man do those things which make him cry afterwards, what is it that I have done? and if he hath done any such thing, it is good for him if he doth it not once again.
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Let not a man do those things that good men condemn, even to save the mother that bore him from starvation.
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The indigence of the worthy is better far than wealth that is amassed by dishonourable means.
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Behold the men that shun not those things that are forbidden by good morals: they will come to grief even if they succeed in their designs.
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All that is wrong in the midst of tears will depart also accompanied by weepings: but that which is acquired by righteous ways, even if lost in the middle, increaseth in the latter end.
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To try to lay by wealth by means of guile is like trying to preserve water in a pot of clay that is not baked.