Wisdom is a treasure that grows as you give it away; miraculously, it allows you to do more and more with less and less. For those ready to understand what I mean this truth is proven by experience.
How noble! but giving away does not make you rich, only wiser; moreover, the common of folks are vain enough to believe they do you a favour when they listen and deign to accept your advice (remember that such people value only what they pay for).
Accordingly, I warn you: do not offer unasked counsel and do not hand it out free, as I do so often.
This reminds me of a story:
Curiously, the wiser the Mullah grew, the less food there was on his table. The more he taught the less he got.
Something had to be done to make both ends meet. Lack of better ideas, Nasreddin thought that he could at least teach his donkey to eat less; so, he will spare some money.
Day after day, little by little, he would give the animal less and less barley.
The good old donkey did not seem to mind so much, on the contrary its temper improved, he became tame and slower, careful to keep on the road.
Seeing such good progress, Nasreddin went on with the diet until the donkey only had a handful of fodder and some water for the day. The villagers were impressed.
…
Alas, it happens that one morning the Hodja looked into the stable and run to see his neighbour, lamenting:
"Misfortune! Everything was going so well and now, just when I taught him not to eat at all, my donkey died.
How noble! but giving away does not make you rich, only wiser; moreover, the common of folks are vain enough to believe they do you a favour when they listen and deign to accept your advice (remember that such people value only what they pay for).
Accordingly, I warn you: do not offer unasked counsel and do not hand it out free, as I do so often.
This reminds me of a story:
Curiously, the wiser the Mullah grew, the less food there was on his table. The more he taught the less he got.
Something had to be done to make both ends meet. Lack of better ideas, Nasreddin thought that he could at least teach his donkey to eat less; so, he will spare some money.
Day after day, little by little, he would give the animal less and less barley.
The good old donkey did not seem to mind so much, on the contrary its temper improved, he became tame and slower, careful to keep on the road.
Seeing such good progress, Nasreddin went on with the diet until the donkey only had a handful of fodder and some water for the day. The villagers were impressed.
…
Alas, it happens that one morning the Hodja looked into the stable and run to see his neighbour, lamenting:
"Misfortune! Everything was going so well and now, just when I taught him not to eat at all, my donkey died.
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