Garudapurana 1.110

The glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa — 110 / Sūta said: / He who, abandoning certainties, pursues uncertainties— / his certainties perish, and that which is uncertain is already lost.

The knowledge of a man lacking organs of speech is like a weapon in the hand of a coward; / it produces no satisfaction in the body, just as a beautiful wife is [useless] to a blind man.

The capacity to eat when food is present, sexual virility with excellent women, / and the capacity to give when wealth is at hand—[these] are the fruit of no small asceticism.

The agnihotra is the fruit of the Vedas; an auspicious character and conduct is the fruit [of study]; / pleasure and offspring are the fruit of a wife; and giving and enjoying are the fruit of wealth.

A wise man should choose a maiden born of good family, even if she is plain; / but never a low-born woman, even if she is beautiful and well-hipped.

What indeed is the use even of wealth whose association leads to disaster? / Who indeed would take the jewel born in the crest of a serpent?

Oblation may be accepted from a tainted family; wise speech even from a child; / gold may be taken even from filth; and an excellent woman even from a base family.

Nectar may be taken even from poison; gold even from filth; / the highest knowledge even from a low-born person; and an excellent woman even from a base family.

There is never friendship with a king; a snake is nowhere without poison; / [and] that family is not pure where women rule.

One should employ a devoted servant in the family; one should engage a son in studies; / one should engage an enemy in vice; and one should engage a beloved friend in dharma.

Servants and ornaments ought to be employed only in their proper places; / a crest-jewel never looks handsome on the foot.

A crest-jewel, the ocean, fire, a bell, the unbroken sky, / or a protector of the earth, [placed] on the head [or] on the foot through carelessness...

Like a cluster of blossoms, there are only two paths for a man of spirit: / either [to be] on the head of all people, or to fall withered in the forest.

If a gem worthy of being set in a golden ornament is mounted in tin, / it neither cries out nor shines; blameworthiness falls upon the one who set it.

Among horses, elephants, and irons, among pieces of wood, stones, and garments, / and among women, men, and waters, there is an immense difference.

Even of a man steadfast in character who is abused, the destruction of all his virtues is impossible; / even when a fire is made to face downward by a villain, its flame never goes downward.

A good horse does not tolerate the strike of a whip; a lion does not tolerate the roar of an elephant; / nor does a hero endure a terrible sound directed by another.

If one is destitute of wealth or suddenly fallen through fate, one should never desire the base service of vile men; / even when afflicted by sharp hunger, a lion does not eat grass for food; he mostly drinks the warm blood of elephants.

He who desires to make peace again with a friend who has been wicked once / would take death itself to himself, just as a female mule conceives [only to die].

The sweet-speaking children of an enemy must not be overlooked by wise men; / they alone in time become bringers of misfortune, dreadful vessels of poison.

One should extract an enemy by means of an enemy won over by service, / just as one extracts a thorn stuck in the foot by means of a thorn held in the hand.

One should never worry constantly about those intent on malice; / they will fall of their own accord, like trees growing on a riverbank.

Harmful things appearing in the form of benefits, and benefits appearing in the form of harm, / always turn to the destruction of one who is subject to fate.

A sinless intellect suited to the time of action is indeed born; / when fate is favorable, welfare arises everywhere for a man.

In transactions involving wealth, as well as in the acquisition of knowledge, / in eating, and in business, one should always be free from shame.

A wealthy man, a Vedic scholar, a king, a river, and a physician as the fifth— / where these five do not exist, one should not take up residence.

Means of livelihood, fear, shame, courtesy, and charitable disposition— / where these five do not exist, one should not live for even a single day.

An astrologer, a Vedic scholar, a king, a river, and a righteous man as the fifth— / where these do not exist, one should not make one's dwelling.

Indeed, Śaunaka, knowledge is not established completely in any single place; / not everyone knows everything, and an omniscient person exists nowhere.

No one here in the world is all-knowing, nor is anyone on earth utterly foolish; / by that low, highest, or intermediate knowledge which a man knows, by that he is wise.

Thus ends the one hundred and tenth chapter, in the essence of ethics called the Bṛhannītisāra, in the section on conduct, the first part of the first section, in the glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa.