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Dhammapada · narration sample

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The Imitation of Christ · 9 of 115

Book I, Chapter VIII: Of the Danger of Too Much Familiarity

CHAPTER VIII OF THE DANGER OF TOO MUCH FAMILIARITY Open not thine heart to every man, but deal with one who is wise and feareth God. Be seldom with the young and with strangers. Be not a flatterer of the rich; nor willingly seek the society of the great. Let thy company be the humble and the simple, the devout and the gentle, and let thy discourse be concerning things which edify. Be not familiar with any woman, but commend all good women alike unto God. Choose for thy companions God and His Angels only, and flee from the notice of men.

2.We must love all men, but not make close companions of all. It sometimes falleth out that one who is unknown to us is highly regarded through good report of him, whose actual person is nevertheless unpleasing to those who behold it. We sometimes think to please others by our intimacy, and forthwith displease them the more by the faultiness of character which they perceive in us.

Echoes elsewhere

The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage · ChristianityCHAPTER XIII OF OBEDIENCE From this humility there springs obedience, for none can be inwardly obedient save the humble man. Obedience means an unassuming, submissive, and pliable Light, Life, and Love: Selections from the German Mystics of the Middle Ages · Mysticismis a submission and pliant disposition, and a good will ready for all that is good. Obedience subjects a man to orders, to prohibitions, and to the will of God, and it subjects theThe Wisdom of Ptah-Hotep · Egyptianspeaking, is every man that obeyeth what is noble, and the obedience of an obeyer is a noble thing. Obedience is better than all things that are; it maketh good-will. How good it iMeditations · Stoicismhas who does thee wrong, or such as he wishes thee to have, but look at them as they are in truth. 12. A man should always have these two rules in readiness; the one to do only wha