Piet Hein
I see
and I hear
and I speak no evil;
I carry
no malice
within my breast;
yet quite without
wishing
I'd like to know
what this whole show
is all about
before it's out.
Naive you are
if you believe
life favours those
who aren't naive.
The universe may
be as great as they say.
But it wouldn't be missed
if it didn't exist.
If virtue
can't be mine alone
at least my faults
can be my own.
He who aims
to keep abreast
is for ever
second best.
Love while you've got
love to give.
Live while you've got
life to live.
Power corrupts,
whereas sound opposition
builds up our free
democratic tradition.
One thing would make
a democracy flower:
having a strong opposition-
in power.
He that lets
the small things bind him
leaves the great
undone behind him.
Anxieties yield
at a negative rate,
increasing in smallness
the longer they wait.
Men, said the Devil,
are good to their brothers:
they don’t want to mend
their own ways, but each others.
One paramount truth
our society smothers
in petty concern
with position and pelf:
It isn't enough
to exasperate others;
you've got to remember
to gladden yourself.
