Honour By St. Thiruvalluvar Poem by Rajendran Muthiah

961. Reject acts, though essential and admirable,
if they mar your family’s greatness.
962. They who want fame and honour, don’t do acts
which are unbecoming to their families.
963. Be humble in affluence. With self-respect,
be simple and bend not in distress.
964. When noble men fall from their exalted status,
they are like hairs fallen off the head.
965.Men with mountain high repute will sink to nought
even if they do small, mean deeds of abrus-seed size.
966. To follow the abusive men and be at their beck and call
will not bring you fame or a place in heaven.
967. Better to be said, ”He stuck to and perished in poverty
than to follow the insulting men and live at their feet”.
968. When the honour of high-born is at peril,
is the flesh saving life a panacea against death?
969. Those who give up life to regain the lost honour
liken the Yak pining away to death on losing its tuft.
970. The world will worship and celebrate the name of those
who prefer to die before any dishonor stalks.