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Speak No Ill
Nay, speak no ill! - a kindly word
Can never leave a sting behind,
And, oh! to breathe each tale we’ve heard
Is far beneath a noble mind.
Full oft a better seed is sown
By choosing thus the kinder plan:
For if but little good be known,
Still let us speak the best we can.
Give me the heart that fain would hide -
Would fain another’s fault efface;
How can it pleasure human pride
To prove humanity but base?
No, let us reach a higher mood,
A nobler estimate of man;
Be earnest in the search for good,
And speak of all the best we can.
Then speak no ill - but lenient be
To others’ failings as your own;
If you’re the first a fault to see,
Be not the first to make it known.
For life is but a passing day,
No lip may tell how brief its span;
Then oh! the little time we stay
Let’s speak of all the best we can.
by Author Unknown
Nay, speak no ill! - a kindly word
Can never leave a sting behind,
And, oh! to breathe each tale we’ve heard
Is far beneath a noble mind.
Full oft a better seed is sown
By choosing thus the kinder plan:
For if but little good be known,
Still let us speak the best we can.
Give me the heart that fain would hide -
Would fain another’s fault efface;
How can it pleasure human pride
To prove humanity but base?
No, let us reach a higher mood,
A nobler estimate of man;
Be earnest in the search for good,
And speak of all the best we can.
Then speak no ill - but lenient be
To others’ failings as your own;
If you’re the first a fault to see,
Be not the first to make it known.
For life is but a passing day,
No lip may tell how brief its span;
Then oh! the little time we stay
Let’s speak of all the best we can.
by Author Unknown
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Criticism
If an impulse comes to say
Some un-thoughtful word today
That may drive a friend away,
Don’t say it!
If you’ve heard a word of blame
Cast upon your neighbor’s name
That may injure his fair fame,
Don’t tell it!
If malicious gossip’s tongue
Some vile slander may have flung
On the head of old or young,
Don’t repeat it!
Thoughtful, kind, helpful speech,
’Tis a gift promised to each -
This, the lesson we would teach:
Don’t abuse it!
by Author Unknown
If an impulse comes to say
Some un-thoughtful word today
That may drive a friend away,
Don’t say it!
If you’ve heard a word of blame
Cast upon your neighbor’s name
That may injure his fair fame,
Don’t tell it!
If malicious gossip’s tongue
Some vile slander may have flung
On the head of old or young,
Don’t repeat it!
Thoughtful, kind, helpful speech,
’Tis a gift promised to each -
This, the lesson we would teach:
Don’t abuse it!
by Author Unknown
- Published on
The Thief
Why should I deprive my neighbor
Of his goods against his will?
Hands were made for honest labor,
Not to plunder or to steal.
’Tis a foolish self-deceiving
By such tricks to hope for gain:
All that’s ever got by thieving
Turns to sorrow, shame, and pain.
Have not Eve and Adam taught us
Their sad profit to compute?
To what dismal state they brought us
When they stole forbidden fruit?
Oft we see a young beginner
Practice little pilf’ring ways,
Till grown up a harden’d sinner;
Then the gallows ends his days.
Theft will not be always hidden,
Tho’ we fancy none can spy:
When we take a thing forbidden,
God beholds it with his eye.
Guard my heart, O God of Heav’n,
Lest I covet what’s not mine:
Lest I steal what is not giv’n,
Guard my heart and hands from sin.
by Isaac Watts
Isaac Watts was born on 17 July 1674 in Southampton, England. He became a Christian hymn writer, a theologian, and a logician. He is known for his more than 750 hymns, some of which are still sung in religious services. Isaac Watts passed on at 74 years of age on 25 November 1748 in Stoke Newington, England.
Why should I deprive my neighbor
Of his goods against his will?
Hands were made for honest labor,
Not to plunder or to steal.
’Tis a foolish self-deceiving
By such tricks to hope for gain:
All that’s ever got by thieving
Turns to sorrow, shame, and pain.
Have not Eve and Adam taught us
Their sad profit to compute?
To what dismal state they brought us
When they stole forbidden fruit?
Oft we see a young beginner
Practice little pilf’ring ways,
Till grown up a harden’d sinner;
Then the gallows ends his days.
Theft will not be always hidden,
Tho’ we fancy none can spy:
When we take a thing forbidden,
God beholds it with his eye.
Guard my heart, O God of Heav’n,
Lest I covet what’s not mine:
Lest I steal what is not giv’n,
Guard my heart and hands from sin.
by Isaac Watts
Isaac Watts was born on 17 July 1674 in Southampton, England. He became a Christian hymn writer, a theologian, and a logician. He is known for his more than 750 hymns, some of which are still sung in religious services. Isaac Watts passed on at 74 years of age on 25 November 1748 in Stoke Newington, England.
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Three Gates
If you are tempted to reveal
A tale to you someone has told
About another, make it pass,
Before you speak, three gates of gold.
These narrow gates: First, “Is it true?”
Then, “Is it needful?” In your mind
Give truthful answer. And the next
Is last and narrowest, “Is it kind?”
And if to reach your lips at last
It passes through these gateways three,
Then you may tell the tale, nor fear
What the result of speech may be.
by Beth Day (1835)
If you are tempted to reveal
A tale to you someone has told
About another, make it pass,
Before you speak, three gates of gold.
These narrow gates: First, “Is it true?”
Then, “Is it needful?” In your mind
Give truthful answer. And the next
Is last and narrowest, “Is it kind?”
And if to reach your lips at last
It passes through these gateways three,
Then you may tell the tale, nor fear
What the result of speech may be.
by Beth Day (1835)
