Virtues That Pay
You argue — as sympathy governs your bias —
That Wisdom distributes the capon and crust,
Indulging the sinful, and stinting the pious,
Or starving the wicked, and fattening the just.
You are wrong to the Evil One; hear what I say
There are ruinous virtues, and virtues that pay.
If your purpose be saving your soul and your bacon —
Fruition forthwith, and a sweet by-and-bye;
If your definite project stand clear and unshaken
A fatman on earth, and a seraph on high
In working this out let it still be your lay
There are ruinous virtues, and virtues that pay.
Such virtues are not of the workshop or cloister:
They test every act by the way it pans out;
They prompt you to seize on the world as your oyster,
Inserting our knife with a spirit devout.
For strait is the portal, and narrow the way
Representing the route of the virtues that pay.
Men as good as yourself, or most probably better,
Have gone to the rear, after many a try —
A permanent wage-slave, a usurers' debtor
Reduced to the motto of 'Root, hog or die,'
But their handicap dates from an earlier day,
When they failed in espousals of virtues that pay.
There is nothing outre in the man with the bluey;
He started, like you, for a goal undisclosed
But never in life can he come within coo-ee —
Though he may reach a goal, (with the vowels transposed)
And a similar Sheol gapes fair in your way,
If you turn out deficient in virtues that pay.
You must race, like St. Paul —you must race for the dollar —
No pause of compunction must ever intrude:
You must watch, you must pray, never missing a collar
The course is severe, and the company good.
You must reverence the Thrift-God, and earnestly pray
To be grounded and built up in virtues that pay.
By this means you will serve the Almighty and Mammon,
And die in a state of salvation and wealth;
When the clergy, without a suggestion of gammon,
Will furnish your soul with a clean bill of health.
So you'll sweep through the gates in your spotless array
A shining example of Virtues that pay.
poem by Joseph Furphy
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Related quotes
People
People
Have many
Virtues
And vices.
I have too ;)
I have many
Virtues but
My only
Vice is you
Though I
Don't feel
Guilty,
Indulging
In you ;)
poem by Aparna Chatterjee
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Character
Hard to develop.
Difficult to maintain.
Consistency is need of hour.
Stability is the soul.
Defining good virtues.
Exhale all your evil.
Inhale all virtues.
Hard to develop all virtues.
Win over your weakness
Keep some distance from evil
Refresh mind and heart.
Maintain your level of thought.
Stand on your thought.
Follow them as dream wish.
Difficult time is not a permanent feature.
Consistency will be standard.
Inner voice play major role.
Good or evil are only medium.
Choice is always doorstep of heart and mind.
This is all stand for character.
poem by Ajay Srivastava
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Virtues are acquired through endeavor, Which rests wholly upon yourself. So, to praise others for their virtues Can but encourage one's own efforts.
quote by Siddha Nagarjuna
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Barter With Virtues
You must be such as you respect yourself.
You must be such as you value yourself.
You must be such as you look at yourself.
Virtues in you fetch you virtues from others.
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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Garden of Soul
My soul’s garden must grow those plants
And trees and shrubs that yield good fruits;
Sin grows like weeds that stifle growth
Of virtues and more vices grow.
The grace of Almighty God comes
Down on soul’s garden as sun, rain,
As virtues grow in more numbers,
And sin-weeds turn a scarce member.
poem by John Celes
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The virtuousness
I doubt not the virtues of your mistress
But doubt your undue faith in her virtues.
Your confidence, not her reputation
Makes her virtuous, regardless of truth.
The one who suspects one’s mistress’ virtues
Makes her adulterous, regardless of truth,
And loses confidence to live with her.
Neither way is the mistress affected.
27.02.2009
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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Sins and pleasure
Pleasure of sins lures me to sin.
Sins of pleasure follow me in.
I sow sins to harvest pleasure
And sow pleasure to harvest sins.
Virtues might promise me pleasure
But it is sins that assure of it.
Sins are the food meant for senses.
Virtues are the food made of ego.
I do sins to derive pleasure
And then repent to cleanse my soul.
Virtues I stay with; sins I flirt with.
29.03.2007
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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Evil Slaves
Slaves of the evil one are around with trouble,
They do not hesitate once they exist with something;
To bite like a chosen slave abundantly clarifies the issue,
It invited me to shoot, a shooter is me.
The evil inside is like one of the aspects of life
Too dark. The dark one carries forth this message.
Slavery is like a dozen virtues all disgraced,
Yet lusts negate the virtues and fall to us.
poem by Naveed Akram
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As Far As My Eye Can See In My Body’s Senses
All the trees all their branches all of their leaves
The grass at the foot of the rocks and the houses en masse
Far off the sea that your eye bathes
These images of day after day
The vices the virtues so imperfect
The transparency of men passing among them by chance
And passing women breathed by your elegant obstinacies
Your obsessions in a heart of lead on virgin lips
The vices the virtues so imperfect
The likeness of looks of permission with eyes you conquer
The confusion of bodies wearinesses ardours
The imitation of words attitudes ideas
The vices the virtues so imperfect
Love is man incomplete
poem by Paul Eluard
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Man seems to be capable of great virtues but not of small virtues; capable of defying his torturer but not of keeping his temper.
quote by Gilbert K. Chesterton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Lights And Virtues
(Jackson Browne)
Here's to lights and virtues
Here's to truths yet to be known
Knowledge to light the darkness
The search for things of your own
Here's to lights and virtues
Here's to reaching higher ground
A life of hope and purpose
Here's to strength yet to be found
Honor - though it goes unrecognized
And truth - though liars abound
The pleasure of love and friendship
The courage to be alone
song performed by by Jackson Browne
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Black Colour
It was a black colour and,
That was my first love!
But innovations and creativity are the virtues of Art.
You will see me as i am and,
You will see him as he is;
You will see them as they are and,
You will see her as she is;
But innovations and creativity are the virtues of Art.
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
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Woman’s virtues
If you doubted your mistress’ virtues
She'd be adulterous though she’s not.
If you trusted your mistress’ virtues
She'd be virtuous though she’s not.
Thus you make your life a hell or a heaven.
Neither hell nor heaven would be her abode.
04.03.2009
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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Lights & Virtues
(by jackson browne)
Heres to lights and virtues
Heres to truths yet to be known
Knowledge to light the darkness
The search for things of your own
Heres to lights and virtues
Heres to reaching higher ground
A life of hope and purpose
Heres to strength yet to be found
Honor -- though it goes unrecognized
And truth -- though liars abound
The pleasure of love and friendship
The courage to be alone
song performed by by Jackson Browne
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Mason the hidden ascendancy
created in a form of a builder, used for a
thousand years by many wishes Pharos
in the ancient civilization
an excellent makers and builders of the
great phyramids, whose antiquity never
been question, since in time of memoriam
a virtues founded the value of knowing the
most sacred context in secret of the gate
heaven, the eternal passion of every soul
uniting the impossible to create a wonder
of what the human existence perceived as
the perfect unifying force in worshipping
the trueness of God in the universe
Masonry is the quality of virtues, ascended
from generation to generations by examples
of the Knights of the Templar, who’s ultimate
goal is to raise the dignity of each human
condition in the world full of magic and
polarization
as the world has come to an end with exploitation
corruption, hunger, volatile political atmosphere,
the shield of the Mason lives and conquers all the
adversaries of this new age
sons and daughters of men of virtues stand up and
carry your flags, now is time to act of what is
meant to hold all your strength to uplift our dear
brothers and sisters in distress
poem by Antonio Liao
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Sonnet- You Can't Have Opposites
When vices, virtues are but parallel lines,
The former moves backward, latter forward;
No one can take the mixture of such wines;
No one can be both fish and also bird.
There isn't a hybrid of vices, virtues;
There isn't a place where both of them can meet;
Just one and only one, a man must choose;
You can't have Heaven's joy and Hell's great heat!
The virtuous way is like climbing a hill;
The road to vice is like slipping from one;
While God rewards Heaven as former's bill,
The latter, yields hell's eternal fire-den!
One can't be both a good and bad a man;
You try to have Heaven and hell, how can?
poem by John Celes
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Sonnet- You Can't Have Opposites
When vice and virtues are but parallel lines,
The former moves backward, latter forward;
No one can take the mixture of such wines;
No one can be both fish and also bird.
There ain't a hybrid of vice and virtues;
There ain't a place where both of them can meet;
Just one and only one, a man must choose;
You can't have Heaven's joy and Hell's great heat.
The virtuous way is like climbing a hill;
The road to vice is like slipping from one;
While God rewards Heaven as former's bill,
The latter, yields hell's eternal fire-den!
One can't be both a good and bad a man;
You try to have Heaven and hell, how can?
poem by John Celes
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A man’s tendency
Man, you might be richer with wealth
But I am neither poorer,
With my bowl content with contents.
Man, you might be stronger with power
But I am neither weaker,
With my sac’s wants empty.
Why must I fall behind you?
Woman, you might be poorer in looks
I am not richer either
With my kit of virtues torn.
Woman, you are weaker in virtues
I am not richer either
With my bag of conscience worn.
That is why I fall behind you.
31.12.2006
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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Comfortable Kindness
The comfortable has a region,
We have no excellent virtue
But the virtue of virtues,
For this compels our comfort.
Damaged we stay, and defenceless;
Defend us now that dirt arises,
From the days of broken natures.
Complete my exact existence,
Instil the hearts you hear with kindness.
The disillusioned beliefs infer a madness
That we have no complex with,
Just deeds are again our command.
Common virtues shall attain our circle,
The circle of kindness and relief.
poem by Naveed Akram
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No harm to fault
Cultures differ with countries
And over centuries.
Virtues differ with countries
And over centuries.
No harm if you have faulted
In culture and virtues.
It might suit somewhere and sometime.
Don’t judge from your culture
The one coming from another culture.
25.11.2007
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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