The Kural or the Maxims of Tiruvalluvar/Chapter 100
CHAPTER 100
COURTEOUSNESS
991. Courteousness, they say, cometh easily to those who receive all men with open arms.
992. Courteousness cometh of the combination of the two virtues of kindness and good-breeding.
993. Men are likened to each other not by the cut of their personal appearance, but by the similarity of their manners.
994. Behold the men who love justice and righteousness, and who are of a helpful disposition: the world setteth a high value on their manners.
995. Disparaging words pain a man even when uttered only in jest: the well-bred therefore are never discourteous even to their foes.
996. The world goeth on smoothly because of the men of good-breeding : verily, but for them all this harmony would be dead and buried in the dust.
997. Though they are sharp as files, the men that are lacking in good manners are no better than mere wooden stocks.
998. Discourtesy is unbecoming in a man, even were it only against men who are unfriendly and unjust.
999. Behold the men who cannot smile : in all the wide, wide world they will see nothing but darkness even during the day.
1000. Behold the wealth in the hands of the churlish man : it is even as the milk that is spoiled for being kept in an unclean vessel.
