- Never exact of a friend in adversity what you would require in prosperity.
- If a man prove himself to be honest in his deal, and an enemy come upon him wickedly (through fraud or false pretences) and, because he is stronger than he, maketh him his prisoner and spoil him with his goods, never say unto that man in the day of his adversity, Pay me what thou owest; for if thou doest it, thou addest a deeper wound, and condemnation shall come upon thee, and the riches shall be justified in the days of thine adversity if they mock at thee.
- Never afflict thy soul for what an enemy hath put it out of thy power to do, if thy desires are ever so just.
- Let thy hand never fail to hand out that that thou owest while it is yet within thy grasp to do so, but when thy stock fails, say to thy heart, Be strong, and to thine anxieties, Cease, for man, what is he? He is but dung upon the earth, and although he demand of thee the cattle of a thousand hills, he cannot possess himself of his own life. God made him and thee and gave all things in common.
- There is one thing under the sun which I have learned and that is that the righteousness of man is sin because it exacteth over much. Nevertheless, the righteousness of God is just because it exacteth nothing at all, but sendeth the rain on the just and the unjust, seed time and harvest, for all of which man is ungrateful.
- The finest steel doth show a brighter polish the more you rub the same; e’en so, in love, rebuke will ne’er demolish a wise man’s goodly name.
- For a man to be a great man, he must not dwell upon small things, though he may enjoy them.
SECTION 155
THE PROVERBS OF JOSEPH SMITH JR.