GRUKS

A few Gruks

Below is a few of Piet Hein's "Grooks", as his poems were known.
He wrote in several languages.  This from Esperanto.

T.T.T
Put up in a place
where it's easy to see
the cryptic admonishment
T.T.T.
When you feel how depressingly
slowly you climb,
it's well to remember that
Things Take Time.

NAIVE
Naive you are
if you believe
life favours those
who aren't naive.

PROBLEMS
Problems worthy
of attack
prove their worth
by hitting back.

THE ROAD TO WISDOM
The road to wisdom? - Well, it's plain
and simple to express:
Err
and err
and err again
but less
and less
and less.

A PSYCHOLOGICAL TIP
Whenever you're called on to make up your mind,
and you're hampered by not having any,
the best way to solve the dilemma, you'll find,
is simply by spinning a penny.
No - not so that chance shall decide the affair
while you're passively standing there moping;
but the moment the penny is up in the air,
you suddenly know what you're hoping.

ARS BREVIS
There is
one art,
no more,
no less:
to do
all things
with art-
lessness

AN ETHICAL GROOK
I see
and I hear
and I speak no evil;
I carry
no malice
within my breast;
yet quite without
wishing
a man to the Devil
one may be
permitted
to hope for the best.

A WORD TO THE WISE
Let the world pass in its time-ridden race;
never get caught in its snare.
Remember, the only acceptable case
for being in any particular place
is having no business there.

MEETING THE EYE You'll probably find
that it suits your book
to be a bit cleverer
than you look.

Observe that the easiest
method by far
is to look a bit stupider
than you are.

LIVING IS -
Living is
a thing you do
now or never -
which do you?

 

UNDERSTANDING

He who foolishness

only foolishly takes,

and seriousness

only seriously,

misunderstands them both

completely.

 

CONSOLATION GROOK

Losing one glove
is certainly painful,
but nothing
compared to the pain,
of losing one,
throwing away the other,
and finding

the first one again.