Book of Wise Sayings Selected Largely from Eastern Sources — Background and Themes

The Preface as a Defense of Aphoristic Wisdom

Clouston’s preface is not a mere formality; it is a carefully reasoned argument for the genre. He acknowledges that “wilful waste leads to woful want” is a saying known from childhood, yet people still waste money. Rather than dismissing maxims as useless, he suggests that their force is felt more keenly in middle age, when one regrets not having heeded them. He distinguishes between “goody” books—those overlaid with “commonplace and wearisome reflections”—and the concentrated wisdom of a “striking aphorism.” The preface thus frames the collection as a practical tool, not a literary ornament.

Range of Sources: From Buddhist Sutras to English Poets

The excerpts reveal a broad chronological and geographical sweep. Entries are attributed to the Dhammapada (a Buddhist scripture), the Hitopadesa (a Sanskrit fable collection), the Mahābhārata, and the Persian poet Sa‘dī. But Clouston also includes Western authors: the English poet Samuel Butler, the physician Sir Thomas Browne, the philosopher John Tillotson, and the French writer Rabelais. The sayings are numbered sequentially (e.g., 340–359 in the sample), and each is credited to a source, though the attribution is often a single name or title without further context. This juxtaposition of Eastern and Western voices is the book’s defining structural feature.

Recurring Themes: Self-Knowledge, Vice, and the Paradox of Pleasure

Several thematic threads run through the selected entries. One is the difficulty of perceiving one’s own faults: the Dhammapada compares a man who hides his own faults to a cheat hiding false dice. Another is the connection between toil and pleasure, expressed by Livy and echoed in a saying from Menander that “nature brings good out of evil.” A third is the critique of hypocrisy: Chamberlain’s image of “a saddle of gold clapped upon a galled horse” condemns fair words without deeds. These recurring concerns give the collection a moral coherence beyond mere miscellany.

Readers approaching this book should treat it as a reference to be browsed rather than read straight through. The sayings vary in length from a single line to several sentences, and the attributions are often minimal. Clouston’s preface provides the best entry point, as it explains his rationale for gathering these texts. The collection rewards those who pause over individual entries and consider how the same wisdom appears in different cultural guises.

I found myself thinking of Clouston’s little book of wise sayings the other evening, and how its gentle insistence on practical moral truths lingered with me. That same feeling of quiet, grounded guidance returned when I later opened Gleanings of a Mystic: A Series of Essays on Practical Mysticism — Background and Themes. Both seemed to whisper, not preach, that wisdom lives in small, daily gestures.