More from Sem Tob's Proverbios Morales

Sem Tob de Carrión(1290-1369)
(Sem Tob ben Ishaq ibn Ardutiel)

In the world there is no treasure like wisdom

No inheritance, thing or possession.

For wisdom is God's grace and glory.



That is why there is no nobler jewel,

greater gain,

or a better boon companion than a book.

Nor anything that once you take a liking to it

brings greater peace.

Because the more you struggle with a book

the more you'll gain wisdom in turn.


Any wise man I wish to meet

I'll find him there and

I can converse with him still

The best of sages

and honored philosophers

that one could hope or wish for.


What I wanted to learn from those sages

were their saying and their wisdom.

Well there you'll find it in the same book

And you'll have their answer dictated to you right there inside.


From such great wisdom you learn new things for sure

as well as from the glosses they wrote on the text.


So I wish to read the sages' letters and verses

if I cannot meet them in flesh and blood.


They left their wisdom written pure

and summed up their heavenly knowledge

and clear understanding

without any mix of bodyliness

or earthly trace for that matter.


For this reason alone

any sane man would wish to meet these sages

but not in the flesh.


Thus there is no friend like a book

-For sages I mean.

I'm not concerned with idiots here-


I don't even mind that

being a wise man's servant

or an idiot's master

both have their price.


But the fool is the worst animal

in the world,

that is for certain.


He understands nothing

but disloyalty

and pleasures in nothing but evil deeds.


What the beast most diligently intends

he spends in trickery and evil


Man can have no better friend

than wisdom

and no graver enemy

than idiocy.