Sayings of Klingon BetleH Masters

This was collected from the BetleH Master K'rn, but should be considered a collection of the traditional wisdom of Klingons not original with him.

In the beginning there were many gods. They created many peoples and distributed among them all the qualities wisdom, courage, greed, which would ever be. The Klingon's received nine tenths of all the courage in the universe. The other one tenth was distributed between all the other peoples. (Possibly the Ferengi grabbed nine tenths of all the greed.) The gods seeing how strong and courageous the Klingon's were became frightened and determined to destroy them. In the battle which followed all the gods were killed and their dwellings left forever empty. Since then the Klingons have only worshiped the warrior spirit which is theirs, especially as it is perfected in Kahless the First Emperor who gave the Klingons the BetleH and is said to have authored many of the parables in this book. (Many books like this exist in the Klingon Tradition and are attributed to the First Emperor Kahless, as many wisdom books in the Human Tradition are attributed to King Solomon. A book like this might typically be entitled 'The Words" or "Wisdom of Kahless". Modern scholarship has come to question the fact that Kahless was actually the author of everything attributed to him, though there is evidence of many of these sayings originating in his time, possibly from him. Kahless could be seen from the Judaic human tradition as a sort of combination of Samson, David and Solomon. In some ways closer parallel from human tradition is Buddha the founder of Buddhism. Some scholars from outside the Klingon empire suggest that the tradition of a battle in which the Klingon's slew the gods reflects a period when the Klingon warrior class fought a budding priestly class for control of society.)

Prologue

The fundamentals of wisdom are as universal as the fundamentals of physics and mathematics. Every sentient species in the galaxy has discovered what are basically the same rules concerning living the 'good' life just as they have discovered the same fundamental rules of gravity, thermodynamics and mathematics. Thus any collection of wisdom literature of one people is bound to be as similar to the wisdom literature of another people as their textbooks on mathematics and physics. This does not mean that differences do not exist. A mathematics textbook written in base ten is very different from one written in octal or hexadecimal. Similarly technology and institutions based on the same fundamental laws of nature which determine wisdom can be very different. Consider the difference between the terran air vehicles the zeppelin and the helicopter. Both transport people and goods through the air, both can hover above a given point, both obey the same fundamental laws of physics and aerodynamics, but they are not identical. Similarly, Klingon wisdom literature and human literature are both identical in some points and very different in some points.

One of the most interesting differences between Klingon and Human wisdom literature is the absence in Klingon of one of the most universal of Terran proverbs. Klingon wisdom literature does not possess the 'golden rule' which goes "Do not do unto others what you would not have others do unto you". This rule has been stated in human societies by Greek philosophers, Jewish Rabbi's, and the philosophers of China. The closest thing to this rule in Klingon is the rule "Do not allow others to do unto others what you would not have them do unto you" which is attributed to the First Emperor Kahless after he slew the Tyrant Molor. This is very similar in wording, but not exactly the same. It reflects a difference in approach to protecting the self. Humans attempt to protect their rights by not attacking others. The human hopes that by being nice others will be nice to him. Klingons protect their rights by banding together to prevent others from abusing them. In real meaning the Klingon saying is closer to the human saying "The enemies of your enemies are your friends". A Klingon knows that if another Klingon gets the power to enslave or kill his neighbor, he will also be enslaved and killed if he does not band together with his neighbor in self-defense. Thus the saying, "Do not allow others to do unto others what you would not have them do unto you". The Klingon BetleH master Benjamin Franklin stated this principle during the Revolution, "If we do not all hang together then we shall assuredly all hang separately".

A human would never see that their two proverbs 'do not do unto others what you would not have others do unto you' and 'the enemy of your enemy is your friend' are identical in their role in society, guaranteeing the self, protection from abuse by others. To a Klingon, of course, this is as obvious as the basic superiority of Klingon to Human. Both of these sayings strike the Klingon as being weak. One tells the Klingon not to act in his own interest if he can. The other tells him that temporary allies are really friends. They are very silly sayings.

The one Klingon saying, "Do not allow others to do unto others what you would not have them do unto you" explains a great deal about the difference in history and political institutions between the Klingon Empire and Humans. Humans because of their weakness and lack of warrior spirit have never been as ready to defend themselves to the death as Klingons. Thus they need complicated, formal, political and legal systems to attempt to protect their rights. A Klingon knows that he is surrounded by warriors ready to die in combat if offended or abused. He also knows that they will band together and destroy him if he abuses them. This simple knowledge that every Klingon knows keeps Klingon leaders from overstepping their bounds and abusing their Klingon subjects. There has never been a holocaust in Klingon history. Klingons always died in combat before they could be slaughtered like Ha'DlbaH. It is impossible to systematically violate the rights of a warrior race like the Klingons the way that humans have abused each other in their history. Thus, the many legal and political safeguards which humans have evolved to prevent such abuses do not exist in Klingon society and strike the Klingon as silly and useless. Formally the Klingon appears to have fewer legal safeguards of his rights and dignities than the subjects of Human societies. In reality his rights and dignity are guarded by the Klingon nature and attitude, expressed in the saying, "Do not allow others to do unto others what you would not have them do unto you" far more surely than human rights and dignities are protected from abuse by their many 'parchment' guarantees.

It is useful at this point to discuss Klingon institutions in terms of Human institutions. One of the problems involved in this is that Humans are, at best, a weak and cowardly species inherently incapable of staring reality in the face. Reality is just too cruel for them to deal with. This means that unless forced by circumstances to deal with reality they develop elaborate fantasies in which they live until those fantasies become so far divorced from reality that their society becomes temporarily insane and self-destructs. These periods of self-destruction are followed by temporary periods of relative sanity during which the recent experience of reality remains fresh in their minds and their natural tendency to fantasize about reality and attempt to live in a fantasy world is restrained. This means that much of what Humans have written about their history and institutions is little more than the figments of madmen out of touch with reality. One can find reliable sources on Human history and institutions only by seeking those books written during these brief periods of temporary sanity. Another problem in attempting to discuss Klingon institutions with Humans in terms of Human institutions is that Humans are almost as ignorant of their own history and institutions as they are of Klingon institutions. This ignorance of their own past culture and institutions is made even worse by their congenital desire to build elaborate fantasies about their past culture and institutions. The Klingon scholar attempting to discuss Human institutions with Humans frequently feels that he is involved in a dialogue with lunatics recently escaped from bedlam.

One of these temporary extremes of insanity followed by a short period of sanity occurred in the 20th Century. War does not allow fantasies to survive. People who go to war while living in a fantasy world are brought face to face in a shockingly abrupt manner with reality. There was a period of 40 years of relative peace among the European powers. During this period each European nation followed the natural human tendency to drift off into a fantasy world. In this fantasy world they were all better, nobler, greater etc. than they were in reality. After awhile the pretensions of one nation convinced of its own illusions about its own greatness conflicted with the pretensions of other nations convinced of their own illusions concerning their greatness. None could conceive of a realistic measure of their own strength or the potential strength of their opponents. This meant that they entered into war not as Klingons do realistically understanding the consequence but as humans do, their heads filled with fantasies about their own greatness and delusions about the inferiority of their enemies. Naturally this meant that the war was fought unrealistically, the cost in lives and resources was far greater than any were prepared for. You would think that this sudden smashing of reality into their fantasies would have produced one of the temporary periods of sanity which does occasionally occur in human history. That would be to underestimate the human capacity to ignore reality and persist in living in their fantasy worlds. After WWI the insanity of humanity was temporarily increased and made even more apparent. The two sides respectively retreated deeper and deeper into their own fantasies about themselves. The victors showed this insanity by insisting on a punitive peace with the vanquished. Their fantasies about their own power, nobility, and 'goodness', coupled with their fantasies about their opponents weakness, viciousness, and 'evil' made it impossible for them to make a just peace with their vanquished foes.

On the part of the foes the defeat they suffered was crushing to their fantasies about themselves as a warrior people, this coupled with the unjust and degrading peace they had been forced to accept drove them even more deeply into insane fantasies about their superiority to all other human peoples. The natural result of two groups of humans driven even more deeply into their fantasy worlds by a brief contact with brutal reality was a second bout of total insanity even more insane than the first. This was called WWII. Humans would deal more effectively with reality if they fought limited wars more often. This would decrease their unfortunate tendency to blindly and insanely blunder into total war. Long periods of peace allow them to become dangerously enmeshed in their fantasies about themselves.

It will be impossible for many Klingons reading this to credit what the Germans did during WWII as having actually happened. The natural tendency of Klingons hearing about it will be to reject it as a propaganda fantasy made up by Humans about other Humans just as Humans made up so many lies about Klingons. Still the historical record is irrefutable. During WWII the Germans systematically exterminated millions of their own citizens and diverted huge quantities of essential military resources to doing so while engaged in a life and death struggle with a powerful enemy. Both Human and Klingon can agree that this is insane. The Human claims to be horrified by the inhumanity of murdering unarmed civilians. The very idea of an unarmed civilian is difficult for a Klingon to understand. Klingons by nature are warriors, they are by nature neither unarmed nor civilian. The Klingon is horrified by the waste of military resources in the Holocaust. Millions of potential soldiers were marched off to death camps instead of being armed and trained to fight. Tens or even hundreds of thousands of the same peoples who were murdered in the death camps had fought alongside the other Germans in WWI. Many of them had received the Iron Cross, the highest award for courage the Germans awarded. How many divisions Oh Kahless, how many divisions of their own troops did the Germans murder in cold blood? By the end of the war the Germans were recruiting children and the very old to fill their armies while they continued, even increased their murder of their own citizens of military age in death camps. No Klingon hearing about this can credit that it ever actually occurred. Still the historical facts are unquestionable. It did indeed occur and it reminds us of the fact that Humans are indeed an alien race, a race sufficiently alien to appear dangerously insane to the Klingon.

After these events the Humans developed a saying about the Holocaust. "First they came for the homosexuals and I did nothing, then they came for the Jews and I did nothing, then they came for the Gypsies and I did nothing. Then they came for me and no one was left to help me." The moral of this is not to let others do to others what you would not want them to do to you. Humans came to a vague and imperfect understanding of this idea after millenia of mass murder and genocide. It has been a cornerstone of Klingon Tradition throughout history, showing the inherent and natural superiority of Klingon to Human moral and ethical tradition.

This second bout of total insanity did produce one of those rare periods in Human history which appear relatively sane. Even though the Germans after WWII were unquestionably guilty of far worse actions during WWII than they had been during WWI, the Allies devoted great effort to their reconstruction. Instead of a punitive peace which reduced them to desperation and degraded them as a people the Allies loaned them money and experts and gave them every possible aid in rebuilding their countries after the end of the war. This was the sane, not the moral thing to do. After WWII the Allies split into two camps, but with the memory of WWII fresh in their minds they did not immediately begin yet a third world war but entered the Cold War period. A period of limited and controlled warfare testing each others economic and military strength. To a large degree humans remained relatively sane for several decades following WWII. It is possible to find useful books on human history and institutions written around this period.

Towards the beginning the the events discussed above a couple, Will and Ariel Durant began a monumental history of Human Civilization from the earliest evidence they were aware of until the Napoleonic era. It was written during a period spanning the beginnings of WWII towards the end of the Cold War a total of about 70 years of their lives was spent in completing its eleven volumes. It appears to be one of the most sane and trustworthy human histories ever written. In my study of Humans I have read it through three times. Much of what I have to say concerning Human institutions is based on these eleven volumes, especially the first three. It may be new and shocking to Humans who are generally inclined to live in a fantasy world regarding their own past, culture and institutions. I recommend it to all scholars attempting to find a reliable source on human history.

There are a number of parallels between Klingon and Human institutions. Buddhism, Judaism and Confucianism provide parallels with certain elements of what might be termed Klingon religion, though religion for the Human is the emulation of peacemakers while for the Klingon it is the emulation of the greatest warriors. Roman households and Japanese clans provide certain elements of similarity with Klingon clan keeps. Let us take Buddhism and Klingon beliefs concerning the Gods. Buddha was a descendant of the Kshatrya caste in India. He had the pride of a member of a warrior class. He rejected the very question of whether or not a God or Gods exist as irrelevant to dealing with life. Buddhism is an agnostic religion, a religion without Gods. In this it is similar to Klingon religious tradition which rejects the Gods by stating that the Klingons destroyed them all at the beginning of history. Buddhism has a tradition of great men arising who perfectly fulfill the ideals of their religions and become Buddha's or Bodhisatva themselves. Klingon has a tradition of great Klingons who perfectly emulate Kahless and become the perfect embodiment of the warrior spirit. The Bodhisatva's of Buddhist tradition are paralleled by many legendary warriors in the Klingon tradition. While the specific ideals emulated are very different the attitudes about the existence of Gods and the ability of people to emulate and fulfill those ideals are similar. Still there is another fundamental difference between Klingon tradition and Buddhism. This lies in the attitude towards the world. This difference helps to highlight the fundamental difference between Klingon and Human. In Buddhism life is considered to not really be worth living. The joys of life are considered to not be good enough make suffering the ills of life worthwhile. The Buddhist ideal is Nirvana, freedom from existence. This makes the universal human tendency to flee from the ugly facts of reality one of humanities highest religious ideals. Klingon belief does not embrace the idea of fleeing from reality. The Klingon ideal is to deal with reality as a warrior. Klingons embrace reality, either as they embrace a lover or as they embrace a foe, but they embrace it passionately. The Buddhist ideal is freedom from passion. The Klingon ideal is passion perfected in the warrior tradition. Buddhism assumes that the soul is reborn over and over again until it is perfected and vanishes in Nirvana. Klingon tradition has the souls of the brave entering Sto-Vo-Kor to dwell with Kahless. This is similar to the Norse tradition of Valhalla save for the absence of gods who were slain by the Klingon's.

Confucianism is also basically an agnostic tradition. Confucius dismissed questions about spirits and gods by asking his students if they could not understand human affairs how could they attempt to understand the affairs of spirits. Confucius also did not reject the world. In embracing and dealing with the world, Confucianism is close to the Klingon attitude towards reality. The teachings of Confucius are concerned with dealing with reality in a practical manner. He endorses religious ceremonies because of their role in promoting stability, without comment on their truth or falsehood. Klingons dealing with people Klingon or otherwise who still believe in gods tend to take this same position. The Confucian tradition may be considered by Klingons to be the sanest of the many religious traditions of Humans.

Judaism is a very scholarly religious tradition. It has a long tradition of scholarship and makes dedication to scholarship one of its highest values. In this it is similar to the Klingon tradition. The difference is in what is studied. Judaism occupies itself with the study of the law of Moses. Klingon tradition occupies itself with the study of war and the way of the warrior. Still total dedication to study and discipline creates many parallels between the traditions of Judaism and Klingon tradition.

There are parallels between the Roman and Japanese and Klingon institutions in the organization of their households. In Rome they practiced a form of ancestor worship along with the worship of their state Gods. The ancestors were commemorated and constantly present in the Roman house through the presence of their busts or statues. A Roman youth growing up would be constantly reminded of the heroic deeds of his house and his ancestors by the physical presence of their likenesses all around him. Klingons have a similar practice. Still, the Roman household was a part of the Roman City State. Its traditions were very closely linked to that of the City and did not exist really independently of the City. The Japanese had numbers of Clans each with its own territory, tradition, and specific martial art which was taught as secret knowledge within the Clan. The Klingon tradition is intermediate between the Japanese and Roman. The Klingon clan is more independent in its existence than the Roman house, but not as independent as the Japanese Clan. The Klingon tradition is more like the Japanese than the Roman with regards to martial arts and training. Like the Japanese all great Klingon houses have their own traditional methods and techniques taught as family secrets only within the clan. In the Klingon Betleh DuSaQ there will always be a bust or statue of Kahless the First Emperor, and with it also the busts or statues of the great warriors of that school or tradition. Since for most of Klingon history these traditions were held as clan secrets, these will also be the great ancestral warriors of that Klingon house. In many instances descent to Kahless himself is claimed with varying degrees of authenticity.

In the Hagakure of Japan, the aged Samurai Yamamoto Tsunetomo notes repeatedly that the great warriors of the past were generally rowdies. They were passionate men and their passions exploded in their everyday lives. He notes that in his time men were less rowdy but maintains that they are not necessarily less ready to die. This change in the character of the Japanese warrior may be attributed to the Tokugawa Shogunate. Among other things the Tokugawa Shogunate encouraged Buddhism as a means of maintaining an orderly society. The Japanese warrior came to embrace many Buddhist ideals and thus became less passionate and therefore less rowdy. The Klingon remains 'rowdy' or passionate in his behavior. Klingon society accepts this as part of the way of the warrior. While maintaining his passion about life, the Klingon warrior is still taught to use passion, not to let it blind him or make him unrealistic in dealing with life. The ideal of the Klingon is not freedom from passion but passion perfected in the way of the warrior.

While there are fundamental differences between Klingon wisdom literature and tradition and that of humans there are even more areas of similarity. In many cases the social institutions of Klingon and human have followed parallel evolutionary courses dictated by laws of nature as inflexible as those of physics or mathematics. One of these areas is the value of silence as opposed to speech. This principle has been advanced in every human society and is even more important in Klingon society. Klingons being a warlike belligerent people are strongly inclined to express their opinions even when it is unwise to do so. To counteract this, Klingon wisdom literature emphasizes the value of being silent and speaking only when you know what you are talking about even more strongly than the very strong tradition of similar teachings among humans. A very strong natural tendency in one direction forces a culture to evolve a strong tradition to limit that tendency.

These places where human and Klingon wisdom literature are similar or even identical exist, and they have been expressed throughout human history by some of the greatest and wisest leaders of humanity. Thus it is possible to say that there have been Klingon BetleH plna' in every continent in every culture in every age of human history. A good proverb should be short, it should be phrased to have maximum impact. This means that there is an optimum way of saying it. One or two best ways of expressing the idea exist. Such ideas have been expressed identically or almost identically by members of every major space faring species known to the Klingons be they Human, Romulan, or even Ferengi.

When a Klingon BetleH plna' encounters the words of such a being, expressing in identical or near identical terms these fundamental truths he can say I have found the words of a fellow Klingon BetleH plna'. Thus I can say that there have been Klingon Betleh Masters on every continent in every culture and every age of human history. A human who is familiar with any of the major wisdom traditions of earth will find much in the sayings of BetleH Masters which is familiar to him. The sayings in this book will thus seem both strangely familiar and strangely different to the human familiar with his own wisdom traditions.

Jews may be struck by the similarity of much in this book to their own Talmudic traditions. Japanese might be struck by a similarity in attitude to much of their traditions as expressed in their Hagakure. Still, if the Jews were to read the Hagakure and the Japanese the Talmud, they would find entire passages in these two separate traditions which could be transposed with little or no change, while many of the values and the subtle emphasis of those values would be different. True wisdom literature is universal. In studying these matters, comparing the Klingon tradition to the human tradition I have read much of human wisdom literature. Many times I have been struck by this similarity. A list of the books I studied of human wisdom while composing this collection of Klingon sayings is given below. Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, Mark Twain, and others may all be honestly called Klingon BetleH masters in the sense that some of their sayings are identical to, or almost identical to similar Klingon proverbs. Thus it can also be said that Shakespeare was a Klingon.

In the decadent, weak, and decaying state of human society today, many young humans have turned to Klingon traditions and wisdom as something novel and entertaining. Studying this selection of Klingon wisdom literature will therefore be attractive to them as studying their own wisdom traditions are not. Because all true wisdom is universal, studying Klingon wisdom will help them as much or more than studying their own would. It is true that Klingon wisdom literature has a different flavor than much human wisdom literature. It is more forcefully expressed, more combative, and more sharply flavored. Still, the truths it expresses are universal, and studying it can only improve the human youths who do so. Parts of its may seem strange to their parents, even disturbing. Still, change a word here, shift an emphasis there, and it will seem strangely familiar. Therefore humans, if your sons are reading this book do not be disturbed, it can only improve them and make them strong, even in dealing with human problems in a human society.

The Words of Kahless

This statement is sometimes required of students beginning their study in a BetleH DuSaQ (school). "I don't know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned with what his grandson will be." It signifies that hereditary rank vanishes in the DuSaQ. Students are judged on their own merits.

A Klingon may swear an oath by the back and edge of his BatleH. In Klingon, to say that someone stood firm "back and edge" means entirely or completely.

Better to be over-manned than over-tooled. (Refers to the weight of the BetleH, better that the tool be light for the man than too heavy.)

It is ill jesting with edged tools.

It is no festival unless there be some fighting.

The best BetleH pln'a (master) in the world does not need to fear the second best. The person for him to be afraid of is the amateur who does the unexpected and catches him unawares.

If you cannot bite never show your teeth.

Many talk of Kahless who never raised BetleH.

The music of life is in danger of being lost in the music of the voice.

People with busy tongues generally do nothing but talk.

The more said the less done.

People who are eager to do something tomorrow generally do nothing today and it is always today.

The cock and the owl both await daybreak. The cock says, "Daybreak brings me delight, but what are you waiting for?"

Two birds disputed about a kernal while a third swooped down and carried it off.

Say little, do much.

The sun will set without your help.

Practice today, not tomorrow.

Knowledge without practice makes but half an artist.

All things are difficult before they are easy.

He that loves measure and skill oft has his will.

Skill and confidence are an unconquered army.

No pain, no gain. (Amusingly, this Klingon proverb about training has a human equivalent as early as the year 1589 in England, in this sense pain means effort not necessarily suffering. Amusingly travail means work in the human language French and suffering in English.)

Pain past is pleasure and experience comes from it.

Pleasure has a sting in its tail.

A small coin in a large jar makes a great noise.

There are three classes in the students of the BetleH, he ranks first who asks and answers when asked, he ranks second who asks but does not answer and he ranks last who neither asks nor answers.

People remember your brave deeds better if you constantly perform more brave deeds.

Old praise dies unless you feed it with new deeds.

Few words and many deeds are best.

Some say it is easier to praise bravery than to be brave. In truth it takes bravery to do either.

He who seeks for a faultless brother will have to remain brotherless.

He who eats his dinner alone must saddle his 'erves (warhorse) alone.

Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have someone to share it with.

Defeat is the result of inactivity as surely as of mistakes.

There is no fault in trying and failing, the fault is in quitting.

Fools suffer more to avoid danger than brave men suffer in facing it.

The more wit the less courage.

A fool and water will go the way they are diverted.

All is lost that is put into a cracked dish.

Do not waste a new haft on an old blade. (Don't throw good money after bad.)

Fools make their own bad luck then blame their failure on it.

Most things have two handles and the wise man takes hold of the best.

Unhappy is he who mistakes the branch for the tree, the shadow for the substance.

Cast not at the shadow and lose the substance.

You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.

Good and evil are chiefly in the imagination.

Wood may remain in the water for ten years, it will still not become a crocodile.

Whether you boil snow or bake it you can have only water of it.

Asking a fool for advice is like casting a bucket into a dry well.

By the time the fool has learned the game, the players have left.

It does not require money to be neat, clean, and dignified.

If a man is wealthy, he may wear an old cloth.

Small things and big things. For a fool small things are beneath his dignity, and big things are too big to attempt. A brave warrior treats small things as important and big things as small matters.

The joy lies in the fight, in the attempt, in the suffering involved, not in the victory itself.

Give yourself advice before you need it. Set your mind first then when the situation arises you will be untroubled.

Listen to the advice of others. It takes bravery to admit to being wrong.

The best mirror is an old friend.

A friends frown is better than a foes smile or a fools embrace.

Many people give advice, but it takes wisdom to learn from it.

It is tempting to do what others do, sometimes it is wiser to do what they say.

Wise courtiers advise their rulers to do what the rulers want. Brave warriors tell the truth and sometimes die.

Giving advice is like striking with the BetleH, it is best to be quick and deep.

Good words are wasted on worthless people.

If you wish to see the wise behave like fools, watch them with their children.

Smile at the follies of youth, remember your own and smile again.

The wise warrior will never entrust secrets to those who sell him secrets.

One may love the treason yet hate the traitor.

If you are in hiding, don't light a fire.

Forget the things you cannot change.

The Ha'DlbaH complains of the cold even in the hot season.

The Ha'DlbaH wanted to have horns and they took away his ears.

Every time the Ha'DlbaH bleats it loses a mouthful.

If the Ha'DlbaH is king bow before him.

The end of an Ha'DlbaH is ghoQ (meat), the end of a lie is grief.

If your friends agree in calling you a H'DlbaH, go and get a halter around thee.

Rather be the tail among lions than the head among H'DlbaH.

When the H'DlbaH is down many are the butchers.

If you call a tail a leg, how many legs has a H'DlbaH? Five. No; calling a tail a leg don't make it a leg.

If warriors become H'DlbaH then the wolf will devour them.

One diseased H'DlbaH infects the whole flock.

It is foolish to lose a H'DlbaH to save an ounce of ointment.

The dust raised by the H'DlbaH does not choke the wolf.

First learn, then teach.

First learn, then discern.

Action is the proper fruit of knowledge.

Those who make the fewest mistakes win the fight.

Few are they who see their own faults.

Experience does not come cheaply.

The wise warrior attacks his enemies weakness not his strength.

Advantage is a better soldier than rashness.

Take not counsel in combat. When fightings begun time for debate is done. (Debate and planning are done before combat. After the fight is begun, the leader is the leader you do not question or challenge orders.)

Don't switch 'erves (warhorses) in the middle of the river. (Don't change battle plans in the middle of an operation.)

Boldness in war is the first, second, and third thing.

The first blow is half the battle.

Forewarned is forearmed.

A foe surprised is half beaten.

Courage ought to have eyes as well as arms.

A man in distress or despair does as much as ten.

A man is a lion in his own cause.

Half an egg is better than an empty shell.

Strength lasts forever but weakness must vanish. Truth is a form of strength and falsehood a form of weakness. (This does not refer to the strength of an individual warrior, but to those things which can be learned and passed on from generation to generation.)

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.

Frequently the slow starter finishes first.

A work ill done must be done twice.

Three things without the fourth are worthless.

The more haste worse speed.

Feather by feather the toQ builds his nest. Grain by grain the hen is fattened.

Trust not one nights ice.

Time is the father of truth.

Too far east is west.

The wise warrior knows what his opponent desires before his opponent realizes it.

When trusting others you must first determine if they can trust or master themselves.

Wise warriors will make good use of unexpected time. There is no leisure in battle.

War does not admit of holidays.

An hour before breakfast is worth two hours the rest of the day.

Time and tide wait for no man.

Be not idle and you will not be longing.

It is more painful to do nothing than something.

The favor of the powerful vanishes when needed most.

It is easy to be defeated, to be defeated and lose little or nothing, that is true mastery.

Vanity and ignorance are brothers, experience leads to wisdom.

Beware of victory. It can lead to defeat through overconfidence.

It is always better to learn from others mistakes than from your own.

Pay your debts to your friends as well as to strangers.

Cast no stones into the well from which you draw water.

No one believes a liar when he tells the truth.

Half the truth is often a whole lie.

Truth is heavy, therefore few care to carry it.

He that follows truth too closely must take care that she does not strike out his teeth.

Men are only as honest as circumstances allow. Men are only as dishonest as circumstances allow.

A wise warrior may change his mind, but it is unwise to break a promise.

He that eats well and drinks well must do his duty well.

Your friend has a friend and your friend's friend has a friend, be discreet.

Beware of sweet words, what they are used to buy costs more than they are worth.

A fool will not be foiled. (prevented from being foolish) Liars are less dangerous than fools. A liar can be predicted. Who knows what a fool will do? He is not the fool that the fool is but he who deals with a fool.

The difference between a wise warrior and a clever warrior is that the wise warrior distrusts everybody and the clever one only some. Or maybe the difference is that the wise warrior only distrusts some and knows who to trust, while the foolish one distrusts all and thus is not trusted by any. It is more important to be trustworthy than to trust. The truly wise warrior is worthy of trust without necessarily trusting others.

Politeness is a symptom of treachery, between others of treachery shared.

A flatterer's throat is an open grave.

Serpents breed in still waters.

A fool's heart is in his tongue.

A fool's tongue is long enough to cut his own throat.

Fool's make feasts and wise men eat them.

The cat and the rat make peace over a carcass.

A man who has confidence in everybody is like the pup who will play with every other puppy-- the old Ha'DlbaH knows better and only has a few playmates.

The arrogant are the first to exceed their strength.

Fire and pride may not be hid.

I have a cow in the sky but cannot drink her milk.

He who covets all loses all.

Don't take another mouthful until you have swallowed what is in your mouth.

A handful of food will not satisfy the lion.

The egg of today is better than the hen of tomorrow.

Do not tell the man who is carrying you that he stinks.

Rather skin a carcass in the public streets for pay than live on charity.

If others have tricked you, first be angry at yourself for allowing yourself to be tricked.

When asked for help, ask yourself what will really help. Sometimes allowing others to fail will help them most.

Take fuel, end fire.

Opportunity makes the thief.

No receiver, no thief.

The weakness of your walls invites the attack.

A low wall is easily leapt over.

Hard with hard never made a good wall.

Right mixture makes good mortar.

A house filled with guests is eaten up and ill spoken of.

One's house, one's castle.

Tis easy to keep a castle which is never assaulted.

Tis easy to rob an orchard when no man keeps it.

Life is more fun if you trust others and are occasionally cheated than if you live in constant misery trusting no one. It is better to suffer occasionally than always. It is also braver to trust than to distrust. The good life requires bravery.

Fear is bondage.

Better hazard once than be always in fear.

Long life has long misery.

Danger and delight grow on one stalk.

The darkest hour is before the dawn. (This saying is almost universal throughout the known galaxy. Astronomical reality makes it so. As the sun sets, it gets dark. It remains dark until the sun begins to rise. Thus, it seems darkest before the dawn on the majority of inhabited worlds.)

He has not lost all who has one cast left.

Tis a good ill that comes alone.

When ill luck falls asleep let none awaken it.

Wisdom lies in not seeking what is not needed.

It is lost that is unsought.

The position does not honor the man, it is the man who gives honor to the position.

First deserve and then desire.

Labor to be as you would be thought.

He that masters himself will soon master others.

He that is a master must serve another.

There are six kinds of tears, three are good and three are bad. Those caused by smoke, grief or constipation are bad. Those caused by fragrant spices, laughter or aromatic herbs are good.

All griefs are less with bread.

Fools do not listen to reason and all men are fools when hungry or in love.

The belly has no ears.

Taking risks is occasionally fun, but as a constant policy it leads always to disaster. Never risk what you cannot afford to lose, unless by not risking it you will lose more. Then risk it all.

How safe is a secret if others know it?

The less power a man has the more sure he is of how wise his decisions would be if he only had power. Power equals responsibility.

Debt is like quicksand, very easy to get into and very hard to get out of.

Practice economy before you have to.

No one tests the depth of a river with both feet.

In defeat do not mourn your losses, consolidate what you have left.

To fall from a high place hurts more than to fall from a low place.

It is better to have ten inches to stand upon than a hundred yards to fall.

Hasty climbers have sudden falls.

Many desire glory but are unwilling to sweat to gain it.

The taller the na'ran tree the sweeter the fruit. (Signifies that the harder the training the better the result, or the greater the odds the sweeter the victory.)

Difficulty makes desire.

Big blQDep (fish) are caught with big bait.

Venture a small blQDep (fish) to catch a great one.

The bait hides the hook.

It is a silly blQDep (fish) that is caught twice with the same bait.

The blQDep (fish) will soon be caught that nibbles at every bait.

The blQDep (fish) may be caught in a net that will not come to the bait.

The best blQDep (fish)ing is in troubled waters.

It is ill catching of blQDep (fish) when the hook is bare.

You must not let your mousetrap smell of blood.

The end of blQDep (fish)ing is not angling but catching.

He who gets doth much but he who keeps doth more.

The frost hurts not weeds. A giant will starve on what will fill a dwarf. A mote may choke a man.

Strength of numbers is the delight of the timid. The valiant in spirit glory in fighting alone.

The more danger the more honor.

Die young, else grow old.

The more the merrier, the less the better reward.

Many hands make light work.

toQ fly alone, and they are but Ha'DlbaH which flock together. (Eagles fly alone and they are but sheep which flock together.)

A wise man prefers one measure earned by himself to nine measures earned by another.

Wise warriors succeed because they know themselves and their enemies, fools occasionally succeed because they do not know either themselves or their enemy, but don't count on it.

When preparing for battle spend one third of your time thinking about what you will do and two thirds considering what the enemy will do.

He is a fool that thinks not that another thinks.

Prepare for the worst, the best will take care of itself.

The wise do first what the fool does last. (Think about this and understand the Klingon understanding of Isaac Asimov's saying "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent".)

Before shooting, one must aim.

A good archer is not known by his arrows but by his aim.

Draw not thy bow before the arrow be fixed.

He that hunts two hares loses both.

Truth lies in 'lwHlq (blood wine) and history. (Men speak the truth when drunk and the lessons of history are true.)

He who does something at the head of one regiment will eclipse him who does nothing at the head of a hundred.

Who would be a noble, let him storm a town.

If a little tree grows in the shadow of a larger tree it will die small.

That which happens once in an age can happen in any given rep.

A fool believes the thing he would have so but facts are stubborn.

Men are blind in their own cause. (Personal feelings blind us in our own affairs. There are two solutions to this. One is to think ahead before involved in a situation and set our mind resolutely on duty and the way of the warrior, thus being set we will not be confused when the situation arises. The second is to be open to the advice of others when in these situations.)

The blind eat many a fly.

There are four kinds of men, according to their degrees of passion. He who is easily provoked and readily pacified, and who loses more than he gains. He whom it is difficult to arouse and as difficult to appease, and who gains more than he loses. He who is not readily provoked, but easily pacified, who may be ignored. He who is easily provoked and with difficulty appeased, he is dangerous.

It is common for warriors to attribute the victories of chance to their own ability and the failures of ability to mischance. The most boastful are not always the bravest. He's so full of himself that he's quite empty.

Thunder is good, thunder is fine, but it is lightning which does the work.

Victory has destroyed more warriors than drink. (That which makes us strong is right that which makes us weak is wrong. Discipline and training make us strong until we win, then, victory makes us relax and cease our discipline and training. We become weak and are destroyed.)

A kite rises higher against the wind than with it.

Courage mounteth with occasion.

It is good for a warrior to fail a few times when young, even a toQ must have a few lessons before it learns to fly.

Before you speak remember that SlpHlch work only when the Slp (gas) is compressed and controlled by a valve. (SlpHlch is a gas powered handgun like an airgun.)

Which is wiser, the spider or the fly (puv)?

The boaster achieves success only until his boasts are tested.

The Ha'DlbaH bark is not might but fright.

A conceited person is like a pel'aq (eggshell) nothing can be put into it until it is broken.

The strong warrior can remain neutral in all situations, the average person either pities or envies.

It is the calm and silent water that drowns a man.

Trust not yourself until the day of your death.

A warriors real measure is in the character of his enemies.

He that has no enemies has no friends.

A friend to all is a friend to none.

True friends are only known in time of need.

Old friends and old wine are best.

Be wary of reconciled enemies and of meat twice boiled.

Keep yourself from the anger of a great man, from the tumult of a mob, from a man of ill fame, from a wind that comes in at a hole, and from a reconciled enemy.

Graveyards (mollan) are full of those who believed themselves to be indispensable and irreplaceable.

loDHom (boys) are like vlghro' (cats) when there are no mice to chase they end up chasing bees and get stung.

The best 'erves (warhorse) needs breaking.

The wildest colt makes the best 'erves (warhorse).

All lay the load on a willing 'ervum (workhorse).

A good 'erves (warhorse) should seldom be spurred.

An 'erves (warhorse) is neither better nor worse for his trapping.

Even the 'erves (warhorse) sometimes stumbles though it has four legs.

An 'erves (warhorse) which will not carry a saddle must have no oats.

A pair of good spurs to a borrowed 'erves (warhorse) is better than a peck of oats.

A resty 'erves (warhorse) must have a sharp spur.

Do not spur a free 'erves (warhorse).

Every 'ervum (workhorse) thinks his pack heaviest.

Let an 'erves (warhorse) drink when he will, not what he will.

A young warrior should have an old 'erves (warhorse).

The blind 'ervum (workhorse) is fittest for the mill.

Bravery is dangerous in a blind 'erves (warhorse).

The 'erves (warhorse) thinks one thing and he that saddles him another.

When the 'erves (warhorse) is starved, you bring him oats.

A bad 'erves (warhorse) eats as much as a good.

Where the knot is loose the string slippeth.

Do not confine your children to your own learning for they were born in another time.

He who teaches his son to trade is as if he taught him to steal.

Stains on a majwep (fine shirt) are always more visible than those on qabwep (poor shirt). (It is always easier to criticize those who do than those who do nothing. Critics are generally those who do nothing.)

The capable warrior ignores libel, slander, promises of favor and flattery. The first two cannot harm him and the second two cannot be trusted.

A house with many illnesses has many cooks. (This refers to the preferred diet of BetleH which is strong and simple, and also to the fact that too many planners or authors make bad plans. The problem with committees. Another version is, "Too many Captains sink the ship." The saying, "The half is better than the whole can also be applied to committees".)

A good stomach is the best sauce. (In human history there is a story of Alexander the Great which illustrates this traditional Klingon saying.)

He who increases his flesh, makes more food for the worms.

A belly full of gluttony will never study willingly.

Full bellys make empty skulls.

A full belly neither fights nor flies well.

Eat to live, not live to eat.

More than enough is too much.

Enough is as good as a feast.

One who makes a good breakfast can defeat sixty warriors who have not.

There are seven kinds of drink; Dew, water, wine, oil, blood, milk and honey.

Until one is forty eating is more advantageous than drinking after that age the rule is reversed.

A generation can have one leader only, and not two.

A paddle here, a paddle there, the canoe stays still.

When many strike on an anvil they must strike by measure.

Not every man deserves to have two tables.

It is much harder to learn by speaking than it is by listening.

The wise warrior will never be without a teacher. Though all around him be imperfect, if he only imitates the strong in others and avoids the weak he will always have good teachers.

Making others seem small will not make you great.

When listening to others speak of someone it is wise to wonder what they may be saying about you in your absence.

Those who are absent are always wrong.

In the court of the toQ the Qa'Hom never wins its case. (In the court of eagles the rabbit never wins its case.)

Judge a man by his own deeds and words. The impressions of others leads to false judgment.

He who hears one side only hears nothing.

Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

Make but one sale and you will be called a merchant.

To play the merchant. (To rob and cheat.)

He who studies (the Betleh) cannot follow a commercial life, neither can the merchant devote his time to study.

Gold is good in its place but living, brave, patriotic men are better than gold.

The plainest print cannot be read through a gold coin.

Hoarding your money will ensure that your son's mistress is comfortable.

Money, like manure, does no good unless it is spread.

He is not fit for riches who is afraid to use them.

Money refused loses its brightness.

The abundance of money ruins youth.

Never spend your money before you have it.

Attend no auctions if you have no money.

Beware of the bearers of radical ideas. The weak will be converted by them, and the steadfast condemned.

Combine two firebrands with one piece of green wood and the dry will set fire to the green.

Soft words may strike an enemy harder than heavy blows.

There are ten kinds of strength. The strength of the mountain but iron can hew it apart, the fire weakens the iron, water quenches fire, clouds carry off water, wind disperses clouds, the living body resists the wind, fear enervates the body, wine conquers fear, and sleep overcomes wine. Based on this there are ten strategies.

WIth two Ha'DlbaH they caught the lion.

When you lose your rank many will believe that you also lost your good sense and ability.

At the gate of abundance there are many brothers and friends; at the gate of misery there is neither brother nor friend.

The Ha'DlbaH follows you for the crumbs in your pocket.

The poor man and the rich man do not play together.

The wine belongs to the master but the waiter receives the thanks.

Once two sheep tried to cross the river. One was shorn and made it easily. The other wetted down by its rich coat drowned and was lost. (Sheep is an awkward simile. Wool is oily and does not become water logged as does the hair of the Klingon equivalent.)

A true friend is one who knows our character and likes us anyway.

Better lose a jest than a friend.

There are three whose life is no life, he who lives at another's table, he who has lost his health, and he who does nothing worth remembering.

It is wise to put those who promise to stand behind you in any trouble in the front, so that they may be watched.

He who reads the letter should execute the message.

It is foolish to try to buy friends, in the long run they will be your enemies for nothing.

Two pieces of coin in one bag make more noise than a hundred.

A warrior may profit from his mistakes, but be wary lest your enemies profit more.

A hundred pounds of sorrow pays not one once of debt.

It is much rarer to regret the things not said than that which was said.

There is no reason to light your lamp at noon.

Denying a fault doubles it. (Making errors is natural, refusing to admit an error only adds a second to the first.)

Once a use (practice), after a custom.

Vices, once practiced, may sometimes be slain more readily by overindulgence than by preaching.

Man's passions at first are like a cobweb's thread, after time like the thickest cable.

If it were not for the existence of passions, no one would marry a wife, beget a child, build a house or do any work.

When the brave die they live for their example lives on after them.

One cup of wine is good, two are disgraceful, three demoralizing and four brutalizing.

The greatest of warriors when remembering his past may see only a long history of errors. A fool, on the other hand.....

Copying everybody else all the time, the monkey one day cut his throat.

He who seeks trouble always finds it.

The envious man will never lack woe.

The fat man knoweth not what the lean thinketh.

Mourning friends who desert you is foolish, you lost nothing worth having.

They say that desperate men grasp at straws, but who has heard of being saved by a straw?

He that fears death lives not.

nuch (coward)s are full of precaution.

The weakest spoke in a wheel breaks first.

Fear hath a quick ear.

All the weapons of war cannot arm fear.

A man of courage never wants weapons.

A nuch (coward)'s fear can make a nuch (coward) valiant.

There are six rules regarding nuch (coward)s. No testimony is to be borne to them. No testimony is to be accepted from them. No secret is to be told to them. They are not to be placed in positions of trust. You should avoid fellowship with them. It is also said that if one should greet you in public you should acknowledge the greeting with visible reluctance.

Better (sometimes) to bear a false accusation in silence than by speaking to bring the guilty to public shame.

Virtues carried too far become vices.

A too modest man goes hungry.

Important principles may and must be flexible.

Digging a hole in other people's dirt is the easiest way to get your hands dirty.

He who digs too deep for a blQDep (fish) may come out with a snake. He that gropes in the dark finds what he would not.

Some preach virtues to conceal their faults, others brag of their faults to appear exciting. Learn to live with yourself and you will not need to put on an act for others.

There are three whose life is no life, the sympathetic, the irascible and the melancholy.

There are three crowns, the crown of the law, the crown of royalty, the crown of bravery, but the crown of a good name surpasses them all.

There are no birds this year in last years nests. (of opportunity)

Universal idleness would speedily result in universal ruin.

A man who speaks without thinking is in danger of saying what he really thinks.

Despicable is the judge who judges for reward, yet his judgment is law, and must, as such, be respected.

Let all remember that to violate the law is to trample on the blood of your father.

Nothing should be accepted as law which leads to unjust or absurd consequences.

The more laws the less justice.

When sitting in counsel it is wise to keep the mouth shut and the mind open. There will always be others who know more about some matters than you. If you attempt to always speak on all matters you will only prove this openly.

It is better only sometimes to be right than at all times to be wrong.

Seven things distinguish the wise warrior from the foolish in counsel. The wise man does not talk before his superior in wisdom and reputation. He does not interrupt another when speaking. He is not hasty to make reply. His questions are to the point and his answers are in the spirit of a warrior. His speech is orderly, first matters first and last matters last. If he has not heard of a thing he admits this easily. He speaks truthfully. The characteristics of the fool are the opposite of these.

It is wise when speaking in counsel never to raise matters you need not lest you be forced to prove what you cannot.

Poets are born but orators are made.

It may rhyme yet reason not. (pretty arguments are not necessarily true.)

Let him speak who has seen with his eyes.

One eye-witness is better than ten ear-witnesses.

Even fools say wise things upon occasion.

None are fools always, though everyone sometimes.

A good garden may have some weeds. A good marksman may miss.

A fool knows more in his own house than a wise man in another's. (Knowledge is situational and situations change.)

When someone tells you a secret and asks that you not mention it, you may suspect that it is already widely known. It is still wise to remain silent.

Private problems are like rotten eggs, they should be disposed of without breaking privacy to avoid the stink.

Sleep in the morning, wine at mid-day, the idle talk of youth, and bad company destroy a warrior.

More battles are lost by those things which slip through our lips than those which escape our grasp. From hearing comes wisdom from speaking regret.

Better the feet slip than the tongue.

A brave man of illegitimate birth is preferable to a nuch (coward) of noble birth. Gentility without ability is worse than plain beggary.

A blQDep (fish) never gets hooked if it keeps its mouth shut.

Sometimes a wise man must act foolishly so fools will think him wise.

The end crowns the work.

Foul water will quench fire as well as fair.

The same knife cuts bread and fingers.

He that handles a nettle tenderly is soonest stung.

A foolish man will repeat his arguments to convince others, a clever man will make use of their own arguments to convince them. To do this you must listen.

To take yourself too seriously is a first step in becoming a fool.

Nobody can be disgraced for being bitten when playing with a monkey, nor can one be disgraced by being condemned by fools.

No one pays a higher price for success than those who betray themselves for it.

Only he who has learned to obey can properly command.

A wise commander will give at least as much praise for work done well as criticism for mistakes made.

When a man is coming towards you, you need not say, "Come here".

Do not call to a Ha'DlbaH with a whip in your hand.

One pang of remorse in the heart is of much more value than a hundred lashes with a whip.

There is no haste to hang true men.

A wise commander knows that men work differently. Some swiftly and soon, others slowly and carefully. He will distribute assignments accordingly.

All things fit not all men.

The fire in the flint shows not till its struck.

He that commandeth well shall be obeyed well.

He who walks each day over his lands finds an 'erves (warhorse) daily.

The sons of nobles frequently need to have their wings clipped to keep them from running wild.

Raw leather will stretch.

There are four reasons why great houses fall. Because they are backward in paying the wages of their servants. Because they neglect their welfare. Because they lay their burdens upon others. Because they are proud.

A good servant must have a good wage. The coin is ill-saved that shames the master.

If you pay not a servant his wages he will pay himself.

There are two bad paymasters, he who pays too soon, and he who does not pay at all.

A servant is known in the absence of his master.

When the vine entwines your roof, it is time to cut it down.

It is an ill workman who blames his tools.

Land in two counties is bread in two wallets. (It is difficult to manage separate estates, a manager is liable to pocket the profit of the second. It goes into his pocket instead of the owners.)

If you wish a thing done then go; if not then send.

He keepeth a fair castle who keepeth well his mouth.

Once there was an old man planting a na'ran tree. A traveler asked him when he thought the tree would bear fruit. "After seventy years" was the answer. "What!" the traveler asked, "Do you expect to live seventy years and eat the fruit of thy labor?" "I did not find the world desolate when I entered it," said the old man; "and as my fathers planted for me before I was born, so I plant for those that will come after me."

Bibliography

"English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases" G.L Apperson, Dent and Sons Ltd. 1929
"Hebraic Literature" 1901 Walter Dunn publishers.
"Abraham Lincoln; Wisdom and Wit", 1965, Peter Pauper Press.
"The Words of Ghandi" Newmarket Press, 1982.
"African Proverbs" 1985 Peter Pauper Press.
"Mark Twain; Wit and Wisecracks", Peter Pauper Press, 1961.
"Uncommon Common Sense" by P.S. Brenner, Field-Doubleday Inc. 1945.