Ahiqar

Ahiqar (or Ahikar) was an Assyrian sage known in the ancient Near East for his outstanding wisdom.

The Story of Ahikar

 * Quotes by or about Ahikar in The Story of Ahikar, as translated in The Forgotten Books of Eden (1926) by Rutherford H. Platt, Jr.


 * O my boy! thou hast been to me like a man who took a stone, and threw it up to heaven to stone his Lord with it. And the stone did not hit, and did not reach high enough, but it became the cause of guilt and sin. O my boy! if thou hadst honoured me and respected me and hadst listened to my words thou wouldst have been my heir and wouldst have reigned over my dominions. O my son! know thou that if the tail of the dog or the pig were ten cubits long it would not approach to the worth of the horse's even if it were like silk. O my boy! I thought that thou wouldst have been my heir at my death; and thou through thy envy and thy insolence didst desire to kill me. But the Lord delivered me from thy cunning.
 * 7:10 -13.


 * O my boy! he who doeth good shall meet with good; and he who doeth evil shall meet with evil, for the Lord requiteth a man according to the measure of his work. O my boy! what shall I say more to thee than these sayings? for the Lord knoweth what is hidden, and is acquainted with the mysteries and the secrets. And He will requite thee and will judge, betwixt me and thee, and will recompense thee according to thy desert.
 * 7:55.


 * He who digs a pit for his brother shall fall into it; and he who sets up traps shall be caught in them.
 * 7:58.

Misattributed

 * Though posted on internet sites as proverbs of Ahiqar, there are no indications that these have been attributed to Ahiqar in any reliable published source, and some are specifically cited to modern authors.


 * In an instant illumination can be achieved, it is as easy as turning on a light, the problem is finding the switch in the dark.
 * Jones Alami, in "Plasma Characterization & Thin Film Growth and Analysis in Highly Ionized Magnetron Sputtering" (December 2009) in Linköping Studies in Science and Technology, Dissertation No. 948.


 * Our own life is the instrument with which we experiment with truth.
 * Thich Nhat Hanh, as quoted in The Vein of Gold: a Journey to Your Creative Heart (1996) by Julia Cameron.


 * Love rules without rules.
 * Translation of Italian saying: Amor regge senza legge; as quoted in Dictionary of Foreign Terms Found in English and American Writings of Yesterday and Today, 2nd Edition (1934) edited by Christopher Orlando Sylvester Mawson.


 * Better a patient man than a warrior, one who controls his temper than one who takes a city.
 * A saying from the Biblical Proverbs 16:32, as quoted in How to Overcome Fear : And Live Your Life to the Fullest (2007) by Marcos Witt, p. 17.


 * A man is judged by his deeds, not by his words.
 * Cited as a Russian proverb in The Book of Common and Uncommon Proverbs (2004) by Clifford Sawhney, p. 112.


 * If you are looking for a friend who has no faults, you will have no friends.
 * Cited as a Hasidic folk saying in Winning Words : Quotations to Uplift, Inspire, Motivate and Delight (2002) by Allen Klein, p. 52.


 * Better late than never.
 * Anonymous saying, dating to at least Better Late than Never : A Comedy (1786) by William Davies.


 * Open your door to a good day and prepare yourself for a bad one.
 * Anonymous proverb, quoted in Racial Proverbs : A Selection of the World's Proverbs Arranged Linguistically (1963) edited by Selwyn Gurney Champion.


 * Experience will show you, a Master can only point the way.
 * Also cited as an anonymous Egyptian or Assyrian proverb no publish sources found for this exact phrasing, though it resembles some Zen and Sufi proverbs.