It is the passive resistance from the helm that steers the boat.

More Egyptian Proverbs

• You will free yourself when you learn to be neutral and follow the instructions of your heart without letting things perturb you. This is the way of Maat.
• In every vital activity it is the path that matters.
• Knowledge is not necessarily wisdom.
• Envious greed must govern to possess and ambition must possess to govern.
• Always watch and follow nature.
• Man, know yourself and you shalt know the gods.
• Judge by cause, not by effect.
• The only active force that arises out of possession is fear of losing the object of possession.
• Social good is what brings peace to family and society.
• We mustn’t confuse mastery with mimicry, knowledge with superstitious ignorance.
• Our senses serve to affirm, not to know.
• People bring about their own undoing through their tongues.
• The first thing necessary in teaching is a master; the second is a pupil capable of carrying on the tradition.
• For knowledge, you should know that peace is an indispensable condition of getting it.
• Man must learn to increase his sense of responsibility and of the fact that everything he does will have its consequences.
• Your body is the temple of knowledge.
• If you defy an enemy by doubting his courage you double it.
• If one tries to navigate unknown waters one runs the risk of shipwreck.
• The man who knows how to lead one of his brothers towards what he has known may one day be saved by that very brother.
• The first concerning the ‘secrets’: all cognition comes from inside; we are therefore initiated only by ourselves, but the Master gives the keys.
• Peace is the fruit of activity, not of sleep.
• A man’s heart is his own Neter.
• It is better not to know and to know that one does not know, than presumptuously to attribute some random meaning to symbols.
• If you search for the laws of harmony, you will find knowledge.
• For every joy there is a price to be paid.
• If the Master teaches what is error, the disciple’s submission is slavery ; if he teaches truth, this submission is ennoblement.
• The second concerning the ‘way’: the seeker has need of a Master to guide him and lift him up when he falls, to lead him back to the right way when he strays.