Dead Leaves

You will find it less easy to uproot faults,
than to choke them by gaining virtue.
Do not think of your faults;
still less of others' faults;
in every person who comes near you
look for what is good and strong:
honor that; rejoice in it;
and, as you can, try to imitate it;
and your faults will drop off,
like dead leaves,
when their time comes.
- Ruskin

Quotes and Verses on Faults
The greatest of all faults is to be
conscious of none. Recognizing our
limitations and imperfections is the
first requisite of progress. Those
who believe they have arrived believe
they have nowhere to go. Some not only
have closed their minds to new truth,
but they sit on the lid.
- Dale Turner


Three Gates
If I am tempted to reveal
A tale someone to me has told
About another, let it pass,
Before I speak, three gates of gold.

Three narrow gates: First, is it true?
Then, is it needful? In my mind
Give truthful answer, and the next
Is last and narrowest, Is it kind?

An if, to reach my lips at last,
It passes through these gateways, three,
Then I may tell the tale, nor fear
What the result of speech may be.
- Beth Day