“A loving heart maintains a family; a hateful heart destroys a family.”

— Instructions of Shuruppak, Instructions of Shuruppak (3rd millennium BCE)

About Instructions of Shuruppak

Ancient Sumerian wisdom text from the third millennium BCE, among the oldest surviving works of advice literature.

“The instructions of an old man are precious.”

“Nothing at all is to be valued, but life should be sweet. You should not serve things; things should serve you.”

“A thief is a lion, but after he has been caught, he will be a slave.”

“Hail, wedded love, mysterious law; true source of human offspring.”

“We can't form our children on our own concepts; we must take them and love them as God gives them to us.”

“Not an orphan in the wide world can be so deserted as the child who is an outcast from a living parent's love.”

“In love of home, the love of country has its rise.”

“The best way to worship God is to love your wife.”

“He loved no other place, and yet Home was no home to him.”