“You should not speak arrogantly to your mother; that causes hatred for you.”

— Instructions of Shuruppak, The Instructions of Shuruppak

About Instructions of Shuruppak

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

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

“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.”

“Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments.”

“Go where he will, the wise man is at home, his hearth the earth, his hall the azure dome.”

“Fathers should be neither seen nor heard. That is the only proper basis for family life.”

“Mature manhood: that means to have rediscovered the seriousness one had as a child at play.”

“The Tao is called the Great Mother: empty yet inexhaustible, it gives birth to infinite worlds.”

“Distrust and caution are the parents of security.”