Ancient Egyptian Proverbs for Young Children: Temple of Luxor

These proverbs are carved on the walls of the Temple of Luxor. They are profound, and often over the heads of many adults. Probably they would be best for upper elementary students and older, but it can't hurt to go on and expose younger children to the concepts. I have edited the language slightly to make it easier for young children. Sometimes I had to edit the language quite a bit as some of these proverbs are tough even for adults to understand, but I tried to capture the essence.

Like all the Ancient Proverbs posts, this one will be added to the list under Ancient Pagan Proverbs for Young Children in the sidebar.

Here's a great article on Ancient Egyptian temples, including Luxor, that's written at a lower elementary level.

When the student is ready, the Teacher will appear.

The kingdom of Heaven is already within you; if you understand yourself you shall find it.

The best and shortest road towards knowledge of truth is Nature.

For every joy there is a price to be paid.

If his heart rules him, his conscience will keep him out of trouble.

What you are doing does not matter so much as what you are learning from doing it. It is better admit how little you know than to lie and claim to understand something when you don't.

If you search for the laws of harmony, you will find knowledge.

If you are searching for the gods, observe Nature!

Excitement over something is a good incentive to action, but true understanding only comes from carefully thinking it through.

The greatest Teacher can not learn one single thing for her student, the student must learn if for himself. Therefore the student can only learn something when he is mature enough to understand it.

The body is the house of the Gods. That is why it is said, "Man know thyself."

True teaching is not an accumulation of knowledge; it is an awaking of understanding which goes through many stages.

The man who teaches one of his brothers what he knows may one day be saved by that very brother.

People bring about their own undoing through their tongues.

If one tries to navigate unknown waters one runs the risk of shipwreck.

Leave him in error who loves his error.

Every man is rich in excuses to safeguard his prejudices, his instincts, and his opinions.

To know means to record in one's memory; but to understand means to blend with the thing and to take it into yourself.

There are two kinds of error: blind faith and piecemeal criticism. Never believe a word without putting its truth to the test; discernment does not grow in laziness; and this faculty of discernment is indispensable to the Seeker. Sound skepticism is the necessary condition for good discernment; but piecemeal criticism is an error.

Love is one thing, knowledge is another.

True sages are those who give what they have, without meanness and without secret!

An answer brings no understanding unless the question has matured to a point where it gives rise to it's own answer. Therefore learn how to ask a question.

What reveals itself to me ceases to be mysterious—for me alone. If I explain it to anyone else, he hears only words which betray the living sense. Profanation, but never revelation.

The first concerning the 'secrets': all understanding comes from inside. We are therefore initiated only by ourselves, but the Teacher gives the keys.

The second concerning the 'way': the seeker has need of a Teacher to guide him and lift him up when he falls, to lead him back to the right way when he strays.

Understanding develops by degrees.

As to deserving, know that the gift of Heaven is free; this gift of Knowledge is so great that no effort whatever could hope to 'deserve' it.

If the Teacher teaches what is error, the student's submission is slavery; if he teaches truth, this submission is ennoblement.

There grows no wheat where there is no grain.

The only thing that is humiliating is helplessness.

An answer if profitable in proportion to the intensity of the quest.

Listen to your conviction, even if they seem absurd to your reason.

Know the world in yourself. Never look for yourself in the world, for this would be to project your illusion

To teach one must know the nature of those whom one is teaching.

In every vital activity it is the path that matters.

The way of knowledge is narrow.

Each truth you learn will be, for you, as new as if it had never been written.

The only active force that arises out of possession is fear of losing the object of possession.

If you defy an enemy by doubting his courage you double it.

The nut doesn't reveal the tree it contains.

Peace is an indispensable condition of learning knowledge.

The first thing necessary in teaching is a teacher; the second is a pupil capable of carrying on the tradition.

Peace is the fruit of activity, not of sleep.

Envious greed must govern to possess and ambition must possess to govern.

When the governing class isn't chosen for quality it is chosen for material wealth. This always means decadence, the lowest stage a society can reach.

Two tendencies govern human choice and effort, the search after quantity and the search after quality. They classify mankind. Some follow Truth, others seek the way of animal instinct.

One's moral qualities are measured by one's deeds.

One foot isn't enough to walk with.

Our senses serve to affirm, not to know.

We mustn't confuse mastery with mimicry, knowledge with superstitious ignorance.

Paying attention is indispensable for the achievement of knowledge.

A man can't be judge of his neighbor' intelligence. His own vital experience is never his neighbor's.

No discussion can throw light if it wanders from the real point.

Your body is the temple of knowledge.

Experience will show you, a Teacher can only point the way.

A house has the character of the man who lives in it.

All organs work together in the functioning of the whole.

A man's heart is his own Divine Principle.

A pupil may show you by his own efforts how much he deserves to learn from you.

Routine and prejudice distort vision. Each man thinks his own horizon is the limit of the world.

You will free yourself when you learn to be calm and follow the instructions of your heart without letting things disturb you. This is the way of Truth.

Judge by cause, not by effect.

Wisdom doesn't depend on the intellect or its possibilities but on the intensity of the inner urge.

Every man must act in the rhythm of his time ... such is wisdom.

Men need images. Lacking them they invent idols. Better to base the images on realities that lead the true seeker to the source.

Truth links humans and the Gods. It can't be found by logic alone.

Have the wisdom to abandon the trappings of a time that has passed and pick out what will be needed in the future. An environment must be suited to the age and men to their environment.

Everyone finds himself in the world where he belongs. The essential thing is to have a fixed point from which to check its reality now and then.

Always watch and follow Nature.

Everything always arises from the interaction of complementaries. If you want something look for the complement that will elicit it. Set causes Horus. Horus redeems Set.

All seed answer light, but the color is different.

The plant reveals what is in the seed.

Popular beliefs on essential matters must be examined in order to discover the original thought.

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

The key to all problems is the problem of understanding.

Everything you do will have it's consequences. You must increase your sense ofresponsibilityy

If you would build something solid, don't work with wind. Always look for a fixed point, something you know that is stable ... yourself.

If you would know yourself, take yourself as starting point and go back to its source; your beginning will disclose your end.

Images are nearer reality than cold definitions.

Seek peacefully and you will find what you seek.

Organization is impossible unless those who know the laws of harmony lay the foundation.

It is no use whatever preaching Wisdom to men: you must inject it into their blood.

Knowledge is the understanding of reality. Reality is the sum of the laws that govern nature and of the causes from which they flow.

Social good is what brings peace to family and society.

Knowledge is not necessarily wisdom.

By knowing one reaches belief. By doing one gains conviction. When you know, dare.

Unselfish behavior is the mark of a superior person.

All is within yourself. Know your most inward self and look for what corresponds with it in nature.

The seed cannot sprout upwards without simultaneously sending roots into the ground.

The seed includes all the possibilities of the tree. ... The seed will develop these possibilities, however, only if it receives proper nourishment.

Grain must return to the earth, die, and decompose for new growth to begin.

Man, know yourself ... and you shall know the Gods.