Tiruvaluvar was a Tamil poet and philosopher who lived sometime between the 3rd c. BCE and the 1st c. CE. He is principally remembered for his work ‘Tirukkural’ which. treats the themes of virtue, wealth and love. Although he is considered to be one of the greatest literary figures in the Tamil language, nothing is known of his personal life.

To take the fleeting for the permanent
Is foolish and pitiable.

Great wealth, like a crowd at a concert,
Gathers and melts.

Wealth never stays; use it on the instant
On things that stay.

A day, so called, if rightly understood,
Is a sword hacking at life.

Do good in time, ere the tongue dies
With the last hiccup.

“He was here yesterday,” gloats the earth over man,
“Today he is gone.”

Men unsure of the next moment
Make more than a million plans.

Like a bird’s to the shell it leaves
Is life’s link to its body.

Death is but a sleep, and birth
An awakening.

Translation P.S. Sundaram