THE KURAL
986. What is the touchstone of worth? It is the acknowledgement of superiority when it is found even in men who are otherwise one's inferiors.
987. Where is the superiority of the worthy man if he doth not do good even unto those that work him injury ?
988. Poverty is no disgrace to a man if he possesseth the wealth that is called character.
989. Behold the men that would not swerve from the path of rectitude even if all else should change in a general convulsion: they will be called the very palladium of worth.
990. Verily even the earth itself will not be able to support the burden of human life if the worthy were to fall from their worth.
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