Kural 1011
For fair-faced maidens, modesty means bashfulness,
but the deeper modesty shies away from shameful karmas.
Kural 1012
Food, clothing and such do not differ much among people;
what distinguishes good men from others is modesty.
Kural 1013
All life clings to a body;
perfect goodness clings to all that is modest.
Kural 1014
Is not modesty a jewel adorning perfect men?
Without it, is not their strut an awful blemish to behold?
Kural 1015
The world decrees that men who are as ashamed
by others’ disgrace as by their own are modesty’s fondest home.
Kural 1016
The great would rather hold themselves behind
modesty’s barricade than breach it to acquire the vast world.
Kural 1017
Those who prize unpretentiousness will forsake life to preserve it.
But they never forsake modesty for the sake of life.
Kural 1018
If a man does not feel ashamed of what makes others feel ashamed,
virtue itself will be ashamed of him.
Kural 1019
Failing to observe good conduct, one sets his family on fire.
Living in shamelessness, he incinerates everything good.
Kural 1020
The movements of men devoid of modesty mock life,
like wooden puppets suspended on a string.
