Proverbs Don't talk. Watch how things round you rot. Trust only in children and animals and learn from the old the fear of having lived too long. Ask your contemporaries only practical things and share with them your failures, your diseases, your anxieties, but never your successes. Of your brothers love the one who's far away and fear the one who lives close by. Never ask your parents about their past or try to get straight with them your childhood and youth. Don't talk to your boss, write to him and never tell him your plans for the future and lie to him about your past. Love your woman as far as she allows you and if you do have children, think that as in games of chance you could win or lose. Destiny doesn't exist. You are your destiny. And if you reach old age, thank heaven for your long life but pray, resigned, for an early death. We who have neither money nor power are worth less than a horse, a dog, a bird or a full moon. We who have neither money nor power have always kept quiet so we could live many years. We who have neither money nor power when we reach forty must live in silence and absolutely alone. That's what the ancients understood. Yours truly certifies it. Anyone who couldn't change his country by the end of his fourth decade is condemned to pay for his cowardice for the rest of his days. Heroes always die young. Don't be one of them, and end your days playing the cynical role of a wise man. Translated by Rowena Hill