ANONYMOUS - Hávamál (Edda)

Hávamál (Edda)

…..
A farm of your own

is better, even if small;

Everyone’s someone at home.

Though he has two goats

and a coarsely roofed house,

that is better than begging

…..
Where you recognise evil,

speak out against it,

and give no truces to your enemies.

…..
Thou should never sleep

in the arms of a sorceress

lest she lock thy limbs.

…..
From his weapon

on the open road

no man should step one pace away.

…..
Many a good girl

when you know her better

is fickle of heart towards men.

…..
Praise day at even,

a wife when dead,

a weapon when tried,

a maid when married,

ice when ’tis crossed,

and ale when ’tis drunk .

…..
Even three words of quarrelling

you shouldn’t have with an inferior .

…..
The foolish man

thinks he will live forever

if he keeps away from fighting;

but old age

won’t grant him a truce,

even if the spears do .

…..
Cattle die, kinsmen die;

the self must also die.

I know one thing which never dies:

the reputation of each dead man .