551 verses about Thoughts

To whom has the root of wisdom been revealed? And who has known her shrewd counsels?

The things that have been commanded you, think thereupon; For you have no need of the things that are secret.

For the conceit of many has led them astray; And evil surmising has caused their judgement to slip.

The heart of the prudent will understand a parable; And the ear of a listener is the desire of a wise man.

For by speech wisdom will be known; And instruction by the word of the tongue.

Be swift to hear; And with patience make your answer.

If you have understanding, answer your neighbor; And if not, let your hand be upon your mouth.

Exalt not yourself in the counsel of your soul; That your soul be not torn in pieces as a bull:

Be willing to listen to every godly discourse; And don’t let the proverbs of understanding escape you.

Let your mind dwell upon the ordinances of the Lord, And meditate continually in his commandments: He will establish your heart, And your desire of wisdom will be given to you.

Gaze not on a maid, lest haply you be trapped in her penalties.

The heart of a man changes his countenance, Whether it be for good or for evil.

A cheerful countenance is a token of a heart that is in prosperity; And the finding out of parables is a weariness of thinking.

Blessed is the man that shall meditate in wisdom, And that shall discourse by his understanding.

He that pries in at her windows Shall also hearken at her doors.

And no heart will think upon these things: And who shall conceive his ways?

He that is lacking in understanding thinks upon these things; And an unwise and erring man thinks follies.

What is brighter than the sun? yet this fails: And an evil man will think on flesh and blood.

As an arrow that sticks in the flesh of the thigh, So is a word in a fool’s belly.

He that is not clever will not be instructed; And there is a cleverness which makes bitterness to abound.

If a man of knowledge hear a wise word, He will commend it, and add to it: The dissolute man hears it, and it displeases him, And he puts it away behind his back.

The mouth of the prudent man will be sought for in the congregation; And they will ponder his words in their heart.

As a house that is destroyed, so is wisdom to a fool; And the knowledge of an unwise man is as talk without sense.

A fool lifts up his voice with laughter; But a clever man will scarce smile quietly.

A heart settled upon a thoughtful understanding Is as an ornament of plaister on a polished wall.

Pales set on a high place will not stand against the wind: So a fearful heart in the imagination of a fool will not stand against any fear.

Who shall set a watch over my mouth, And a seal of shrewdness upon my lips, That I fall not from it, and that my tongue destroy me not?

Who will set scourges over my thought, And a discipline of wisdom over my heart? That they spare me not for my ignorances, And my heart pass not by their sins:

Two sorts of men multiply sins, And the third will bring wrath: A hot mind, as a burning fire, will not be quenched till it be consumed: A fornicator in the body of his flesh will never cease till he has burned out the fire.

A man that goes astray from his own bed, Saying in his heart, Who sees me? Darkness is round about me, and the walls hide me, And no man sees me; of whom am I afraid? The Most High will not remember my sins;

For her thoughts are filled from the sea, And her counsels from the great deep.

In the shaking of a sieve, the refuse remains; So the filth of man in his reasoning.

The fruit of a tree declares the husbandry thereof; So is the utterance of the thought of the heart of a man.

Among men void of understanding observe the opportunity; But stay continually among the thoughtful.

Give not over your soul to sorrow; And afflict not yourself in your own counsel.

Love your own soul, and comfort your heart: And remove sorrow far from you; For sorrow has destroyed many, And there is no profit therein.

Envy and wrath shorten a man’s days; And care brings old age before the time.

Sum up your speech, many things in few words; Be as one that knows and yet holds his tongue.

There take your pastime, and do what is in your heart; And sin not by proud speech:

A man of counsel will not neglect a thought; A strange and proud man will not crouch in fear, Even after he has done a thing by himself without counsel.

The heart of a fool is as a cartwheel; And his thoughts like a rolling axle tree.

The vision of dreams is as this thing against that, The likeness of a face near a face.

Divinations, and soothsayings, and dreams, are vain: And the heart fancies, as a woman’s in travail.

The mouth tastes meats taken in hunting: So does an understanding heart false speeches.

A froward heart will cause heaviness: And a man of experience will recompense him.

O wicked imagination, whence came you rolling in To cover the dry land with deceitfulness?

For a man’s soul is sometime wont to bring him tidings, More than seven watchmen that sit on high on a watch-tower.

Let reason be the beginning of every work, And let counsel go before every action.

four manner of things do rise up, Good and evil, life and death; And that which rules over them continually is the tongue.

For all things are not profitable for all men, Neither has every soul pleasure in every thing.

Give not your heart to sorrow: Put it away, remembering the last end:

He will keep the discourse of the men of renown, And will enter in amidst the subtleties of parables.

He shall direct his counsel and knowledge, And in his secrets shall he meditate.

Yet more will I utter, which I have thought upon; And I am filled as the moon at the full.

Therefore from the beginning I was resolved, And I thought this, and left it in writing;

The expectation of things to come, and the day of death, Trouble their thoughts, and cause fear of heart;

A little or nothing is his resting, And afterward in his sleep, as in a day of keeping watch, He is troubled in the vision of his heart, As one that has escaped from the front of battle.

Better is a man that hides his foolishness Than a man that hides his wisdom.

No thought escapes him; There is not a word hid from him.

but we walked every man in the imagination of his own wicked heart, to serve strange gods, and to do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord our God.

Yet have we not entreated the favor of the Lord, in turning every one from the thoughts of his wicked heart.

and they shall praise me in the land of their captivity, and think upon my name,

But say you⌃ in your hearts, O Lord, we must worship you.

And the two elders saw her going in every day, and walking; and they were inflamed with love for her.

And they perverted their own mind, and turned away their eyes, that they might not look to heaven, nor remember just judgements.

To-day he shall be lifted up, and to-morrow he shall in no wise be found, because he is returned to his dust, and his thought is perished.

And when they changed the good will they bare him a little before into ill will, because these words of his were, as they thought, sheer madness,

I remembered with affection your honor and good will toward me. Returning out of the region of Persia, and being taken with a noisome sickness, I deemed it necessary to take thought for the common safety of all,

(And if he did it looking to an honorable memorial of gratitude laid up for those who die in godliness, holy and godly was the thought.) Wherefore he made the atoning sacrifice for those who had died, that they might be released from their sin.

And when this message came to Nicanor, he was confounded, and was sore troubled at the thought of annulling the articles that had been agreed upon, the man having done no wrong;

it turns also every thought into jollity and mirth, so that a man remembers neither sorrow nor debt:

His kinsmen, who were reclining with him, wondered at his instability, and thus expressed themselves:

The king, just like another Phalaris, a prey to thoughtlessness, made no account of the changes which his own mind had undergone, issuing in the deliverance of the Jews. He swore a fruitless oath, and determined forthwith to send them to hades, crushed by the knees and feet of the elephants.

In the thirties year after the ruin of the city, I Salathiel (the same is Esdras) was in Babylon, and lay troubled upon my bed, and my thoughts came up over my heart:

And after seven days, so it was, that the thoughts of my heart were very grievous to me again,

And be not hasty in regard of the former times, to think vain things, that you may not hasten in the latter times.

And in the eighth night was my heart vexed within me again, and I began to speak before the Most High.

and why have you not considered in your mind that which is to come, rather than that which is present?

Nevertheless they were not obedient to him; but spoke against him, and imagined for themselves vain things;

And he answered me, and said, Weigh within yourself the things that you have thought, for he that has what is hard to get rejoices over him that has what is plentiful.

The first order, because they have striven with great labor to overcome the evil thought which was fashoned together with them, that it might not lead them astray from life into death.

Then let I my thoughts go wherein I was occupied, and turned me to her,

Then left I the meditations wherein I was, and answered her in anger, and said,

What aileth you? and why are you so disquieted? and why is your understanding troubled, and the thoughts of your heart?

and shall taunt them to their face with their evil thoughts, and the torments wherewith they shall be tormented, which are likened to a flame: and he shall destroy them without labor by the law, which is likened to fire.

Lay up in your heart the signs that I have showed, and the dreams that you have seen, and the interpretations which you have heard:

and let go from the mortal thoughts, cast away from you the burdens of man, put off now your weak nature,

and lay aside the thoughts that are most grievous to you, and haste you to remove from these times.

Behold, the Lord knows all the works of men, their imaginations, their thoughts, and their hearts.

surely he knows your imagination, and what you⌃ think in your hearts. Woe to those who sin, and would fain hide their sin!

As I am going to demonstrate a most philosophical proposition, namely, that religious reasoning is absolute master of the passions, I would willingly advise you to give the utmost heed to philosophy.

If, then, reasoning appears to hold the mastery over the passions which stand in the way of temperance, such as gluttony and lust,

it surely also and manifestly has the rule over the affections which are contrary to justice, such as malice; and of those which are hindrances to manliness, as wrath, and pain, and fear.

How, then, is it, perhaps some may say, that reasoning, if it rule the affections, is not also master of forgetfulness and ignorance? They attempt a ridiculous argument.

For all these, contemning pains even to death, by this contempt, demonstrated that reasoning has command over the passions.

The question, therefore, is, whether reasoning be absolute master of the passions.

Reasoning is, then, intellect accompanied by a life of rectitude, putting foremost the consideration of wisdom.

The leading one of these is prudence; by whose means, indeed, it is that reasoning bears rule over the passions.

Of the passions, pleasure and pain are the two most comprehensive; and they also by nature refer to the soul.

Wrath is an affection, common to pleasure and to pain, if any one will pay attention when it comes upon him.