“𝕿ell me, O Cormac,” said his son once, “what were thy habits when thou wert a lad?”
“𝕭e not too wise, be not too foolish
be not too conceited, nor too diffident
be not too haughty, nor too humble
be not too talkative, nor too silent
be not too hard, nor too feeble
If you be too wise, one will expect too much of you
If you be foolish, you will be deceived
If you be too conceited, you will be thought vexatious
If you be too humble, you will be without honour
If you be too talkative, you will not be heeded
If you be too silent, you will not be regarded
If you be too hard, you will be broken
If you be too feeble, you will be crushed.”
— The Instructions of King Cormac
Tecosca Cormaic is an old Irish gnomic text and it presents a dialogue between the legendary King of Ireland, Cormac mac Airt, and his son, Coirpre Lifechair. I couldn’t find much information about it online. I copied the text from Celtic Myths and Legends by Peter Berresford Ellis. Jeff Lilly writes on druidjournal.net that the text is "taken from the Book of Ballymote, which dates to about 1390. The “Instructions” themselves are certainly much older — probably they date to pre-Christian times, since they fail to mention God anywhere."
