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Hávamál, The Saying of Odin, Stanza 6
Hail and welcome! This is Huginn's Heathen Hof, with your Daily Hávamál.
Original-
At hyggjandi sinni
skylit maðr hrœsinn vera
heldr gætinn at geði
þá er horskr ok þögull
kømr heimisgarða til
sjaldan verðr viti vörum
því at óbrigðra vin
fær maðr aldregi
en manvit mikit
Translation-
One should not boast
of their intellect.
The wise man is silent,
and rarely gets himself
into trouble.
In all the world,
there is no friend more trustworthy
than Common Sense.
-Hávamál: Stanza 6
We so often envision the ancient followers of the Aesir and the Vanir as a brusk people. We remember the boisterous nature of their warriors, and so often overlook the subtlety of their poets.
Sometimes wisdom is just knowing when to keep one's thoughts to themselves. That's the kind of timeless, practical advice that makes this text retain so much of it's value even nearly 1000 years after it was written.
