Thiruvalluvar's Couplets On 'Gratitude' Poem by Rajendran Muthiah

101. A volunteered help from the one unaided surpasses
the gift of heaven and earth.
102. A timely help though paltry is greater
than the earth in its use.
103. The succour rendered without weighing the returns
excels the sea in its merits.
104. Those who know the benefits of a millet-sized offer
will take it for a palm-sized one.
105. One’s help is not the measure of it.
Its measure is the worth of one who receives it.
106. Neither do you forget the friendship of the virtuous
nor do you forsake the love of the helpers in adversity.
107. The wise remember the friends who wiped away their sorrow
throughout their seven-fold births.
108. It isn’t good to forget the good deeds done to you.
But it is good to let bygones be bygones that very day.
109. If you think of one’s kind acts done to you,
all the other deadly harms by the same will vanish.
110. There is redemption to those who violate any virtue
but not to those who are eaten up by ingratitude.