Grooks

Here are a few samples of Piet Hein's wonderful pithy poems called "Grooks."

T.T.T

Put up in a place
where it's easy to see
the cryptic admonishment

T.T.T.

When you feel how depressingly
slowly you climb,
it's well to remember that

Things Take Time.

NAIVE

Naive you are
if you believe
life favours those
who aren't naive.

ARS BREVIS

There is
one art,
no more,
no less:
to do
all things
with art-
lessness

PROBLEMS

Problems worthy

of attack
prove their worth
by hitting back.

AN ETHICAL GROOK

I see
   and I hear
      and I speak no evil;
I carry
   no malice
      within my breast;
yet quite without
   wishing
      a man to the Devil
one may be
   permitted
      to hope for the best.
THE ROAD TO WISDOM

The road to wisdom? - Well, it's plain
and simple to express:

Err
and err
and err again
but less
and less
and less.

A PSYCHOLOGICAL TIP

Whenever you're called on to make up your mind,

and you're hampered by not having any,
the best way to solve the dilemma, you'll find,
is simply by spinning a penny.

No - not so that chance shall decide the affair

while you're passively standing there moping;
but the moment the penny is up in the air,
you suddenly know what you're hoping.

A WORD TO THE WISE

Let the world pass in its time-ridden race;

never get caught in its snare.
Remember, the only acceptable case
for being in any particular place
is having no business there.

MEETING THE EYE

You'll probably find

that it suits your book
to be a bit cleverer
than you look.

Observe that the easiest

method by far
is to look a bit stupider
than you are.

LIVING IS -

Living is

a thing you do
now or never -
which do you?

Return to Katherine's poetry page.

Excerpts from Piet Hein, Grooks (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1966).