Wisdom [is] the principal thing; [therefore] get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
Ver. 7. Wisdom is the principal thing.] Say the world what it will, a drachma of this wisdom is worth a pound of wit. Let others censure with the scribes, let me wonder with the multitude. And for wealth he is rich, not that hath the world, but that can contemn it. As for honour, virtue is a thousand escutcheons. And that is the true nobility, whereof God is the top of the kin, religion the root. For without this, well may a man be notable or notorious, but truly noble he can never be. a Lastly, for learning, the Greeks express learned and good by one word, b as if they were not learned that are not good; and the Scripture calls a wicked man generally a fool.
With all thy getting get.] With any pains; for any price. This gold cannot be bought too dear. Make religion thy business, other things do by the by; as Aristotle studied philosophy in the morning, that was his εργον; but eloquence in the afternoon, that was his παρεργον. Or as Caesar, swimming through the waters to escape his enemies, carried his books in his hand above the waters, but lost his robe. c
a Magnus homines virtute metiuntur non fortuna prudentes. - Nepos.
b σπουδαιος .
c Maior fuit cura Caesari libellorum quam purpurae.