A Good Name Is Better Than Fine Perfume
A good name is better than fine perfume.
Of the care I spend buying perfume, how much do I spend building a good name?
📝Reflection
Hidden in the Hebrew is a play of sound between "name" (shem) and "perfume" (shemen). Perfume gives off a pleasant scent for a moment and fades, but a good name — the fragrance of one's character — remains even after one is gone. It is like the Buddha saying "the fragrance of virtue travels against the wind." We are diligent in adorning the surface yet careless in building a name. But what remains at the end is not the scent in the closet, but the warmth people recall when they speak my name. A good name is not bought; it is built by living, day by day.
🌱Apply It Today
Today, act mindful of one small impression that will remain when someone later recalls your name.
This verse is read as universal humanistic wisdom, not religion — no faith is promoted, and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.
