The Danish philosopher, mathematician, designer, poet and all-round smart cookie Piet Hein did amazing work in both science and arts. He is most known for his ‘grooks’, some claiming the word is short for “Grin & sUK” (laugh & sigh in Danish). He wrote over 7,000 of them. Here we present a limited collection of the grooks of the Danish poet Piet Hein.
When you feel how depressingly
slowly you climb,
it’s well to remember that
Things Take Time.
* * * *
Losing one glove is certainly painful,
but nothing compared to the pain,
of losing one, throwing away the other,
and finding the first one again.
Everything’s either
concave or -vex,
so whatever you dream
will be something with sex.
* * * *
Corinna’s scanty evening dress
reveals her charms to an excess
which makes a fellow lust for less.
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.
We travel where ever mankind reigns
and find good men in all the worlds domains
and recognize them as a kind of Danes.
Solutions to problems are easy to find:
the problem’s a great contribution.
What’s truly an art is to wring from your mind
a problem to fit a solution.
There’s a rule for proper doses
in the dinner-eaters lore:
one should stop the filling process
while one still has room for more.
And if someone at the table
had reminded me before –
Hallelujah! I’d be able
to absorb a little more.
The Grooks of Piet Hein, compiled by Tor Kjolberg
Want more humor?
Humor – the Scandinavian Way
Humor in Scandinavia
A Scandinavian Schuckle