Celtic Proverbs
The Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom

Some might say that since wisdom consists of escaping the wrath of God, we had best give Him a wide berth lest He notice our dirty little secrets and burn us forever in Hell. But that is pretty extreme stuff; much better to say that the defiance of God is the beginning of foolishness and that if we are too stupid or too headstrong to understand what has been ordained, we are tempting our own destruction. Natural law is natural law and however we think of God, even if we do not think of Him at all, if we put our hand into a fire we burn, if we try to breathe water we drown and if we fly too close to the sun, the bindings will melt from our wings.

R. Martin Helick, Travelers From an Ancient Land, Book XII, An Chros, (Regent Graphics: Swissvale, PA, 1993)