| 1 There is the rebuke that is untimely, and there is the person who keeps quiet, and he is the shrewd one. |
| 2 But how much better to rebuke than to fume! |
| 3 The person who acknowledges a fault wards off punishment. |
| 4 Like a eunuch trying to take a girl's virginity is someone who tries to impose justice by force. |
| 5 There is the person who keeps quiet and is considered wise, another incurs hatred for talking too much. |
| 6 There is the person who keeps quiet, not knowing how to answer, another keeps quiet, knowing whento speak. |
| 7 The wise wil keep quiet til the right moment, but a garrulous fool wil always misjudge it. |
| 8 Someone who talks too much wil earn dislike, and someone who usurps authority wil earn hatred. |
| 9 There is the person who finds misfortune a boon, and the piece of luck that turns to loss. |
| 10 There is the gift that affords you no profit, and the gift that repays you double. |
| 11 There is the honour that leads to humiliation, and there are people in a low state who raise theirheads. |
| 12 There is the person who buys much for little, yet pays for it seven times over. |
| 13 The wise wins love with words, while fools may shower favours in vain. |
| 14 The gift of the stupid wil bring you no advantage, his eyes look for seven times as much in return. |
| 15 He gives little and reviles much, he opens his mouth like the town crier, he lends today and demandspayment tomorrow; he is a detestable fellow. |
| 16 The fool will say, 'I have no friends, I get no gratitude for my good deeds; |
| 17 those who eat my bread have malicious tongues.' How often he wil be laughed at, and by how many! |
| 18 Better a slip on the pavement than a slip of the tongue; this is how ruin takes the wicked by surprise. |
| 19 A coarse-grained person is like an indiscreet story endlessly retold by the ignorant. |
| 20 A maxim is rejected when coming from a fool, since the fool does not utter it on the apt occasion. |
| 21 There is a person who is prevented from sinning by poverty; no qualms of conscience disturb thatperson's rest. |
| 22 There is a person who courts destruction out of false shame, courts destruction for the sake of a fool'sopinion. |
| 23 There is a person who out of false shame makes promises to a friend, and so makes an enemy fornothing. |
| 24 Lying is an ugly blot on anyone, and ever on the lips of the undisciplined. |
| 25 A thief is preferable to an inveterate liar, but both are heading for ruin. |
| 26 Lying is an abominable habit, the liar's disgrace lasts for ever. |
| 27 The wise gains advancement by words, the shrewd wins favour from the great. |
| 28 Whoever til s the soil wil have a full harvest, whoever wins favour from the great wil secure pardon foroffences. |
| 29 Presents and gifts blind the eyes of the wise and stifle rebukes like a muzzle on the mouth. |
| 30 Wisdom concealed, and treasure undiscovered, what use is either of these? |
| 31 Better one who conceals his fol y than one who conceals his wisdom. |