Chapter 26

  Like snow in summer and rain when the grain is being cut, so honour is not natural for the foolish.  

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  As the sparrow in her wandering and the swallow in her flight, so the curse does not come without a cause.  

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  A whip for the horse, a mouth-bit for the ass, and a rod for the back of the foolish.  

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  Do not give to the foolish man a foolish answer, or you will be like him.  

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  Give a foolish man a foolish answer, or he will seem wise to himself.  

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  He who sends news by the hand of a foolish man is cutting off his feet and drinking in damage.  

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  The legs of one who has no power of walking are hanging loose; so is a wise saying in the mouth of the foolish.  

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  Giving honour to a foolish man is like attempting to keep a stone fixed in a cord.  

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  Like a thorn which goes up into the hand of a man overcome by drink, so is a wise saying in the mouth of a foolish man.  

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  Like an archer wounding all who go by, is a foolish man overcome by drink.  

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  Like a dog going back to the food which he has not been able to keep down, is the foolish man doing his foolish acts over again.  

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  Have you seen a man who seems to himself to be wise? There is more hope for the foolish than for him.  

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  The hater of work says, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets.  

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  A door is turned on its pillar, and the hater of work on his bed.  

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  The hater of work puts his hand deep into the basin: lifting it again to his mouth is a weariness to him.  

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  The hater of work seems to himself wiser than seven men who are able to give an answer with good sense.  

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  He who gets mixed up in a fight which is not his business, is like one who takes a dog by the ears while it is going by.  

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  As one who is off his head sends about flaming sticks and arrows of death,  

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  So is the man who gets the better of his neighbour by deceit, and says, Am I not doing so in sport?  

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  Without wood, the fire goes out; and where there is no secret talk, argument is ended.  

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  Like breath on coals and wood on fire, so a man given to argument gets a fight started.  

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  The words of one who says evil of his neighbour secretly are like sweet food, they go down into the inner parts of the stomach.  

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  Smooth lips and an evil heart are like a vessel of earth plated with silver waste.  

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  With his lips the hater makes things seem what they are not, but deceit is stored up inside him;  

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  When he says fair words, have no belief in him; for in his heart are seven evils:  

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  Though his hate is covered with deceit, his sin will be seen openly before the meeting of the people.  

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  He who makes a hole in the earth will himself go falling into it: and on him by whom a stone is rolled the stone will come back again.  

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  A false tongue has hate for those who have clean hearts, and a smooth mouth is a cause of falling.  

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