| 1 | There is a rebuke that is untimely, and there is the person who is wise enough to keep silent. |
| 2 | How much better it is to rebuke than to fume! |
| 3 | And the one who admits his fault will be kept from failure. |
| 4 | Like a eunuch lusting to violate a girl is the person who does right under compulsion. |
| 5 | Some people keep silent and are thought to be wise, while others are detested for being talkative. |
| 6 | Some people keep silent because they have nothing to say, while others keep silent because they know when to speak. |
| 7 | The wise remain silent until the right moment, but a boasting fool misses the right moment. |
| 8 | Whoever talks too much is detested, and whoever pretends to authority is hated. |
| 9 | There may be good fortune for a person in adversity, and a windfall may result in a loss. |
| 10 | There is the gift that profits you nothing, and the gift to be paid back double. |
| 11 | There are losses for the sake of glory, and there are some who have raised their heads from humble circumstances. |
| 12 | Some buy much for little, but pay for it seven times over. |
| 13 | The wise make themselves beloved by only few words, but the courtesies of fools are wasted. |
| 14 | A fool’s gift will profit you nothing, for he looks for recompense sevenfold. |
| 15 | He gives little and upbraids much; he opens his mouth like a town crier. Today he lends and tomorrow he asks it back; such a one is hateful to God and humans. |
| 16 | The fool says, “I have no friends, and I get no thanks for my good deeds. Those who eat my bread are evil-tongued.” |
| 17 | How many will ridicule him, and how often! |
| 18 | A slip on the pavement is better than a slip of the tongue; the downfall of the wicked will occur just as speedily. |
| 19 | A coarse person is like an inappropriate story, continually on the lips of the ignorant. |
| 20 | A proverb from a fool’s lips will be rejected, for he does not tell it at the proper time. |
| 21 | One may be prevented from sinning by poverty; so when he rests he feels no remorse. |
| 22 | One may lose his life through shame, or lose it because of human respect. |
| 23 | Another out of shame makes promises to a friend, and so makes an enemy for nothing. |
| 24 | A lie is an ugly blot on a person; it is continually on the lips of the ignorant. |
| 25 | A thief is preferable to a habitual liar, but the lot of both is ruin. |
| 26 | A liar’s way leads to disgrace, and his shame is ever with him. |
| 27 | The wise person advances himself by his words, and one who is sensible pleases the great. |
| 28 | Those who cultivate the soil heap up their harvest, and those who please the great atone for injustice. |
| 29 | Favors and gifts blind the eyes of the wise; like a muzzle on the mouth they stop reproofs. |
| 30 | Hidden wisdom and unseen treasure, of what value is either? |
| 31 | Better are those who hide their folly than those who hide their wisdom. |