1 We no more give honors to fools

than pray for snow in summer or rain during harvest.

2 You have as little to fear from an undeserved curse

as from the dart of a wren or the swoop of a swallow.

3 A whip for the racehorse, a tiller for the sailboat—

and a stick for the back of fools!

4 Don’t respond to the stupidity of a fool;

you’ll only look foolish yourself.

5 Answer a fool in simple terms

so he doesn’t get a swelled head.

6 You’re only asking for trouble

when you send a message by a fool.

7 A proverb quoted by fools

is limp as a wet noodle.

8 Putting a fool in a place of honor

is like setting a mud brick on a marble column.

9 To ask a moron to quote a proverb

is like putting a scalpel in the hands of a drunk.

10 Hire a fool or a drunk

and you shoot yourself in the foot.

11 As a dog eats its own vomit,

so fools recycle silliness.

12 See that man who thinks he’s so smart?

You can expect far more from a fool than from him.

13 Loafers say, "It’s dangerous out there!

Tigers are prowling the streets!"

and then pull the covers back over their heads.

14 Just as a door turns on its hinges,

so a lazybones turns back over in bed.

15 A shiftless sluggard puts his fork in the pie,

but is too lazy to lift it to his mouth.

16 Dreamers fantasize their self-importance;

they think they are smarter

than a whole college faculty.

17 You grab a mad dog by the ears

when you butt into a quarrel that’s none of your business.

18,19 People who shrug off deliberate deceptions,

saying, "I didn’t mean it, I was only joking,"

Are worse than careless campers

who walk away from smoldering campfires.

20 When you run out of wood, the fire goes out;

when the gossip ends, the quarrel dies down.

21 A quarrelsome person in a dispute

is like kerosene thrown on a fire.

22 Listening to gossip is like eating cheap candy;

do you want junk like that in your belly?

23 Smooth talk from an evil heart

is like glaze on cracked pottery.

24-26 Your enemy shakes hands and greets you like an old friend,

all the while plotting against you.

When he speaks warmly to you, don’t believe him for a minute;

he’s just waiting for the chance to rip you off.

No matter how shrewdly he conceals his malice,

eventually his evil will be exposed in public.

27 Malice backfires;

spite boomerangs.

28 Liars hate their victims;

flatterers sabotage trust.