2. It is hard to remove a peg that is stuck between two stones of a house, and it is just as hard to remove dishonesty from buying and selling.
3. Unless you are determined in your fear of the Lord, your house is going to come down on you.
4. Your talk shows your faults; it is like a sieve that separates out the rubbish.
5. The way you think shows your character just as surely as a kiln shows any flaws in the pottery being fired.
6. You can tell how well a tree has been cared for by the fruit it bears, and you can tell a person's feelings by the way he expresses himself.
7. Never praise anyone before you hear him talk; that is the real test.
8. If you try to be honest, you can be, and it will improve your character as handsome clothing improves your appearance.
9. Birds come to roost with those of their own kind, and the habit of honesty comes to those who try to be honest.
10. Sin waits for those looking for a chance to sin, just as a lion waits for prey.
11. When devout people talk, what they say always makes sense, but foolish people are always contradicting themselves.
12. When you find yourself with stupid people, look for some excuse to leave, but when you are with serious-minded people, stay as long as you can.
13. The stories that foolish people tell are offensive, and they make jokes about the worst kinds of sin.
14. When such people curse, it is enough to make your hair stand on end, and when they start arguing among themselves, all you can do is to stop your ears.
15. It is painful to listen to them insult each other, and such blustering can lead to violence.
16. If you repeat secrets that have been told to you, you are destroying the confidence others have in you, and you will never have a close friend.
17. Respect your friends, and keep faith with them. If you do betray a friend's confidence, you may as well forget you have a friend.
18. You have killed that friendship just as surely as if you had taken a weapon and killed an enemy.