1. Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you realize that we will be judged more strictly,
2. for we all fall short in many respects. If anyone does not fall short in speech, he is a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body also.
3. If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we also guide their whole bodies.
4. It is the same with ships: even though they are so large and driven by fierce winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot’s inclination wishes.
5. In the same way the tongue is a small member and yet has great pretensions.Consider how small a fire can set a huge forest ablaze.
6. The tongue is also a fire. It exists among our members as a world of malice, defiling the whole body and setting the entire course of our lives on fire, itself set on fire by Gehenna.