Chapter 20

Better the complaint made than the grudge secretly nursed. When a man con-fesses his fault, do not cut him short in mid utterance.

Redress1 sought by violence no more content shall bring thee

than eunuch’s lust for maid.

Well it is to be reproved, and to confess thy fault, and be rid of all such guilt as thou hast incurred knowingly.

A man may be the wiser for remaining dumb, where the glib talker grows wearisome;

the silent man, has he nothing to say? Or is he waiting for the right time to say it?

Wisdom keeps its utterance in reserve, where the fool’s vanity cannot wait.

The babbler cuts his own throat; claim more than thy right, and all men are thy enemies.

For a mind ill trained, success is failure, winning is losing.

Gift given may bring thee nothing in return, or twice its worth.

Honour achieved may belittle a man, and modesty bring him renown.

What use to make a good bargain, if thou must pay for it sevenfold?

Word of wise man endears him; the fool spends his favours in vain.

Little will the fool’s gift profit thee; seven times magnified is all he sees.

The paltrier the gift, the longer the admonitions that go with it, and every word of his an incitement to anger.

Out upon the man who lends today, and will have the loan restored to-morrow!

The fool has no friends, nor can win love by all his favours;

they are but parasites that eat at his table; loud and long they will laugh over him;

so injudiciously he bestows gifts worth having, and gifts nothing worth.

Slip of a liar’s tongue is like slip from roof to ground; a villain’s end is not long a-coming.

An ungracious man is no more regarded, than some idle tale that is ever on the lips of the ill-bred.

No weighty saying but offends in a fool’s mouth; sure it is that he will bring it out unseasonably.

Some avoid wrong only because they lack the means to do it; idle they remain, yet rest they cannot.

Some for very shame have courted their own ruin, resolved, though that opinion were worthless enough, to sacrifice themselves for another’s good opinion.

Some, too, for shame, make their friends high-sounding promises, and thereby gain nothing, but lose a friend.

A lie is a foul blot upon a man’s name, yet nothing so frequent on ill-guarded lips.

Worse than a thief is one who is ever lying, and to no better end may he look forward.

He lives without honour that lies without scruple, and shame is at his side continually.

The wise word brings a man to honour; prudence will endear thee to the great.

Till ground, and fill barn; live uprightly, and attain honour; win prince, and escape harm.

Hospitality here, a gift there, how they blind the eyes of justice! No better gag to silence reproof.

Wisdom hidden is wasted, is treasure that never sees the light of day;

silence is rightly used when it masks folly, not when it is the grave of wisdom.