CHAPTER 10
1 Flies that die in it, lose the sweetness of [the] ointment. A little folly at some time is more precious than wisdom and glory.
2 The heart of a wise man is in his right side; and the heart of a fool is in his left side.
3 But also a fool going in the way, when he is unwise, guesseth all men fools.
4 If the spirit of him, that hath power, goeth upon thee, forsake thou not thy place; for curing, or caring, or taking heed, shall make greatest sins to cease.
5 An evil there is, that I saw under the sun, and going out as by error from the face of the prince;
6 a fool set in high dignity, and rich men sit beneath.
7 I saw servants on horses, and princes as servants going on the earth.
8 He that diggeth a ditch, shall fall into it; and an adder shall bite him, that destroyeth a hedge.
9 He that beareth over stones, shall be tormented in those; and he that cutteth trees, shall be wounded of those [or them].
10 If iron is folded again, and it is not as before, but is made blunt, it shall be made sharp with much travail; and wisdom shall follow after busyness.
11 If a serpent biteth, it biteth in silence; he that backbiteth privily, hath nothing less than it.
12 The words of the mouth of a wise man be grace; and the lips of an unwise man shall cast him down.
13 The beginning of his words is folly; and the last thing of his mouth is the worst error.
14 A fool multiplieth words; a man knoweth not, what was before him, and who may show to him that, that shall come after him?
15 The travail of fools shall torment them, that know not how to go into the city.
16 Land, woe to thee, whose king is a child, and whose princes eat early.
17 Blessed is the land, whose king is noble; and whose princes eat in their time, to sustain their kind, and not to lechery.
18 The highness of houses shall be made low in sloths; and the house shall drop rain in the feebleness of hands.
19 In laughing, they dispose bread and wine, that they drinking eat largely; and all things obey to money.
20 In thy thought backbite thou not the king, and in the private of thy bed, curse thou not a rich man; for the birds of heaven shall bear thy voice, and he that hath pens or wings, shall tell the sentence.