III
Four shall not enter Paradise: the scoffer, the liar, the hypocrite, and the slanderer.
The cock and the owl both await the daylight. ‘The light’, says the cock, ‘brings delight to me; but what are you waiting for?’
Thy friend has a friend, and thy friend’s friend has a friend: be discreet.
He who is ashamed will not easily commit sin. Commit a sin twice, and you will think it perfectly allowable. There is a great difference between him who is ashamed before his own self, and him who is only ashamed before others.
The sun will go down all by himself, without thy assistance. Not what thou sayest about thyself, but what others say. He who humiliates himself will be lifted up; he who raises himself up will be humiliated. Whosoever runs after greatness, greatness runs away from him; he who runs from greatness, greatness follows him.
If the young tell thee, Build; and the old tell thee, Destroy—follow the counsel of the elders; for often the destruction of the elders is construction, and the construction of the young is destruction.