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10:1  Dead flies make a perfumer’s oil stink, so a little simpleminded folly is weightier than wisdom and honor.
10:2  A wise man’s heart directs him toward the right, but the foolish man’s heart directs him toward the left.
10:3  Even when the simpleminded fool walks along the road, his heart lacks wisdom, and he says to all that he is a simpleminded fool.
10:4  If the ruler’s temper rises against you, do not abandon your position, because calmness causes great offenses to be abandoned.
10:5  There is an evil I have seen under the sun, like a mistake which goes forth from the one in power—
10:6  folly is set in many exalted places while rich men sit in humble places.
10:7  I have seen slaves riding on horses and princes walking like slaves on the land.
10:8  He who digs a pit may fall into it, and a serpent may bite him who breaks through a wall.
10:9  He who quarries stones may be hurt by them, and he who splits logs may be endangered by them.
10:10  If the axe is dull and he does not sharpen its edge, then he must exert more strength. Wisdom has the advantage of giving success.
10:11  If the serpent bites before being charmed, there is no advantage for the charmer.
10:12  Words from the mouth of a wise man are gracious, but the lips of a fool swallow him up;
10:13  the beginning of the words of his mouth is simpleminded folly, and the end of what comes from his mouth is evil madness.
10:14  Yet the simpleminded fool multiplies words. No man knows what will happen, and who can tell him what will come after him?
10:15  The labor of a fool so wearies him that he does not even know how to go to a city.
10:16  Woe to you, O land, whose king is a young man and whose princes eat in the morning.
10:17  Blessed are you, O land, whose king is of nobility and whose princes eat at the appropriate time—for might and not for drinking.
10:18  Through indolence the beams sag, and through slack hands the house leaks.
10:19  Men prepare bread for laughter, and wine makes life glad, and money is the answer to everything.
10:20  Furthermore, in your bedchamber do not curse a king, and in your sleeping rooms do not curse a rich man, for a bird of the sky will bring the sound and the winged creature will tell the matter.