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20:1  There is a rebuke that is untimely, and there is the person who is wise enough to keep silent.
20:2  How much better it is to rebuke than to fume!
20:3  And the one who admits his fault will be kept from failure.
20:4  Like a eunuch lusting to violate a girl is the person who does right under compulsion.
20:5  Some people keep silent and are thought to be wise, while others are detested for being talkative.
20:6  Some people keep silent because they have nothing to say, while others keep silent because they know when to speak.
20:7  The wise remain silent until the right moment, but a boasting fool misses the right moment.
20:8  Whoever talks too much is detested, and whoever pretends to authority is hated.
20:9  There may be good fortune for a person in adversity, and a windfall may result in a loss.
20:10  There is the gift that profits you nothing, and the gift to be paid back double.
20:11  There are losses for the sake of glory, and there are some who have raised their heads from humble circumstances.
20:12  Some buy much for little, but pay for it seven times over.
20:13  The wise make themselves beloved by only few words, but the courtesies of fools are wasted.
20:14  A fool’s gift will profit you nothing, for he looks for recompense sevenfold.
20:15  He gives little and upbraids much; he opens his mouth like a town crier. Today he lends and tomorrow he asks it back; such a one is hateful to God and humans.
20:16  The fool says, “I have no friends, and I get no thanks for my good deeds. Those who eat my bread are evil-tongued.”
20:17  How many will ridicule him, and how often!
20:18  A slip on the pavement is better than a slip of the tongue; the downfall of the wicked will occur just as speedily.
20:19  A coarse person is like an inappropriate story, continually on the lips of the ignorant.
20:20  A proverb from a fool’s lips will be rejected, for he does not tell it at the proper time.
20:21  One may be prevented from sinning by poverty; so when he rests he feels no remorse.
20:22  One may lose his life through shame, or lose it because of human respect.
20:23  Another out of shame makes promises to a friend, and so makes an enemy for nothing.
20:24  A lie is an ugly blot on a person; it is continually on the lips of the ignorant.
20:25  A thief is preferable to a habitual liar, but the lot of both is ruin.
20:26  A liar’s way leads to disgrace, and his shame is ever with him.
20:27  The wise person advances himself by his words, and one who is sensible pleases the great.
20:28  Those who cultivate the soil heap up their harvest, and those who please the great atone for injustice.
20:29  Favors and gifts blind the eyes of the wise; like a muzzle on the mouth they stop reproofs.
20:30  Hidden wisdom and unseen treasure, of what value is either?
20:31  Better are those who hide their folly than those who hide their wisdom.