Day 26 - Proverbs 26

Proverbs 26

Fools Recycle Silliness

1 We no more give honors to fools than pray for snow in summer or rain during harvest.

2 You have as little to fear from an undeserved curse
as from the dart of a wren or the swoop of a swallow.

3 A whip for the racehorse, a tiller for the sailboat—
and a stick for the back of fools!

4 Don't respond to the stupidity of a fool;
you'll only look foolish yourself.

5 Answer a fool in simple terms
so he doesn't get a swelled head.

6 You're only asking for trouble
when you send a message by a fool.

7 A proverb quoted by fools
is limp as a wet noodle.

8 Putting a fool in a place of honor
is like setting a mud brick on a marble column.

9 To ask a moron to quote a proverb
is like putting a scalpel in the hands of a drunk.

10 Hire a fool or a drunk
and you shoot yourself in the foot.

11 As a dog eats its own vomit,
so fools recycle silliness.

12 See that man who thinks he's so smart?
You can expect far more from a fool than from him.

13 Loafers say, "It's dangerous out there!
Tigers are prowling the streets!"
and then pull the covers back over their heads.

14 Just as a door turns on its hinges,
so a lazybones turns back over in bed.

15 A shiftless sluggard puts his fork in the pie,
but is too lazy to lift it to his mouth.

Like Glaze on Cracked Pottery

16 Dreamers fantasize their self-importance;
they think they are smarter
than a whole college faculty.

17 You grab a mad dog by the ears
when you butt into a quarrel that's none of your business.

18-19 People who shrug off deliberate deceptions,
saying, "I didn't mean it, I was only joking,"
Are worse than careless campers
who walk away from smoldering campfires.

20 When you run out of wood, the fire goes out;
when the gossip ends, the quarrel dies down.

21 A quarrelsome person in a dispute
is like kerosene thrown on a fire.

22 Listening to gossip is like eating cheap candy;
do you want junk like that in your belly?

23 Smooth talk from an evil heart
is like glaze on cracked pottery.

24-26 Your enemy shakes hands and greets you like an old friend,
all the while conniving against you.
When he speaks warmly to you, don't believe him for a minute;
he's just waiting for the chance to rip you off.
No matter how cunningly he conceals his malice,
eventually his evil will be exposed in public.

27 Malice backfires;
spite boomerangs.

28 Liars hate their victims;
flatterers sabotage trust.