1. Touch pitch and you blacken your hand;associate with scoundrels and you learn their ways.
2. Do not lift a weight too heavy for you,or associate with anyone wealthier than you.How can the clay pot go with the metal cauldron?When they knock together, the pot will be smashed:
3. The rich do wrong and boast of it,while the poor are wronged and beg forgiveness.
4. As long as the rich can use you they will enslave you,but when you are down and out they will abandon you.
5. As long as you have anything they will live with you,but they will drain you dry without remorse.
6. When they need you they will deceive youand smile at you and raise your hopes;they will speak kindly to you and say, “What do you need?”
7. They will embarrass you at their dinner parties,and finally laugh at you.Afterwards, when they see you, they will pass you by,and shake their heads at you.
8. Be on guard: do not act too boldly;do not be like those who lack sense.
9. When the influential draw near, keep your distance;then they will urge you all the more.
10. Do not draw too close, lest you be rebuffed,but do not keep too far away lest you be regarded as an enemy.