Avoid him who talks sweetly before you but tries to ruin you behind your back, for he is like a pitcher full of poison with milk on top.

There is poison in the fang of the serpent, in the mouth of the fly and in the sting of a scorpion; but the wicked man is saturated with it.

Wicked ones are like fire. Even if put on a heap, they burn only. They do not leave unhurt, even their well-wishers and benefactors.

The serpent, the king, the tiger, the stinging wasp, the small child, the dog owned by other people, and the fool: these seven ought not to be awakened from sleep.

Even a pandit comes to grief by giving instruction to a foolish disciple, by maintaining a wicked wife, and by excessive familiarity with the miserable.

Eschew wicked company and associate with saintly persons. Acquire virtue day and night, and always meditate on that which is eternal, forgetting that which is temporary.