10 Don’t leave your friends or your parents’ friends
    and run home to your family when things get rough;
Better a nearby friend
    than a distant family.

11 Become wise, dear child, and make me happy;
    then nothing the world throws my way will upset me.

12 A prudent person sees trouble coming and ducks;
    a simpleton walks in blindly and is clobbered.

13 Hold tight to collateral on any loan to a stranger;
    be wary of accepting what a transient has pawned.

14 If you wake your friend in the early morning
    by shouting “Rise and shine!”
It will sound to him
    more like a curse than a blessing.

15-16 A nagging spouse is like
    the drip, drip, drip of a leaky faucet;
You can’t turn it off,
    and you can’t get away from it.

Your Face Mirrors Your Heart

17 You use steel to sharpen steel,
    and one friend sharpens another.

18 If you care for your orchard, you’ll enjoy its fruit;
    if you honor your boss, you’ll be honored.

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