Long is the night for one who is awake. Long is a league to one who is weary. Long is the round of birth and death for the fool who does not understand the true teaching.

If, living the religious life, one does not find one’s better or one’s equal, one should resolutely live the religious life by oneself. There is no companionship with fools.

‘I have sons. I have wealth’: [thinking thus] the fool is troubled [by craving]. Even he himself is not his own, how much less his sons and wealth.

Whatever fool acknowledges his foolishness is a wise man on that account. But a fool who thinks he is a wise man, he is truly called a fool.

Even if a fool associates with a wise man his whole life, he does not know the nature of reality, just as a spoon does not know the taste of soup.

If a discerning man associates with a wise man even for a moment, he quickly knows the nature of reality, like the tongue knows the taste of soup.

Unwise fools live with themselves as their enemy doing unvirtuous deeds which have a bitter fruit.

That deed is not well done which, having done it, one regrets it, the karmic consequence of which one experiences with tears on one’s face, weeping.

That deed is well done which, having done it, one does not regret it, the karmic consequence of which one experiences pleased and happy.

The fool thinks unvirtuousness as [sweet as] honey as long as the demerit does not bear fruit. When the demerit bears fruit, then the fool meets with suffering.

Though month after month a fool eats his food with the tip of a blade of grass, he is not worth a sixteenth part of those who have mastered the teaching.

When a demeritorious deed is done it does not bear results the same day, like milk which curdles the same day. It follows the fool, burning [him] like fire covered in ashes.

Knowledge [of a craft] arises for a fool to his harm. It destroys his bright moral nature, cleaving his head.

[The fool] would want respect for his non-existent [good qualities]. He would want precedence amongst the bhikkhus. He would want authority in the monasteries. He would want [to be the sole recipient of] honour [and gifts, even] when amidst other people’s families.

‘Let both householders and those gone forth [into the ascetic life] understand that whatever was achieved was achieved by me alone. In respect of their various duties, let them be under my sole control.’ Such are the thoughts of a fool. His desires and conceit grow.

One is the path to worldly gain, another the path leading to the Untroubled. Fully understanding this, the bhikkhu, the disciple of the Buddha, should not take delight in worldly honour. He should cultivate seclusion [from sensuous pleasures and spiritually unwholesome factors] instead.