Like a Dog

Like snow in summer or rain in harvest,
       so honour is not fitting for a fool.
Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying,
       an undeserved curse goes nowhere.
A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,
       and a rod for the back of fools.
Do not answer fools according to their folly,
       or you will be a fool yourself.
Answer fools according to their folly,
       or they will be wise in their own eyes.
It is like cutting off one’s foot and drinking down violence,
       to send a message by a fool.
The legs of a disabled person hang limp;
       so does a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
It is like binding a stone in a sling
       to give honour to a fool.
Like a thornbush brandished by the hand of a drunkard
       is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
Like an archer who wounds everybody
       is one who hires a passing fool or drunkard.
Like a dog that returns to its vomit
       is a fool who reverts to his folly.
Do you see persons wise in their own eyes?
       There is more hope for fools than for them.

--Proverbs 26:1-12, NRSV