Original content

English translation

One of the sages has said: I wrote forty books on wisdom and gained no benefit from them; I selected forty maxims out of them, and from those too I obtained no profit; then I chose four maxims out of those, and in them I found what I had been seeking:

First, that you should not make women a place of trust as you do men, for a woman, even though she may come from a tribe of the trustworthy, is not of the kind that is fit to be trusted.

A woman's intellect is deficient, and her faith as well; never place a complete belief in her. If she is bad, take no regard from her; and if she is good, place no reliance upon her.

Second, that you should not be deluded by wealth, however abundant it may be, for in the end it is trampled underfoot by the accidents of fortune.

Do not be deluded by wealth like the heedless, for wealth is like a passing cloud. A passing cloud, even if it rains down pearls, the wise man sets not his heart upon it.

Third, that you should not lay before any friend the secrets you are bound to keep hidden, for it often happens that a flaw falls into friendship and it turns into enmity.

O son, a secret that must be kept hidden from the enemy— better that you speak little of it in disclosing it to friends. Often have I seen, from the course of the crooked-natured heavens, friends become enemies and friendships turn to enmity.

Fourth, that you should acquire no knowledge except that whose neglect would make you die in sin; flee from the superfluous and cling to what is necessary.

Incline toward the knowledge that is indispensable to you, and that from which there is escape, do not seek out. And when the indispensable knowledge is attained by you, desire nothing but to act in accordance with it.