¹² It is safer to meet a bear robbed of her cubs
    than to confront a fool caught in foolishness.

⁹ Don’t waste your breath on fools,
    for they will despise the wisest advice.

⁴ Don’t answer the foolish arguments of fools,
    or you will become as foolish as they are.

⁵ Be sure to answer the foolish arguments of fools,
    or they will become wise in their own estimation.

⁶ Trusting a fool to convey a message
    is like cutting off one’s feet or drinking poison!

⁷ A proverb in the mouth of a fool
    is as useless as a paralyzed leg.

⁸ Honoring a fool
    is as foolish as tying a stone to a slingshot.

⁹ A proverb in the mouth of a fool
    is like a thorny branch brandished by a drunk.

¹⁰ An employer who hires a fool or a bystander
    is like an archer who shoots at random.

¹¹ As a dog returns to its vomit,
    so a fool repeats his foolishness.