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

⁹ Don’t waste your breath on a rebel. He will despise the wisest advice.

^4-5 When arguing with a rebel, don’t use foolish arguments as he does, or you will become as foolish as he is! Prick his conceit with silly replies!^[a]

⁶ To trust a rebel to convey a message is as foolish as cutting off your feet and drinking poison!

⁷ In the mouth of a fool a proverb becomes as useless as a paralyzed leg.

⁸ Honoring a rebel will backfire like a stone tied to a slingshot!

⁹ A rebel will misapply an illustration so that its point will no more be felt than a thorn in the hand of a drunkard.

¹⁰ The master may get better work from an untrained apprentice than from a skilled rebel!

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

²² You can’t separate a rebel from his foolishness though you crush him to powder.

⁹ There’s no use arguing with a fool. He only rages and scoffs, and tempers flare.