16-17 Unlucky the land whose king is a young pup,And whose princes party all night.Lucky the land whose king is mature,Where the princes behave themselvesAnd don’t drink themselves silly.
18 A shiftless man lives in a tumbledown shack;A lazy woman ends up with a leaky roof.
19 Laughter and bread go together,And wine gives sparkle to life—But it’s money that makes the world go around.
20 Don’t bad-mouth your leaders, not even under your breath,And don’t abuse your betters, even in the privacy of your home.Loose talk has a way of getting picked up and spread around.Little birds drop the crumbs of your gossip far and wide.