How can foolish choices harm a person or a whole country?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The Preacher uses images of damaged tools, unsafe work, and careless rulers to show the cost of folly.

Chapter breakdown

The chapter begins with dying flies spoiling a fine ointment. This edition says that wisdom and glory are more precious than a small, short-lived folly. The wise heart is at the right hand and the fool’s at the left. A fool who walks along a road thinks everyone else is foolish. If a ruler grows angry, the listener should not abandon his place: care can prevent great sins.

The Preacher has seen fools placed high and rich people seated low, servants on horses and princes walking like servants. His examples of work also warn of danger. Someone who digs a pit may fall into it; someone who breaks a hedge may meet a snake. Moving stones or cutting trees can cause injury. A blunt iron tool demands more effort, but careful work can sharpen it. A secret backbiter resembles a snake that bites in secret.

Wise words bring grace, while a fool’s lips bring ruin. Foolish talk can begin in folly and end in harmful error. Many words do not reveal an unknown past or future. The fool’s labor is wearisome because he does not even know the way to the city.

The speaker laments a land with a child for a king and princes who eat early. He praises a land with a noble king and rulers who eat at the right time to restore strength, rather than for excess. Sloth lets a house fall and a roof leak. Bread, wine, and money appear in his description of feasting. The final warning is to avoid cursing a king even in thought, or a rich person in a private room: a bird may carry the voice and reveal the words.

The story inside

Images of spoiled ointment and dangerous work lead to warnings about speech, rulers, and the neglect of a house.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Care and useful wisdom matter in ordinary work.
2
Foolish words can grow into harmful speech.
3
A ruler’s habits can affect the welfare of a country.

Test your recall

How does the blunt iron tool illustrate the need for care?

Show answer

A blunt tool requires more effort. The speaker says that care and skill can sharpen it, showing why thoughtful work matters.

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 70796–70797
10:1. Dying flies spoil the sweetness of the ointment. Wisdom and glory is more precious than a small and shortlived folly.
Lines 70853–70856
10:20. Detract not the king, no not in thy thought; and speak not evil of the rich man in thy private chamber: because even the birds of the air will carry thy voice, and he that hath wings will tell what thou hast said.