"The most formidable enemy of a man is his own conscience, which always brings his crimes before his eyes, without leaving him the means of avoiding it.
"The most valuable and lasting friendship is that which exists between persons of the same rank.
"The severest misfortune which a man can suffer, is to be deprived by force, of the land upon which he lives and which he has cultivated, or to have his wife and children taken from him by force.
"Man loveth nothing more than his own children, and he always esteems his own feelings in preference to those of others.
"Of all birds the chíong (miner) is the most highly prized, because it has a beautiful appearance and can imitate the speech of man.
"A woman who loves her husband so tenderly, that at his death she wishes to die with him, or surviving never marries again, but lives as if she were dead to the world, is valued above all others of her sex.
"The lessons of our parents are like the lessons of the ten wise masters. No master con be called wise, unless he attends to what is written, as well on sacred as on worldly subjects. Such a master may be justly called a superior mortal; for it is a difficult task to learn and to attend to the same, even as difficult as to catch and tame a wild elephant on the edge of a precipice without injury.
"Melancholy is it to see a young man of condition unacquainted with the sacred writings; for, be he ever so gracefully formed or elegant in his manners, he remains defective; like the wúrawári flower, which, notwithstanding its fine appearance and bright red colour, emits no fragrance whatever.
"No man can be called good or bad, until his actions prove him so. Thus if a man declares that he has never taken any but delicious food, it will be shewn in his appearance. If he is stout and well looking, then may he be credited; but if, on the contrary, he is poor and lean, then it is impossible that he should have lived on good food.
"In like manner, when a man pretends to be the friend of mankind, it must be proved by his behaviour when he receives the visits of others. If he receives his guests with kindness and hospitality, then is he the friend of mankind, otherwise he is not so. And further, if a man pretends to have fasted and prayed, and to have become a holy man, it will be known whether he is really so, by the success which attends the prayers which he puts up for another: if the Deity hears them not, then is he a deceiver.