As clouds and wind that yield no rain,
So is he who brags of gifts ungiven (Pr. 2514).
The Self-Confident Man.
The fool is quite certain his way is right,
But the wise man listens to counsel (Pr. 1215).
Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit?
There is more hope of a fool than of him (Pr. 2612).
—the last, a saying that increases in force when a little later we come to note just what the Wise-men thought of a fool! With these proverbs on the Proud we may conveniently group some sayings on the man whose tongue runs away with his discretion:
The Garrulous Man
The tongue of the Wise distils knowledge,
But the mouth of fools poureth out folly (Pr. 152).
A fool’s mouth is his destruction,
His lips are the snare of his soul (Pr. 187).
A fool’s vexation is instantly known,
But a prudent man ignores an affront (Pr. 1216).
How true! Most normal persons have acquired the power to delay or suppress the answer that rises to the lips in anger, but which of us would not confess that it was hard to learn this wisdom and that it is never easy to observe its teaching? The temptation to blurt out all our thought in time of trouble or vexation is always with us. In the hot-tempered East restraint was even more necessary than it is amongst ourselves, and one is therefore not surprised to find the absence of this virtue receiving the same fearsome condemnation as self-confidence:
Seest thou a man that is hasty of speech?
There is more hope of a fool than of him (Pr. 2920).
Next, a group of proverbs concerning certain persons who to their own great surprise have missed success in society. The list may begin with a character one scarcely expects to meet in Scripture:
The Practical Joker