6 ideas
Wisdom is not first a skill or a stock of information but grows from reverent fear of God, which reorders what a person desires and what they will put up with. Cleverness without that root turns into craftiness, while a simple person who fears the Lord is counted wiser than a learned one who breaks the law.
Take on a friend only after proving him, and do not trust him quickly, because many are friends only when it suits them and vanish in your day of trouble. The test is adversity: a friend who shares your table may turn enemy and expose your quarrel, while a faithful friend is a sturdy shelter and a treasure beyond price.
Lending to someone stronger than you, or standing surety beyond your means, often turns a benefactor into a debtor. The borrower may repay with curses and delay, so wealth is lost and a friendship broken at once. One should still help a neighbor in need, but carefully, and only within one's own capacity.
As the sieve's shaking leaves the refuse and the kiln tests the potter's vessels, a person's talk exposes the thoughts of the mind. So do not praise anyone before you hear them reason, and let your own restraint in speaking be your guard. A slip of the tongue does more harm than a fall on the pavement.
One who loves gold will not be counted righteous, because the chase for wealth ties a person to the thing that trips them. As a stake sticks between the stones of a wall, sin wedges itself between buying and selling. Riches are good only when they come without sin, and health and a cheerful heart are worth more than gold.
At a great man's table, do not reach first or crowd your neighbor. Judge your neighbor's feelings by your own, and stop first for manners' sake. Moderate eating brings sound sleep, while gluttony brings sleeplessness and colic, so conduct at meals trains the same restraint and regard for others that wisdom demands elsewhere.