The vizier urges that one should not be arrogant about one's knowledge but consult both the ignorant and the skilled, because the limits of skill are never reached and no craftsman fully attains mastery. Good speech is said to be more hidden than the emerald, yet can be found with servant girls at the grindstones.
When facing a disputant, calibrate your response to their rank: let a superior who is stronger talk himself out while you stay silent, match an equal to show composure, and pass over an inferior rather than crush him. Silence and restraint, not rebuttal, are what onlookers and officials remember in your favor.
Ma'at (right order, truth, justice) is described as enduring and effective: it has not been disturbed since the time of its maker, and wrongdoing may seize riches but injustice never lands its cargo safely in the end. Punishment of transgression is deferred, not absent.
A son who listens and acts on his father's instruction will prosper and have his own speech heeded, while the fool who disregards teaching accomplishes nothing and sees knowledge as ignorance. Obedience is framed as the mechanism by which accumulated conduct is transmitted intact across generations.