Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother. My son, my beloved, accustom thyself always to speak gently to every man, at all times and seasons; thereby thou shalt avoid anger which is a very bad and blameworthy disposition, for it leads to sin, as our teachers of blessed memory said: ‘If one gets angry, it is regarded as if he worshipped idols.’[182] And all punishments of Gehenna have power over him, as it is written: ‘Remove anger from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh.’[183] By the world _evil_ Gehenna is meant, as it is written: ‘Even the wicked for the day of evil.’[184] When thou avoidest anger, thou wilt bring to thy mind the quality of humility, and cleave unto it, for it is the best of all virtues, as it is written: ‘The reward of humility is the fear of the Lord.’[185] The Mishnah likewise says: ‘Be exceedingly humble of spirit.’[186] Even our teacher Moses, peace be upon him, was praised by this quality, as it is written: ‘And the man Moses was very meek.’[187] It is also through the merit of this virtue that the Torah was given at his hand, and that he was called the teacher of all prophets. He who attains unto this quality is beloved of Heaven, as it is written: ‘With him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.’[188] When thou clingest to the quality of humility, the quality of the fear of God will come to thy mind; for thou wilt continually lay to thy heart whence thou camest, and whither thou art going (thou art worm and maggot in thy life and in thy death), and before whom thou art destined to render account and reckoning (before the supreme King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, whose glory fills the earth). It is also written: ‘Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.’[189] It is also written: ‘Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less the hearts of the children of men!’[190] When thou wilt consider all this, thou wilt fear thy Creator, and guard thyself against sin. By clinging to these qualities thou wilt be in a state of perfection and sublimity, and wilt continually be happy with thy lot; this latter, too, is one of the good qualities, as the Mishnah says: ‘Who is rich? he who rejoices in his lot.’[191] If thy conduct is according to the quality of humility and thou art ashamed before every man, and thou fearest thy Creator, who gives thee life, so that thou sinnest not, the spirit of the Shekinah and the splendor of its glory will dwell upon thee, and thou wilt deserve the life of this world and of the world to come. My son and my beloved, know assuredly that one who exalts himself above his fellow-men rebels against the kingdom of heaven, for he makes use of God’s garment, as it is written: ‘The Lord reigneth, He is clothed with pride.’[192] And God, who is blessed, says concerning the haughty man: ‘I and he cannot dwell together in this world.’ Accordingly, he who is haughty will be uprooted from the world.