The quotations that follow are, as it were, swift portraits, some of them only lightning sketches, seizing in outline some obvious feature; but others (for all their brevity) are so full of life and colour, and often so tellingly correct, that no comment is needed to enforce the justice or importance of what is said. They have been compared to “Meissonier pictures: minute, graphic, realistic, unromantic; pictures drawn not by Fancy but by Observation”[53]:-- THE MEAN MAN _Riches are not comely for a niggard, And what shall a covetous man do with money? He that gathereth by miserliness gathereth for others, And others shall revel in his goods_ (E. 14^{3, 4}). _The miser hasteth after riches And knoweth not that want shall come upon him_ (Pr. 28^{22}). AND THE GENEROUS _There is that scattereth, and increaseth yet more; And there is that withholdeth, and it tendeth only to want. The liberal man shall prosper the more, And he that nourisheth others shall himself be nourished_ (Pr. 11^{24, 25})-- But appearances are sometimes deceptive: _There is that feigneth himself rich, yet hath nothing; And there is that feigneth poverty, yet hath great wealth_ (Pr. 13^{7}). There are numerous sayings dealing with the tale-bearer and the mischief-maker, for slander was a prominent evil of the crowded Oriental cities: THE SLANDERER _The liar disseminates strife: The whisperer parteth friends_ (Pr. 16^{28}). _For lack of wood the fire goes out, And where there is no whisperer, contention ceaseth_ (Pr. 26^{20}). THE MISCHIEF-MAKER _An evil man digs a pit of mischief And on his lips is a fire that burns_[54] (Pr. 16^{27}). _An evil man, a sinful man, deals always in crooked speech. He winks his eyes and shuffles his feet, And his fingers make secret signs: His thoughts are all plots, He plans ceaselessly mischief; A spreader of discord. Wherefore, his ruin shall come in an instant. Like a flash he’ll be broken, and that beyond mending_ (Pr. 6^{12-15}). THE BOASTER _As clouds and wind that yield no rain, So is he who brags of gifts ungiven_ (Pr. 25^{14}). THE SELF-CONFIDENT MAN. _The fool is quite certain his way is right, But the wise man listens to counsel_ (Pr. 12^{15}). _Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him_ (Pr. 26^{12}). --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