More from John Ploughman

Two entries today since the first one is rather short:

• On Seizing Opportunities: Take-it-easy and Live-long are first cousins, they say, and the more’s the pity. A little too late is much too late, and a miss is as good as a mile. Nothing is to be got without pains except poverty and dirt! Hares never run into the mouths of sleeping dogs.
• On Keeping One’s Eyes Open: Don’t believe in the man who talks most; for mewing cats are very seldom good mousers. Never put yourself in another person’s power; if you put your thumb between two grinders, they are very apt to bite. Drink nothing without seeing it; sign nothing without reading it, and make sure that it means no more than it says. Don’t go to law unless you have nothing to lose: lawyers’ houses are built on fools’ heads. In any business, never wade into water where you cannot see the bottom. See the sack open before you buy what is in it; for he who trades in the dark, asks to be cheated. Keep clear of the man who does not value his own character. Beware of those who swear and blaspheme his Maker, he would make no bones of lying and cheating. Beware of no man more than of yourself: we carry our worst enemies within us. The trader who has once been a fraudulent bankrupt is not the man for you to deal with. A rickety chair is a dangerous seat. Be shy of people who are over polite, and don’t be too fast with those who are forward and rough. Have very little to do with a boaster, for a boaster and a liar are first cousins. Be not evermore suspicious, for suspicion is a cowardly virtue at best.

Taken from John Ploughman's Talk