On Good and Evil Deeds and Their Ends

A good person means no harm to anyone; do no evil, and good will come to you. Whoever stirs up harm ends up harmed himself, like a scorpion that is crushed near its own nest. If there is no benefit to others in your nature, then a jewel and a common stone are one and the same. I misspoke, my worthy friend: there is at least some use in iron, stone, and bronze. Such a shameful human is better off dead, for even a stone holds more worth than he does. Not every human is better than a beast; a beast is better than an evil human. A wise person is better than a beast, but not the person who preys on people like a beast. When a human knows nothing but eating and sleeping, what makes him any better than the animals? A lost rider with no guide loses the race to the one who travels on foot. No one has ever sown the seed of goodness without harvesting a full field of his heart's desire. Never once in my whole life have I heard that good fortune came to an evil person.